41) Top Gear is an award-winning British television series about motor vehicles, mainly cars. It
is presented by a set of hosts who test drive new cars and provide reviews on the cars’
performance, their prices, and other factors. Which of the following personal communications
channels is Top Gear closest to in description?
A) expert channel
B) formal channel
C) social channel
D) sponsored channel
E) advocate channel
42) Personal influence in marketing communications carries great weight when ________.
A) the product being marketed is a convenience item
B) the purchase of the product is considered to be safe and risk-free
C) the product suggests something about the user’s status or taste
D) the product being marketed is purchased on a frequent basis
E) the product or service in question is used without being recommended by others
43) Which of the following is a form of mass communications channel?
A) interactive marketing
B) personal selling
C) public relations
D) word of mouth marketing
E) sales presentations
44) Which of the following statements is true of the two-step approach to mass communications?
A) The influence of mass media on public opinion is more direct, powerful, and automatic than
marketers have supposed.
B) Communications through mass media bypasses opinion leaders and reaches the individual
buyers.
C) The two-step flow supports the notion that consumption styles are primarily influenced by a
“trickle-down” or “trickle-up” effect from mass media.
D) According to the two-step flow, people interact primarily within their own social groups and
acquire ideas from opinion leaders in their groups.
E) Two-step communication suggests that mass communicators should direct messages to groups
of buyers who interpret the message and act accordingly.
45) Which of the following is a characteristic of the affordable method of establishing a
marketing communications budget?
A) fixed annual budget
B) suitable for long-range planning
C) priority given to role of promotion as an investment
D) calculated to reflect what the company can spare for marketing communications
E) based on the immediate impact of promotion on sales volume
46) Kelly is the chief marketing officer of Boyd Pharmaceuticals. She is meeting with Trent, the
chief financial officer to decide on the company’s marketing communications budget. After
extensive discussions, they decide that the size of the budget will be calculated as a fraction of
the overall turnover. What method did Kelly and Trent use to arrive at the marketing
communications budget?
A) affordable method
B) objective-and-task method
C) competitive-parity method
D) activity-based method
E) percentage-of-sales method
47) Which of the following is an advantage of using the percentage-of-sales method to determine
the marketing communications budget?
A) The percentage-of-sales method encourages stability when competing firms spend
approximately the same portion of their sales on communications.
B) The percentage-of-sales method views sales as the determiner of communications rather than
as the result.
C) The percentage-of-sales method leads to a budget set by market opportunities rather than the
availability of funds.
D) The percentage-of-sales method encourages experimentation with countercyclical
communication or aggressive spending.
E) The percentage-of-sales method encourages building the communication budget by
determining what each product and territory deserves.
48) Kelly is the chief marketing officer of Boyd Pharmaceuticals. She is meeting with Trent, the
chief financial officer to decide on the company’s marketing communications budget. They pore
over the sales reports and other financial records and determine the amount of resources they can
spare for marketing communications, after resources have been allocated to other functions, such
as R&D, logistics, etc. What method did Kelly and Trent use to arrive at the marketing
communications budget?
A) objective-and-task method
B) affordable method
C) competitive-parity method
D) activity-based method
E) percentage-of-sales method
49) Kelly is the chief marketing officer of Boyd Pharmaceuticals. She is meeting with Trent, the
chief financial officer to decide on the company’s marketing communications budget. They
decide to trust in the prevailing collective wisdom of the industry as a whole, and not wanting to
instigate a communications war, settle on spending only as much as their nearest market rival
does on marketing communications. What method did Kelly and Trent use to arrive at the
marketing communications budget?
A) objective-and-task method
B) affordable method
C) competitive-parity method
D) activity-based method
E) percentage-of-sales method
50) Which of the following statements correctly reflects a characteristic of public relations as a
marketing communications tool?
A) Public relations can reach prospects who prefer to avoid mass media and targeted promotions.
B) They incorporate some concession, inducement, or contribution that gives value to the
consumer.
C) Given their live, real-time quality, public relations tools are more actively engaging for
consumers.
D) Public relations communications can be prepared to appeal to the addressed individual.
E) Public relations tools create an immediate and interactive episode between two or more
persons.
51) Janet is a marketing manager with a Injoos, a company that manufactures packaged fruit
juices. Knowing that several other companies in the market offer similar products, Janet decides
to build a customer base from among those who prefer to avoid mass media and other targeted
promotions. Which of the following marketing communications tools would be her best option to
build a favorable impression among the prospective customers?
A) advertising
B) personal selling
C) sales promotions
D) direct marketing
E) public relations
52) Which of the following marketing communications tools is most effective at the later stages
of the buying process?
A) personal selling
B) public relations
C) advertising
D) sales promotions
E) direct marketing
53) Which of the following marketing communications tools is most effective at influencing
customers at the conviction stage of buyer readiness?
A) advertising
B) publicity
C) sales promotion
D) personal selling
E) events and experiences
54) Advertising and publicity tools play the most important roles in influencing buying decisions
at the ________ stage of buyer readiness.
A) comprehension
B) conviction
C) ordering
D) reordering
E) awareness-building
55) Which of the following tools or combinations of tools is most influential at the
comprehension stage of buyer readiness?
A) sales promotion and advertising
B) advertising and personal selling
C) publicity and personal selling
D) reminder advertising and publicity
E) sales promotion and personal selling
56) Marketing communications in almost every medium and form have been on the rise, and
some consumers feel they are increasingly invasive.
57) Personal selling refers to people-to-people oral, written, or electronic communications that
relate to the merits or experiences of purchasing or using products or services.
58) All the response hierarchy models assume that a buyer passes through affective, cognitive,
and behavioral stages, in that order.
59) Though the target audience can be profiled in terms of demographic, psychographic, or
behavioral segments, it is often useful to do so in terms of usage and loyalty.
60) The marketing communications objective of “brand attitude” refers to helping consumers
evaluate the brand’s perceived ability to meet a currently relevant need.
61) Volkswagen’s famed “Drivers Wanted” advertising campaign aimed at attracting active,
youthful people uses a transformational appeal as its creative strategy.
62) Two-sided messages are more effective with more educated audiences and those who are
initially opposed.
63) Motivational or “borrowed interest” devices—such as the presence of cute babies, frisky
puppies, popular music, or provocative sex appeals—are often employed to attract attention and
raise involvement with an ad.
64) Celebrities are likely to be effective when they are credible or personify a key product
attribute.
65) The most highly credible source would score high on at least two of the three dimensions—
expertise, trustworthiness, and likability.
66) The principle of congruity implies that communicators can use their good image to reduce
some negative feelings toward a brand but in the process might lose some esteem with the
audience.
67) Personal communications channels derive their effectiveness from individualized
presentation and feedback and include direct and interactive marketing, word of mouth
marketing, and personal selling.
68) Personal influence carries especially great weight when products are inexpensive, risk-free,
or purchased frequently.
69) Although personal communication is often more effective than mass communication, mass
media might be the major means of stimulating personal communication.
70) Two-step communication suggests that mass communicators should direct messages
specifically to opinion leaders and let them carry the message to others.
71) The affordable method accounts for the role of promotion as an investment and the
immediate impact of promotion on sales volume.
72) The percentage-of-sales budgeting method encourages management to think of the
relationship among communication cost, selling price, and profit per unit.
73) Public relations is incapable of reaching prospects who prefer to avoid mass media and
targeted promotions.
74) In the growth stage of a product’s life cycle, demand has its own momentum through word of
mouth and interactive marketing.
75) Media coordination can occur across and within media types, but marketers should combine
personal and nonpersonal communications channels through multiple-vehicle, multiple-stage
campaigns to achieve maximum impact and increase message reach and impact.
76) What are the elements of the marketing communications mix?
77) What are the steps involved in developing effective marketing communications?
78) How do the stages of buyer readiness affect the composition of a product’s marketing
communications mix?
79) What is integrated marketing communications? What is its significance in the current
marketing environment?
80) How is coordination of media achieved through integrated marketing communications?