Summary of the objectives
- To point out how the IMC program can be developed by marketers using both the conventional and contemporary media
- To explore the merits and demerits of support media
- To investigate how the IMC program is assisted by the support media
- To determine the measurement procedure for the support media
Reading summaries
The chapter begins by exploring the nature of measurements used in branded entertainment. The author notes that branded entertainment has been on the increase over the past few years. The effect of this form of media has been investigated by several leading companies in the marketplace. Some of the researches related to branded entertainment include the IAG research and the Brand Advisors. This section also discusses the aspect of guerrilla marketing. The latter is a non-traditional form of marketing. It is also referred to as a viral or ambush form of marketing. Viral marketing mainly targeted the youthful population, although it has been diversified to reach the wider population. Needles to say, the miscellaneous media have presented endless ways of placing advertisements to reach the targeted market.
The second portion investigates several inescapable factors that businesses cannot elude in course of their operations. Examples include advertisements, taxes, and deaths. There are several advantages of support media, as documented by the author. To begin with, support media is relatively affordable and can be economically used to reach out to the targeted market at an affordable cost. In other words, support media can reach the desired market with great precision. Moreover, a high degree of flexibility is experienced when support media is used to reach out to a large number of the targeted audience. Nonetheless, it is not easy to measure the actual number of the audience reached over a given period. Worse still, it has proved to be quite cumbersome to verify the number of the audience reached. Nonetheless, major weaknesses of the support media will be reduced as it continues to develop.
Content sponsorship is also another significant area in advertising that some business entities opt to pursue. Some businesses do not develop their content for advertisement purposes. Quite some specific programs can be sponsored by advertisers. For example, the Discovery Health Channel has partnered with P&G to offer a weight-loss session for about three months.
Video on Demand (VOD) has also been used to support advertisements. Cable TVs are employed in offering this type of specialized advertisement program. The marketing of promotional products may not be measurable at all. The nature of the advertising industry does not allow the precise measurement to be carried out.
Although yellow pages are often ignored in the process of seeking viable platforms for launching advertisements, they form a crucial channel in the advertising industry. In the case of product placements, it is interesting to mention that there are certain forms of brands that have very low CPM even though a very high absolute cost may be experienced in certain brands. The exposure time for products in product placement is also a significant setback that tends to limit the gains of this type of advertisement. In other words, there is no guarantee that customers will see the product. Hence, the deliverables by both the traditional and modern forms of advertisements are different.