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seem effective. A recent study projected that many firms will shift away from traditional advertising and
more toward direct marketing—especially Internet and mobile media—in the next few years.
10. Describe how marketers assess promotional effectiveness.
Answer: Media research assesses how well a particular medium delivers the advertiser’s message,
where and when to place the ad, and the size of the audience. Message research tests consumer
Projects and Teamwork Exercises
1. On your own or with a classmate, select a print advertisement that catches your attention and analyze
it according to the AIDA concept (attention, interest, desire, action). Identify features of the ad that catch
your attention, pique your interest, make you desire the product, and spur you toward a purchase.
Present your findings to the class.
Answer: Have students share their print ads. Do they catch your attention? Do they incorporate the AIDA
concept (attention-interest-desire-action)? Have the class review each ad and comment on whether it
2. Watch a television show and see how many products you can find placed within the show. Present
your findings to the class.
Answer: Write on the board the names of the TV shows watched by the class. Then list all the incidents
of product placement that were noticed in each show. How does each product fit the show in which it
appeared? Or did it fit at all? Do some products pop up in more than one show? Is there a pattern in
3. With a classmate, choose a good or service you think could benefit from guerrilla marketing. Imagine
you have a limited promotional budget, and come up with a plan for a guerrilla approach. Outline several
ideas and explain how you plan to carry them out. Present your plan to the class.
Answer: Have students (in pairs) share their ideas for guerrilla marketing related to a certain good or
service. What product did they chose? Why did they think guerrilla marketing would work for this
4. Cut out a print ad and place it on a poster board. With a marker, identify all the elements of the ad.
Then identify what you believe is the ad’s objective. Next, identify the strategy used. If the ad has an
interactive component, note that, too.
Answer: Choose a print ad to cut out and place on a poster board. With a marker, identify all the
elements of the ad. Then identify what you believe is the objective of the ad—to inform, persuade, or
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Critical-Thinking Exercises
1. What are some of the benefits and drawbacks of using celebrity testimonials in advertising? Identify an
ad you believe makes effective use of a celebrity’s endorsement, and explain why.
Answer: One advantage of associating a product with a big-name personality is improved product
recognition in a promotional environment filled with hundreds of competing 15– and 30-second
commercials. Another advantage to using celebrities occurs when marketers are trying to reach
2. Identify a corporate sponsorship for a cause or program in your area, or find a local company that
sponsors a local charity or other organization. What does the sponsor gain from its actions? Be specific.
What does the sponsored organization receive? Do you think this sponsorship is good for your
community? Explain.
Answer: Student answers will vary. Make sure that they are making the distinction between sponsorship
and advertising. Encourage students to further think about how gains from sponsorship can actually be
3. Select two different advertisers’ TV or print ads for the same product category (cars or soft drinks, for
instance) and decide what emotion each appeals to. Which ad is more effective and why?
Answer: Student answers may vary. Which set of famous competitors were chosen? Which emotion was
mainly used? Is the appeal standard for some product categories? For example, cleaning products focus
4. Think back to publicity you have heard recently about a company or its products. If it was good
publicity, how was it generated and what media were used? If it was bad publicity, where did you learn
about it and how did the firm try to control or neutralize it?
Answer: Student answers may vary. Good publicity generally results from the company’s superior
performance, its association with some social causes, etc. Negative publicity can result from wrong
Ethics Exercises
Pop-up ads, those unsolicited messages that sometimes pop onto your computer screen and block the
site or information you’re looking for until you close or respond to them, are inexpensive to produce and
cost nearly nothing to send. But they are so annoying to some computer users that dozens of special
programs have been written to block them from appearing on the screen during Internet use.
1. Do you think that because they are unsolicited, pop-up ads are also intrusive? Are they an invasion of
privacy? Explain your reasoning.
Answer: Most computer users dislike pop-up ads and many now use special software that blocks these
ads. Pop-up ads are intrusive by their nature, as they disrupt the flow of whatever the user is doing.
2. Do you consider the use of pop-up ads to be unethical? Why or why not?
Answer: The ethics of pop-up ads are subject to debate. There are currently no laws regarding the use of
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Internet Exercises
1. Super Bowl advertising. Visit the websites listed here. How many different organizations ran ads
during the most recent Super Bowl? Which organizations have run the most ads in Super Bowls? During
the most recent Super Bowl, which ads were the highest rated? The lowest rated? How much has the
cost of a 30-second Super Bowl ad changed since the first game was played?
Answer: Students can visit the above websites for the answers. The answers may vary according to
when the websites are accessed. The Super Bowl championships are known for its high-profile
2. Not-for-profit advertising. Review the material in the chapter on creating an advertisement and
then go to the website listed here. It outlines the basic steps involved in creating an advertisement for a
not–for-profit organization. Review the material and prepare a brief report comparing and contrasting the
process of creating an advertisement for a for-profit and a not-for-profit organization.
http://marketing.about.com/cs/nonprofitmrktg/a/8stepnonprofit.htm
Answer: The website mentions an 8-step plan for marketing a not–for-profit organization. Students can
refer to the material on the website and other related information on the Web to compile the report. Ask
3. Public relations. Visit the websites of at least three large multinational corporations. Examples include
Siemens, DuPont, and ExxonMobil. Review the material on the websites and prepare a brief report
outlining how each firm includes public relations as part of its promotional strategy.
Answer: Student should be able to connect the public relations concept to the promotional strategies
used by these companies and understand its significance in making them global successes. You may
Case 16.1 The Richards Group: A Unique Advertising Agency—Questions for Critical Thinking
1. Stan Richards believes that “the way you treat your people is exactly how they treat clients.” Do you
agree or disagree? Explain your reasoning.
Answer: Students’ answers may vary. Some might be of the opinion that creativity requires absolute
freedom; so creative people must be treated differently from others. But on the other hand, creative
2. Evaluate Richards’ belief that creativity requires hard work. Do you think this is true? Does it apply only
to marketing and advertising? Why or why not?
Answer: Student answers may vary. Some will be of the opinion that creative people work intuitively and
they have moments of epiphany which magically create solutions for them. Others might be of the
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Video Case 16.2 Pepe’s Pizzeria Delivers Every Day—Questions for Critical Thinking
1. Describe how the Pepe’s pizza giveaway promotion relates to each step in the AIDA concept.
2. How might Pepe’s use guerilla marketing to promote its brand among college students?
504 Part 6 Promotional Decisions
COLLABORATIVE LEARNING EXERCISES
Understanding Integrated Marketing Communications
Purpose:
To help students understand the challenge and complexity of integrated marketing
communications
Background:
To many students, effective integrated marketing communications is more complex than it initially
Relationship to Text:
Chapter Overview
Estimated Class Time:
About 5 minutes
Preparation/Materials:
None needed
Exercise:
Ask your class how many different promotional messages they have seen or heard today. (Some
classes take a few moments to realize how astronomical the number really is.) Where and how
Questions for Reflection:
• What are the ethical issues regarding promotional clutter? Is there likely to be consumer
backlash?
Direct Mail
Purpose:
To examine and evaluate direct mail marketing
Background:
While many consumers discard “junk mail” unopened, overall response rates are high enough
that direct mail remains a critical part of many integrated marketing communications programs.
This exercise is designed to help students evaluate the quality of several direct mail pieces, and
to offer suggestions for creative improvement.
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Relationship to Text:
Direct Mail
Estimated Class Time:
About 15 minutes
Preparation/Materials:
A week or two before this exercise, begin collecting direct mail marketing pieces until you have
enough for five pieces for each group of three to five students (plus a few extra). Try to gather a
wide variety of pieces.
Exercise:
Help your class understand that the success of any direct mail campaign depends not only on the
quality of the list, but also on the quality and creativity of the piece itself.
Questions for Reflection:
• When does direct mail make the most sense as an integrated marketing communications
tactic? Why?
Advertising Strategies
Purpose:
To give students a chance to develop and consider advertising strategy
Background:
Each day, advertising surrounds virtually every student, but few give much thought to advertising
strategy. This exercise is designed to highlight the role of strategy, and to underscore how it
connects to the advertising messages that we see each day.
Relationship to Text:
Advertising Strategies
Estimated Class Time:
About 20 minutes
Preparation/Materials:
You may want to make a copy of the scenario below for each student.
Exercise:
506 Part 6 Promotional Decisions
After you cover the topic of advertising strategy, divide your class into groups of five to seven
people, and give each student a copy of the following scenario:
Questions for Reflection:
• Is advertising more effective at bringing new customers into a category, or taking customers
from your competitors? Does product lifecycle play a role in your response?
• What role should research play in advertising strategy? Why?
Creating Advertising
Purpose:
To highlight the creative development process
Background:
Preparation/Materials:
A set of objects of little value– safety pin, a feather, a dried flower, a plastic bottle, dog’s hair and
so on. (More items can be added to this list.)
Exercise:
Divide the class into groups and give each group one of the above mentioned objects. Ask them
to come with an advertising strategy to sell this object,
Questions for Reflection:
• What is the role of creativity in an ad campaign?
• Is it easy to sell objects with a utility value?
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Media Selection
Purpose:
To expose students to hands-on media planning
Background:
Without an effective media plan, even the best creative idea won’t do the job. This exercise is
designed to give students hands-on experience with media planning, choosing both vehicles and
timing.
Relationship to Text:
Media Selection
Estimated Class Time:
About 20 minutes
Preparation/Materials:
You may want to copy the scenario below for each student.
Exercise:
Once your class understands media planning basics, divide them into groups of five to seven
students, and distribute copies of the following scenario. (While most students seem clear on the
definition of alternative music, you may want to spend a moment asking them to define the genre,
so that everyone can work from the same assumptions.)
Questions for Reflection:
• Do nontraditional media (e.g., text messages) invade privacy? “Commercial pollution”? Why or
why not?
• When a campaign uses multiple media vehicles, how can you measure the effectiveness of
each individually?
Cross-Promotion
Purpose:
To highlight the growing importance of cross-promotional advertising
Background:
508 Part 6 Promotional Decisions
Relationship to Text:
Cross-Promotion
Estimated Class Time:
About 15 minutes
Preparation/Materials:
None needed
Exercise:
Divide your class into small groups. Write each of the following categories on the board:
• Blue jeans
• Pizza
• Pick-up truck
Questions for Reflection:
• What are some particularly strong examples of actual cross-promotion? Why were they
effective?
• What are the potential pitfalls of cross-promotion?
• Which industries can particularly benefit from cross-promotion? Why?
Advertising Pretesting
Purpose:
To demonstrate advertising pretesting
Background:
Relationship to Text:
Pretesting
Estimated Class Time:
About 25 minutes (NOTE: This exercise works best at the beginning of class.)
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Preparation/Materials:
Create a brief survey to rate TV ad concepts. Question 1: On a scale of 1-5, rate how much you
liked the ad concept. Question 2: On a scale of 1-5, rate your likelihood of purchasing this
product. Make enough copies so that students can rate each concept. Also, consider providing a
stack of large, plain white paper to create storyboards.