Introduction
Brand development and promotion are two activities which are very significant an organization. Powerful brands take time to develop and are an advantage to an organization. One of the factors which are required in the development of brands is the media.
Media plays a very significant role in brand development. This research paper will highlight the influence that media has on brand development and promotion. In order to show how powerful the media is in terms of media development some background information is discussed.
Background Information
Sales promotion is almost impossible without the use of media. By simply connecting the market and the products, the media has a largest influence on the development of brands. It is worth noting that the world is continually being globalized making it smaller. The fact that media is an intimate part of everybody is an indication that it is the best way to reach people.
Take a literal example of a political gathering in a region with about five thousand attendees. Through the use of media more that those who physical attended such a meeting will get the message.
With the advancement in technology it is no doubt that the best way to reach people is through the consumers. The sections below will show the potential of the media and later show how this influence is used in brand development and promotion.
The Media Potential
As mentioned above, media has a huge potential. The social media revolution possesses one of the greatest potential in brand development. It has been shown that the generation y have a huge appetite for spending. From statistics it more than half the world population belongs to the y generation. It is shown that the more than 90 percent of the youths around the world are members of some social network.
It has been shown that the social media has a huge attraction power: the years that the following media took to reach 50 million users are indicated as follows “Radio (38 Years), TV (13 Years), Internet (4 Years), iPod (3 Years)” (Creative 1).
As a matter of fact the media enhances communications more than face to face communication even in situations not expected: “2009 US Department of Education study revealed that on average, online students out performed those receiving face-to-face instruction” (Creative 1). Some of these social media are used by all the age groups, “The fastest growing segment on Facebook is 55-65 year-old females” (Creative 1).
It is worth noting that the social media make it possible for million fans to easily reach their favourite celebrities: “Ashton Kutcher and Ellen DeGeneres (combined) have more Twitter followers than the populations of Ireland, Norway, or Panama” (Creative 1).
In figure 2 above, the average rate of penetration if the internet penetration is 28.7 percent; this is a huge percentage taking into consideration how quickly the internet usage is being adapted (Internet, 2010).
Apart from the online social networks, television channels also have huge followers and enjoy a huge attention from public. Popular shows by popular presenters such as Oprah Winfrey among others enjoy wide viewing all over the world. The huge numbers of people who daily use the media services make it possible for the media to have a huge a potential in brand development and promotion.
How the Media influences Brand Development and Promotion
As shown above the media makes it possible for great masses to be contacted. Various organizations take advantage of this connection to masses of people to promote their sales and develop their brands. Basically brand development and sales promotion is carried by engaging in sales promotion operations (O’Guin, Allen and Semenik, 2008).
It has been argued that tweeter provides a better opportunity for managing some brands (Brito 2011, p.1).
Advertising
Use of the media to carry out advertisements about goods and services is the most common way that is used to carry out sales promotion. There are many forms of advertising that are used through the media. The common one is the direct advertisement whereby a products or service is advertised directly.
These adverts are simple and to the point and usually indicate how a product is used with its competitive advantage being highlighted (Ellwood, 2002; Eastman, 2000). Celebrities are also used to carry out sales promotion. A very good example is the way the late Michael Jackson was used by Pepsi. Business entities usually sponsor superstars with an aim of tapping into the fan base of celebrities.
Celebrities are made majorly because of the wide viewing that media affords them (Coto, 2007). It is a fact that celebrities’ fans imitate their favourite celebrities in doing what they do or seem to do. By a celebrity associating with a given brand then the fans are prone to follow trend.
Popular people with huge followers on social networks such can easily sway the opinion of the people that follow them. Cramp et al., (2003) have shown that awareness carried out through celebrity promotional campaigns have a great effect in boosting the sales of a product being promoted.
It is also worth noting that the media are used to carry out market research. Carrying out of market research is very significant when a company is trying to develop a new brand. Social networks are very essential in learning the preferences of the consumers.
The information obtained from such research is used to develop brands. It is worth noting that the media make it possible sales promotion to be directed to a given group thus making them more effective. For instance products which are meant to be used by the youth are usually promoted through the media that are common with the youth (Hubley, n.d.; Bhargava, 2009).
Conclusion
The media has a huge influence on product promotion and brand development. The influence of the media results from the fact that large masses of people can be reached by the use of media. By using various types of advertising means, the media educates and makes large masses of people aware of existing and new products. The media makes it possible for people to connect with people they admire.
Role models through the media are used to shape public opinion about some products. It is evident that communication all over the world is more than 90 percent of the communications is carried out through the media giving the media an upper presenting opinion to people. Being the dominant means through which the information is spread out to people the media greatly influence sales promotion and brand development.
References
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