Scenario 1-1
In 1996, University of Maryland grad Kevin Plank founded Under Armour, a
performance apparel company that now competes with some of the top apparel brands
in the industry. During its first ten years of operations, the company was known
primarily for its sweat-wicking clothing line. In late 2010, however, Under Armour
released its first line of basketball shoes since the company’s inception. Along with the
new product line, says Plank, needs to come a new brand image. “I called our marketing
team and said go through this building and find anything that says we are only an
apparel brand and throw it away.” The company has also pulled all advertisements
carrying the word “apparel,” and will begin exploring new ways to promote the brand.
The company hopes its new efforts will allow the company to be viewed as an overall
“performance” company, which will ultimately enable it to compete with footwear from
powerhouses Nike and Adidas, and will help increase its current 1.1 percent market
share.
One person receives a direct mail piece from Under Armour that offers a free poster of
basketball star Brandon Jennings wearing a pair of the company’s new shoes and thinks
the offer is pretty cool. Another person receives the same direct mail piece and
immediately throws the offer in the trash. The differing interpretations are most likely
the result of
a. differing content.
b. the salient social networks of the recipients.
c. incorrect target marketing.
d. the rules and regulations of the direct mail medium.
(Scenario 18-2) Scenario 18-2
A young man decides to become a mass producer of quality T-shirts. His small factory
located in Oregon begins by promoting itself as hiring excellent seamstresses, offering a
pleasant working environment, paying decent salaries, and, most importantly, giving the
public an opportunity to buy clothing that is truly “made in America.” The company
eventually adds other clothing items, opens three brick-and-mortar retail stores in
several large cities, and expands to online shopping. Over the years, the firm grows and
prospers due to its reputation as an American manufacturer, a fair employer, and an
opponent of the traditional view of ‘sweatshops.” And along the way, it deals with a few
public relations issues.
He feels he did a good job in his series of press releases about the positive aspects of his
company. However, he is aware that press releases have their limitations. He knows that
they
a. are better at promoting positive news than combating negative information.
b. cannot be integrated with other communication efforts.
c. do well in communicating information internally but not as well externally.
d. may be edited, misconstrued, delayed, or not run at all by media organizations.
An account planner has been added to many creative teams to
a. handle media placement in an increasingly sophisticated market.
b. gather research that gives the consumer a voice.
c. watch the bottom line and monitor spending of advertising dollars.
d. assist the account executive in connecting creatives to clients.
Two broad categories of mailing lists should be recognized by marketers. They begin
with ____ lists as the starting point for developing better relationships with current
customers. Then they can purchase ____ lists to cultivate new business.
a. internal; external
b. demographic; geo-demographic
c. recency; frequency
d. behavioral; psychographic
We are on the brink of a new technological revolution that is going to make even ____
seem old-fashioned.
a. Web pages
b. WiFi
c. cell phones
d. broadband
Though there appears to be some strong resistance, market research has indicated that
more than 60 percent of consumers don’t mind
a. transit advertising.
b. aerial advertising.
c. billboard advertising.
d. cinema advertising.
A copywriter is just starting on a print ad for a new brand of dishwasher detergent.
What is the first step in developing copy for print?
a. sketching an overall view of the finished ad
b. meeting with the creative director to brainstorm a list of exciting words to be
included
c. deciding how to use, or not use, the three main components of print copy
d. writing a few rough headlines and possibly subheads
What does the text suggest you do if you want to objectively measure your own level of
creativity?
a. Brainstorm a list of creative ideas.
b. Search for a creativity test on the Internet and take it.
c. Model yourself after one of the seven great creative minds of the last century.
d. Follow the 3P’s creative framework.
Voice-It Technologies produces inexpensive personal voice recording devices that serve
as a substitute for message pads in the home or office. Their recording time is limited to
120 seconds and the devices sell for less than $20.00. Voice-It’s products are about the
size of four credit cards stacked on one another and have a useful life of about one year.
The slogan this firm uses on its packaging and advertising is “Don’t Write It, Voice-It!”
Most consumers have no experience with Voice-It products and view the purchase of
this product as low involvement. What mode of consumer decision making does this
indicate?
a. brand loyalty
b. limited problem solving
c. extended problem solving
d. habit
Some analysts feel that due to its unique format, television on the Internet will
a. have viewers that tolerate increased advertising.
b. be negatively impacted by competition with other interactive technologies.
c. not be able to sustain heavy loads of advertising.
d. not grow quickly due to the declining popularity of broadband.
(Scenario 14-3) With social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter garnering so
much attention from consumers and businesses alike, it is hard to believe that only 20
percent of small businesses are utilizing the sites to help promote their products and
services. But that figure is precisely what was reported in a 2009 study conducted by
MerchantCircle, a social network for small businesses. Once the survey results were
released in 2010, experts were not surprised to see the percentage of social media users
increase to nearly 50 percent; according to Darren Waddell, vice president of marketing
at MerchantCircle, companies are turning to social media for advertising because it is
relevant and inexpensive way to reach targeted consumers. Rather than pouring large
sums of money into traditional marketing, business owners are starting to find more
creative ways of promoting their brand. One of the more common practices for small
business owners utilizing social media is including URLs on business cards-of all sites,
Facebook (no surprise) was the most common site to make it onto business cards.(Jon
Swartz, “More Small Businesses Use Facebook, Twitter to Promote.” USA Today, July
21, 2010.)
One small business owner found that when he started using Facebook, he began
establishing stronger relationships with some of his less consistent customers.
Eventually, one of his customers started a group on the site that other users could join to
discuss various aspects of his business. Others joined the group, and it slowly grew over
time. This group of Internet followers is an example of
a. an e-community.
b. social media followers.
c. loyal customers.
d. a brand following.
Following the announcement that the world’s largest e-tailer, Amazon.com, made a
profit for the first time since it started business in the early 1990s, the company saw
more than 90 percent of its market value disappear as part of the dot-com collapse. It is
questionable whether or not Amazon figured out a profitable business model after
changing its tune several times over those early years. Then it began circling back
somewhat to an earlier focus on becoming the Walmart of the Internet. It said it wanted
to sell huge volumes of merchandise cheaply, and in the process eke out enough of a
profit to satisfy Wall Street.Although investors had to wait some time for the e-tailer to
work out the kinks, and it’s uncertain how much longer they’ll remain patient, Amazon’s
mainstay retail business may see further improvements as it grows. As we all have now
witnessed, unlike brick-and-mortar retailers who must build new stores, stock them, and
hire people to staff them, Amazon has been able to open new stores with minimal
additional cost. Some years ago, it reported turning over its inventory 17 times a
year-close to double that of traditional retailers at the time. And on average, it reported
having gotten paid 32 days before it must pay its suppliers-in essence, providing
millions of dollars in cash flow.Information updated for 2011, based on the following
initial articles:
(David Shook, “Can Amazon Turn Baby Steps Into Strides?,” Businessweek Online,
February 13, 2002.)
(Rob Hof, “Why Amazon Could Keep Flowing,” Businessweek Online, January 5,
2005.)Like many firms, Amazon has refined its priorities over the years. Many firms
begin by setting as their advertising objective something that is often disputed by
communications-oriented marketers. They choose ____ as their primary advertising
objective.
a. stimulating trial use
b. boosting sales
c. establishing brand recall
d. identifying purchase intent
Brush Strokes is an art supply store located in a town with a population of about
100,000 people. The town is also home to a major state university. Brush Strokes gets a
majority of its business from the student population. It has used the services of a local
full-service advertising agency in the past. A great majority of its marketing budget has
gone toward running small advertisements in the local and school newspapers at the
beginning of each term. The advertising agency is now recommending that Brush
Strokes devote a majority of its budget to running television spots during broadcasts of
the university’s football and basketball games. While the owners of Brush Strokes agree
that they could be doing a better job of reaching a larger portion of the student
population, they have not come to any conclusions about the best way to accomplish
this.The owners of Brush Strokes have called a meeting with their agency to determine
how Brush Strokes can benefit best from its advertising. The one agency department
that must be represented at this meeting to help identify the benefits of the brand, its
target audience, the best competitive positioning and then develop a complete plan is
a. media-planning.
b. research.
c. account services.
d. creative services.
KidsCause, a metropolitan outreach organization that collects and donates toys for
needy children, buys airtime on WXXY (a local TV station) to promote its annual toy
collection. Amazing Ads, a local ad agency, shoots the video and produces the
30-second commercial and Downtown Deli donates sandwiches for volunteers on the
days they collect, wrap, and distribute toys. In this promotional effort, who is the client?
a. Amazing Ads
b. Downtown Deli
c. WXXY
d. KidsCause
A slogan is a short identifying phrase written for multiple forms of media. It is repeated
in print and broadcast ads, through salespeople and promotional events, and on
company websites.
In one word, you can summarize the popularity of direct marketing with consumers
today. What is that word?
a. convenience
b. privacy
c. technology
d. quality
Like many companies today, a young but growing electronics retailer knows it needs
help. If it is like most clients, in what two areas does it need the most help from an ad
agency?
a. creating value for the product, and setting objectives
b. integrating the brand within the media, and generating new ideas
c. defining the product, and creating brand awareness
d. creating the budget, and writing the copy
Creatives in ad agencies almost always have ideas just “come” to them, like magic.
The unique selling proposition (USP) concept links the brand name with the removal of
fear or anxiety.
The set of assets linked to a brand that is built over time-such as its name, symbol, logo,
etc.-is considered its brand equity.
Why is it difficult to talk about the future of digital/interactive media in advertising?
Though it is impossible to know for sure, which two types of technology are likely to be
big players in the near future? What advances can we hope to see?
If “Project Beacon” had been launched as planned, all the online searches and purchases
of Facebook users would have appeared on their Facebook sites and then would have
been broadcast to all their other Web connections.
Before the day of the shoot, prelight, blocking, and other production factor are checked
and adjusted to avoid additional expense during actual filming with on-camera talent.
A good advertising plan is the result of combining the knowledge and talents of both the
advertising agency and the client. In heading up a team that is creating the marketing
plan for a large cosmetics firm, an account manager needs to make sure all goals are
met and all responsibilities are assigned. For what issues does the client take primary
responsibility? For what elements does the agency take primary responsibility?
The job of a marcom manager is to provide technical advice, information, and service
to the consumer.