5 M’S of Advertising | Mission, Money, Message, Media, Measurement

5 M of Advertising

5 M’S of Advertising are:

1. Mission
2. Money
3. Message
4. Media
5. Measurement

Every organizations or marketing communication firm handle their advertising in different ways.

In small firms, advertising is handled by executives or account managers in the sales or marketing department, who works with an advertising agency.

A large company often set up its own advertising department or hire an advertising agency to prepare their advertising programs.

In developing an advertising program, the marketing managers always start by identifying the target market and the buyer’s intentions.

Then they make the five major decisions in developing an advertising program, called the 5 M’s of Advertising, viz.

5 M of Advertising

• Mission: what are the objectives of the advertising campaign?
• Money: how much budget they required to achieve the objectives?
• Message: what message and message strategy will be followed?
• Media: what type of media vehicle/s will be used to deliver the message?
• Measurement: how should be the results of the advertising campaign or programme will be evaluated?

Mission

Advertising Objectives can be classified as to whether their aim is:

• To inform: This aim of Advertising is generally true during the pioneering stage of a product category, where the objective is building a primary demand. This may include :
  
  
  • Telling the market about a new product
  • Suggesting new uses for a product
  • Informing the market for a price change
  • Informing how the product works
  • Describing available services
  • Correcting false impressions
  • Reducing buyers’ fears
  • Building a company image
    
    
• To persuade: Most advertisements are made with the aim of persuasion. Such advertisements aim at building a selective brand.
  
  
• To remind: Such advertisements are highly effective in the maturity stage of the product. The aim is to keep the consumer thinking about the product.

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Money

This M deals with deciding on the Advertising Budget. The advertising budget can be allocated based on:

• Departments or product groups
• The calendar
• Media used
• Specific geographic market areas

There are five specific factors to be considered when setting the Advertising budget.

• Stage in PLC: New products typically receive large advertising budgets to build awareness and to gain consumer trial. Established brands are usually supported with lower advertising budgets as a ratio to sales.
  
  
• Market Share and Consumer base: high-market-share brands usually require less advertising expenditure as a percentage of sales to maintain their share. To build share by increasing market size requires larger advertising expenditures. Additionally, on a cost – per – impressions basis, it is less expensive to reach consumers of a widely used brand them to reach consumers of low-share brands.
  
  
• Competition and clutter: In a market with a large number of competitors and high advertising spending, a brand must advertise more heavily to be heard above the noise in the market. Even simple clutter from advertisements not directly competitive to the brand creates the need for heavier advertising.
  
  
• Advertising frequency: the number of repetitions needed to put across the brand’s message to consumers has an important impact on the advertising budget.
  
  
• Product substitutability: brands in the commodity class (example cigarettes, beer, soft drinks) require heavy advertising to establish a different image. Advertising is also important when a brand can offer unique physical benefits or features.

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Message

Message generation can be done in the following ways:

• Inductive: By talking to consumers, dealers, experts and competitors. Consumers are a major source of good ideas. Their feeling about the product, its strengths, and weaknesses gives enough information that could aid the Message generation process.
  
  
• Deductive: John C. Maloney proposed a framework for generating Advertising Messages. According to him, a buyer expects four types of rewards from a product:
  • Rational
  • Sensory
  • Social
  • Ego Satisfaction.

Buyers might visualize these rewards from:

• Results-of-use Experience
• Product-in-use Experience
• Incidental-to-use Experience

The Matrix formed by the intersection of these four types of rewards and the three types of experiences is given below.

Message evaluation and selection

Before deciding about the final message to be sent, a good advertiser always evaluates the various alternative messages. Often a good advertising campaign always focuses on the at least one core selling proposition of the organization/product or services.

The advertising message can be rated on its desirability, exclusiveness and believability. The message must and always first say something desirable or interesting about the product or services.

And the message must also say something exclusive or distinct that does not apply to every brand in the product category. Above all, the message must be believable or provable.

Message execution

The impact of a message depends not only upon what is said but also on how it is said. Some advertisement aims for rational positioning and others for emotional positioning. While executing a message the style, tone, words, and format for executing the message must be kept in mind.

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Media

The next ‘M’ to be considered while making an Advertisement Program is the Media through which the advertising message is communicated for the prospects.

Following are the steps which generally considered at the time of deciding and choosing the advertising media or the media vehicle to transfer the advertising message.

• Step V: Deciding on the geographical allocation of the media vehicle
• Step IV: Deciding on the timing of the media vehicle.
• Step III: Selecting specific media vehicle within consideration of all supporting factors.
• Step II: Choosing measure media vehicles among available media
• Step I: Deciding on the reach, frequency and impact of the media

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Measurement

The evaluation of the effectiveness of the advertising campaign or advertising programme is very important as it always helps in preventing the further wastage of money and help in making necessary correction that are significant and vital for the further advertising programme.

Researching the effectiveness of the advertisement is the most used method of evaluating the effectiveness of the Advertisement Program. Research can be in the form of:

• Communication-Effect Research
• Sales-Effect Research

There are two ways of measuring advertising effectives. They are:

• Pre-testing: It is the assessment of an advertisement for its effectiveness before it is actually used. It is done through.
  
  
  • Concept testing: how well the concept of the advertisement is. This is being done by taking an expert opinion on the concept of the ad.
    
    
  • Test commercials: test trial of the advertisement to the sample of people
    
    
  • Finished testing
    
    
    
• Post-testing: It is the assessment of an advertisement’s effectiveness after it has been used. It is done in two ways:
  
  
  • Unaided recall: a research technique that asks how much of an ad a person remembers during a specific period of time
    
    
  • Aided recall: a research technique that uses clues to prompt answers from people about ads they might have seen

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5 M’s Of Advertising Example

5 M’s Of Advertising of “The Sundrop Campaign”

1. Mission: Sales goals: Leadership in the edible refined oil
   segment
   
   • Advertising Goals &Communication task:
   • Position Sundrop as the healthy oil for healthy
     people
   • Ensure that this did not erode the delivery of
     the taste benefit.
   • Positioning had to be perceptually as far away
     from Saffola.
   • Young, modern and premium feel
   • Execution had to be distinct and original to
     stand out from the clutter
     
2. Money:
   • Stage in PLC: Introductory, therefore relatively large expenditure
   • Market share: new product
   • Competitors: Saffola (Safflower oil) also used the health platform but was associated with heart patients and less taste Flora and Sunola (Sunflower oils).
     
     
3. Message: Health was chosen as the platform, along with a supporting claim for taste. People who were healthy and energetic were concerned about the long-term prospects of their health. Thus ‘Health’
   
   • Was related to maintenance of good health
   • Was applicable to all members of the family
   • Was characterized by lively energetic people
   • Thus the message and (positioning): ‘The Healthy Oil for Healthy People’
     
     
4. Media: Primary media: Television ad 30 seconds. Print ad
   
   
5. Measurement:
   • Within 6 months, Sundrop became the largest selling refined sunflower oil.
   • Redefined the category and expanded the Sunflower oil segment from 2.71% to 23% in 6 months, and 42% in 2016
   • Still the largest selling sunflower oil brand holds 15% of branded oil market.
   • The ad was shown for over 10 years as the main theme film.