Chapter 5

Advertising Objectives

ADVERTISING OBJECTIVES

Every organisation should have objectives to provide a framework for action. Advertising
is a part of the promotion mix and thus, advertising objectives should be in line with the
overall promotional or marketing objectives of a firm which in turn, should be in line
with the overall organisational objectives. Setting advertising objectives is the starting
point in developing an advertising campaign.

CLASSIFICATION OF ADVERTISING OBJECTIVES

According to Philip Kotler, advertising objectives can be classified according to whether
their aim is to inform, persuade, remind or reinforce.
l. Inform: Informative advertising, seeks to tell the market about the product, explain
how the product works, and build awareness of both the product and the company.
Such objectives are normally pursued at the launch of a new product, or on
modification of an existing product.
2. Persuade: Persuasive advertising seeks to encourage the target audience to switch
brands, make the purchase, and create a preference in the market for the product as
opposed to its competition. Advertising of this nature is required in highly
competitive markets, where a range of products compete directly with each other.
3. Remind: Reminder advertising is used to maintain interest and awareness of a well
established product in the market, often used in the latter stages of its product life
cycle. It is also often used at the point-of-purchase to remind consumers of the
brand.
4. Reinforce: Reinforcement advertising aims to convince current purchasers that
they made the right choice. Automobile ads often depict satisfied customers enjoying
special features of their car. Also, many consumer durable product ads often depict
satisfied customers enjoying special features of their newly purchased brands. The
purpose of reinforcement advertising is to maintain market share.
 "2
~-
Advertising and Per50 l
na1s~t
I~

. hts 5·I lists possible advertising objectives according to the class1. Icar g
. . 1ns1g
Advert1smg 6
10~
· given by Philip Kotler.

ADVERTISING INSIGHT 5.1

List of Advertising Objectives

To Inform
• Informing the market about a new product
• Suggesting new uses for a product
• Informing the market of a price change
• Explaining how the product works
" Describing available services T:

• Correcting false impressions

• Reducing consumer's fears
• Building a company image
To Persuade
• Building brand preference
• Encouraging switching to your brand
• Changing consumer's perception of product attributes
• Persuading consumers to purchase now
• Persuading consumers to receive a sales call
To Remind

• Reminding consumer that the product may be needed in near future

• Reminding consumer where to buy the product from
• Keeping product in consumer's mind during off seasons
• Maintaining 'top-of-mind' awareness
To Reinforce

• Convincing current purchasers that they made the right choice

• Highlighting the positive features of a product that satisfied the people who have already
purchased it

Thus, it can be said that in general, the objective of advertising is to inform, to persuade,
to remind or to reinforce. However, an advertiser may choose one or more of th e

j
 5.3
Advertising Objectives
oping his adver tising
following specific advertising objectives as a startin g point in devel
campaign.
awareness about the produ ct or brand .
1. To create
custo mer intere st in the product or brand.
2_ To create
ers' attitud es favourably towards the brand.
3. To change custom
about the produ ct or brand.
4. To deliver inform ation
5. To increase sales.
6. To increase marke t share.
7. To build brand loyalty.
8. To suppo rt the activities of the distrib ution channel.
9. To build the comp any or brand image.
10. To stimulate behav iour (buy, call, click, visit, etc.)
11. To remin d about the brand .
12. To suppo rt the sales force.
13. To increase the usage of a produ ct.
14. To introd uce a price deal.
15. To develop overseas market.
16. To create buzz/w ord of mouth .

IMPORTANCE OF OBJECTIVES
Setting advertising objectives helps a marke ter in the following ways.
inatio n of the
• Objectives serve as communication devices and facilitate the coord
client side.
various groups worki ng on the campaign on both the agency and the
and approved
Problems can be avoided if all the parties involved have a set of written
objectives to guide their decisions and actions.
ion for the
• Good objec tives provi de the adver tiser with guida nce and direct
development of the campaign. They provide a framework for decisi
on-making in
etc.
areas such as advertising budgets, media selection, creative strategy
s or failur e
• Objectives also provid e a bench mark -o r stand ard again st which succes
es easier
ofthe campaign can be measured. When specific objectives are set, it becom
ign.
for management to measure what has been accomplished by the campa
5.4 Adv crlfi lnx and /'cnona/ ',,.
111It~

SALES AS AN ADVERTISING OU JEC'fIV

£
When an advertiser defines objectives in term
s of 1,alcs, the CJbjcc.tivc1; focu\ ''" incn:.t)tri7.
absolute sales in terms of rupees, increasing
sales by a certain percentage, ,,r incrca-,ir,~
the firms market share.
·
Evaluation of Sales as an Advertising Objective
Advertising objectives like any organisational
objective mu st be operational. Thi s mean\
that advertising objectives should provide an
effective criterion for dechion-ma~ing and
sho uld provide standards against which results
can be compared.
An immediate sale is one of the convenient and
tempting adverti sing objectives. lfowevtr
objectives that involve an increase in immediate
sale$ are not operational in many case,'
because of the following two reas ons. ·
1. Advertising is only one of the man
y fact ors influencing sales, and it h difficult to
isolate its contribution to sales.
The ?ther forces that influence sales include pric
e, packaging, distribution , pro duct
q~ahty and. features, competition and changin
g consumers' tastes. It is extremely
difficult to isolate the effect of advertising on
factors influencing sales of a product. sales. Figure 5.1 shows some of the

Advertising
/
Pro duc t Features
Pro duc t Quality
/
s
/ a
Packaging
/
/
l
Price of the Pro duc t , . e
Distribution
/ s
- ,.
/
Competition
/

Figure 5.1: Factors Influencing Sales

Let us suppose that a company manufac
model, but not many bikes get sold. Th turibn .
g bikes runs a campaign for a new
campaign, or it is also possible that th: ~~~/e~
target audience but due to some th may be .du~ to a poor adverthing
rtisement did, m fact, attract a lot of
etc., not much sales took place Th o er reason like th . f . .
. . e qua 11ty o the bike , 1ts pnc .
campaign responsible for not ach · us, 1t would be w h Id e
' . . rong to o the . .
advert1!ling
wrong to attribute an increase . .ievmgd'increase · l 5· .
m sa es. 1m1 larly, it would be
sales cannot be an effective cr·tm . mm'"e. 1ate sale tO d • •
1
s a vert
because of this reason that sales1enon ,orb
evaluaf d • 1•smg. In other word~.
objective. cannot e considc d mg a vert ismg effcctivtnes,. It h
re as an operatio . nal
alht' t11,H 1~
C

. •ng Objectives 5.5

,4dvert1s1
There is a long-term effect of advertising on sales.
z.
The contributory role of advertising in achieving increase in sales often occurs
rimarily over the long-run. In other words, advertising generates a substantial
iagged effect on sales.' This ~eans th~t the impact of an advertising campaign cannot
be known for certain until a certam length of time has passed. For example, a
prospective customer might be exposed to an advertisement today but the resultant
purchase might take place six months hence.
bon.sider Fi~ure 5.2. It shows that a~vertisi~g ma~ lead to iI~me~iate sal~s or ~ay
help in creating brand awareness or improvmg attitudes which will culminate mto
purchase much later.

Brand Awareness-----

Advertising-....--i► Immediate Sales

l
Future Sales

Improve Attitude _J
Figure 5.2: Long-term Impact of Advertising on Sales

The above discussion reveals that advertising objectives that emphasize sales are usually
not very operational because they provide little practical guidance to the decision -
makers.

SETTING ADVERTISING OBJECTIVES

Ifimmediate sales do not form the basis of operational advertising objectives, how should
one proceed in setting advertising objectives? The solution lies in addressing a set of
questions. Addressing the following three questions in a careful and systematic way will
often yield useful and effective objectives.
1. Who is the target segment?
2. What is the ultimate behaviour within that segment that advertising is attempting
to precipitate, reinforce, change or influence?
(i.e. Is advertising trying to induce trial purchases of new customers, maintenance
ofloyalty of existing customers, increasing share of requirements or increase in the
usage rate?)
3. How can advertising help in achieving the desired behaviour?
(i.e. Should advertising be used to create awareness, communicate information
5.6 Advertising and Personals .
e11lljg
about the brand, create a brand image or
attitude, build long term bra
as~ciations, or associate feelings or a type of
user personality with the brand?~d
Let us try addressing these questions one by one.

Step 1: Identifying the Target Market

For identifying the target audience, the market
needs to be segmented and then that
segment(s) be selected in which the marketer wan
ts to operate. Market can be segmented
on various basis like age, gender, geographical
location, income, family size, occupation,
usage rate, loyalty status, lifestyle, etc.
To take an example, in case of marketing a pim
ple-control cream, the market may be :
segmented on the basis of age and then the teen
age segment can be selected as the target
segment Once this is done an advertiser can plan
his entire advertising effort towards
this particular segment i.e. towards the teenager
s.
Similarly, the target market for a car like Mercede
s would be people who fall in the high
income bracket. Thus, the total market would be
segmented on the basis of income and
the high income segment would be chosen as the
target market for such a product.
Step 2: Analysis of Ultimate Desired Behavio
ur
An advertiser may like to get some desired
behaviour from his target audience. This
desired behaviour could be:
(a) induce trial purchases of new customers i.e.
attracting new customers from other
brands and from other categories
(b) maintenance of loyalty of existing custome
rs i.e. increasing brand loyalty and
reducing attrition rate
(c) increasing share of requirements
(d) increase in the usage rate
To take an example, one of the possible behaviou
rs that an advertiser might attempt
to achieve is inducing trial purchases of new
customers. This can be achieved by
attracting new customers from other brands
or by attracting new customers from
other categories.
Consider Figure 5.3 which shows a market divid
ed into three segments.
 '\
~ri-n1rnt ,\ \
I, ,~111~•·
"

/
S,•&mfnt Jl
lhl,!-C buymi.;
ollwr br,imb
cxdu,iwl\'

Figure 5.3: Divb,ion of Market into 'I hrrc ~q:1nrnh

Segment A includes those who arc our existing cu~tc111H·1,. ~omc 111r J11l1( 1 1, ,,t '·l'i'.•wril /\
\',111 buy only our brand, but there might be some other lllL'mhrr, in tlm '·tJ'.•nrnl wh,,. ir,
addition to our brand, might be buying other brand, too. l or 111 ,t .111t l' , f11r ,1 1,r11dw t
category like soups and understanding the behaviour,11 dyn.11111L <; frCtm the v11·w111,111t ,,f
an adYertiser of Knorr Soups, some customers in the m,11kct might lie l>uy111~ 11111 1 Y.111,rr
Soups while some of the existing customers of Knorr Soup, might ,,l.,o lie b11y,nv, M-•r'.,~•
Soups besides buying Knorr Soups. Segment n contains people who buy ,,thrr l,r,ind , tn
the exclusion of ours. Continuing with the same cxampll·, <;fgmtn t B wo11ld 1'111•., t 111,t .1111
those people who buy a different brand of soup other than Knorr \11up1,, \q:111rnt (,
buyers are not buyers of any brand in the product category. 'l h111,, ,cg111cnt (, w1,11hl
include all those people who do not purchase any brand of soup. In an allcmpt to .ittr,1t t
new customers, the advertiser can focus his efforts on segment B anti/or ,q:mrnt ( :.

New Customers from other Brands (Attracting Customers from ~q~mcut B to

Segment A)
The focus here is to increase the size of segment A ancl the appro.1d1 lint· h t11 c1ttrJlt
members of segment Bto get them try our brand. Thus, for mob ill· phom· ,t·r v1ec provider,.
Jio may try to attract customers of Vo<lafonc and Airtd. Attr.1tt1ng thl· u1c,tornl·r, of
other brand to increase one's market share may be diffirnlt if othrr lir,111d, .ire pr, !11rm111g
satisfactorily. It is, therefore, best to find out which existing u~rn, of the l nmpcting hr,111d
are the most dis-satisfied with it and target these "switchable" (omunirn,. ( >nc lOuld ..d ,,,
try to target those customers who are most likely to infiucnLc othl'fs to c,w1td1 too. ·1hue,,
the mobile phone service providers should try to figure out tho,c con<.llmL·rc, wltn are rH>t
happy with their current service provider, may be became of tariff r,1tc1, or tariff pl,Jn, or
hilling problems or poor network access etc. An effort ~hould then be 111:idl· to allrc1tt
such customers to the segment of your existing customers and thuc;, incrc;1<,c the market
share.
E~
Adl'atisi11g a11d Pa,0
· na1Se/f
/~6
l
~e;fCt:Stociers from other c~tegories (Attracting Customers From Segment C
• 10
Stg:=ct A)
, _ , ... .,. :M- ... , .;..
.'\,;.;,--~•-:r·I.-...U
tu L"1.:re.1Se the size of segment .-\ is to attract people from seom
':' t) ent~
;_ ... :. .... ., _,,,_,,,
........_ - .. ~!' .... t'"'"r·. .
,,-l-- 0 are cu.rrcnth-,
not bunng
' -..
the product category. Thus, if pla\·er 1,k
' Su·e
•:) .'-1...___
....,.., -~ - , . . -., --eJ.:-!e
..... _ .... ~ .. \,,,••· .... t ' bclcning
• to the lower income groups, who.are not currentlr
.. ,:-.'.! , - ":.,, .. ":c::;e to use it$ senii:es at a rate which the}· can easi1)1 afford, the}' are bl
\,,ao._-.a~--,..~----r ' ae
'J :---..
.. _..,...,_ ....
- • '- -
,,., ~i.., ,:1e
... cf tl:eir existing.... customers segment.
'-'

Step 3: [sing Adnrtising to Achie,e Action (Desired Beha,iour)

Cr£: ,:•;ecisi.:g is not ''°ell suited to directly precipitate action. Rather, it is better at
:::7 ::.z:g sJ~e co~unic~tion, as_s~ciation, or persuasion task that will hopefully
res-.:..t :..:! ~e cemed action being prec1p1tated.
r~: :-_...a:::.e, w:en tte desired action is trial purchase by the consumer, adYertising should
::..:-.:.s 0:1 cre,::bg brand awareness. This brand awareness will work as an interYening
nf.:.::~e Kr.ich will help in achie,ing the desired beha,iour from the customers i.e. a trial

Brand Awareness ----

► Trial Purchase

l
InterYening Variable
l
Behavioural Variable

A trial prchase can also be precipitated by more than one intervening variables helping
b ge::-'.er,tir.g the desired beha,iou.r. This is exhibited in the following equation.

.. Brand Knowledge of .
Ad,·ernsmg --+ A· wareness - . Brand Attri'but --+ Tnal Purchase
es

The above two equations show that advertising can help in creating brand awareness
which can lead to trial purchase (desired behaviour) either directly or through creation
of brand attribute knowledge. In other words, advertising with the help of intervening
variables can help in generating desired behaviour.
GiYen belo·.-, are some more examples of how advertising can achieve the desired action
throug,i intervening variables.
Ad\·ertising - . Knowledge of - . Increased Usage
~ew Application/Uses

Advertising-. Knowledge about the Sales via Personal

Company _. Selling

Associating Brand with

Advertising - - . User Type _ . Loyalty
Adl'ertising Objectives 5.9

It is now clear that the desired action is achieved with the help of intervening variables.
Thus, it makes sense for the advertiser to set intervening variables as the advertising
objectives. If advertising can make these intervening variables work, the desired response/
action will automatically be forthcoming.
Thus, in the foregoing analysis, the following can be cited as advertising objectives:
• Creating brand awareness
• Giving knowledge of new applications/uses of the product
• Providing knowledge about the company
• Associating brand with a particular user type

THE CASE OF MULTIPLE OBJECTIVES

A more complicated model would be one where advertising has more than one objective,
that is, when advertising stresses on more than one intervening variables to achieve the
desired action.

.. {:owledge of Brand Attributes}

Advertismg _ Trial Purchase

Brand Attitude

When the advertising campaign can focus upon a single well-defined objective, the
communication task is made easier. When several objectives are introduced, there is
always the danger that the campaign will become a compromise that will be ineffective
with respect to all the objectives. Experts in the advertising industry suggest that simplicity
in advertising objectives is vital. An advertisement that tries to say too much loses focus
and becomes ineffective. In addition, research has shown that advertising that tries to
maximize effectiveness with regard to one objective very often fails to be effective on the
other objectives.
The approach in setting advertising objectives just outlined in the aforesaid discussion is
an improvement and extension of the DAGMAR approach, which is discussed below.

THE DAGMAR APPROACH

DAGMAR is an acronym for Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results.
The concept was given by Russell H. Colley. The DAGMAR approach defines an advertising
goal (i.e. an advertising objective) as a specific communication task to be accomplislied
among a defined audience, in a given period of time.
A Communication Task
As seen earlier in our discussion, an advertising objective involves a communication task
 Advertising and Personal S .
5.10 e11ing

h ing attitude of people towards a b

(for example, building brand ahwahreness, c :7!ation task is based on a specific mole~nd
etc). In the DAGMAR approac , t e commu of
. the figure be1ow.
the communication process, as sh own m
Unaware

t
Aware

t
Comprehension and Image

t
Attitude

t
Action
The model suggests that there is a series of steps through which a brand must climb to
gain acceptance. An individual starts at some point by being unaware of a brand's presence
in the market. The initial communication task that advertising is to do is increase consumer
awareness of the brand. The second step of the communication process is brand
comprehension. This involves the target audience learning something about the brand
- in what way is it different from its competitors? Whom is it supposed to benefit? etc.
\
Thus, at this stage of the communication model, the objective of advertising is to impart
such knowledge to the target audience. The next step in the communication model is

l attitude or conviction. At this stage, advertising aims at developing a favourable attitude

of the target customers towards the brand. The last stage, that is the action stage,
involves some move on the part of the customer, such as, trying a brand for the first
time, visiting the showroom etc. 1

Thus, as per DAGM1R approach, advertising objectives are nothing but communicatiot1
tasf:-5 to be_ accomplish~d. These ~ommunication tasks are nothing but the intervening
variables discussed earlier (step 3 m setting advertising objectives) in our discussion The
DAGMAR ~pproach assumes that focus on these intervening variables - aware~ess,
comprehension and conviction (i.e. communication tasks) will lead to action.

i A communication model such as the DAGMAR mode . . . .

sequentialJy pass through a series ofste . t d I, which implies that the target audience will
ps, 1s erme as a hie h f .r b
I of hierarchy models which have been pro osed rare y~o -euccts model. There are a num er
O
I individual passing through four stages-~tt ·. ne_such model 1s the AIDA model whkh explains an
Robert Lavidge and Gary Steiner includ ent_ion, intere st , desire and action. The model given by
conviction, and purchase. These modt:!s hav es six
b ~tages- .awaren ess,- k now Ied ge, liking, prekrt'n,
. ' t'
·
1
e een exp amed in Chapter 4 of the book.
 . ;ng Objectives 5.11
,A.Jvert1s

Aspecific Task
Another important concept_of DAGMAR approach_is tha~ the advertising goal should be
•fjc. It should be a written, measurable task mvolvmg a starting point, a defined
1
sped~ nce and a fixed time period. Thus, an advertising goal for a manufacturer of brand
au
Xofiedetergent
, could be set as 10
c 11
ows:
. c~ease awareness (communication task) of brand X of detergent from 20% to 70%
To in
(amount of change ) wit. h'm two months (time
. peno
. d) among housewives (target).

To stimulate thi~king ~bout adver~ising objective~ within the DAGMAR concept, Colley
vided advertisers with a checklist of 52 advertising tasks and suggested that each task
~:oevaluated in terms of its relative importance.

Critical Evaluation of the DAGMAR Approach

The DAGMAR approach uses communication tasks like awareness, comprehension,
attitude etc. in setting advertising objectives. It made a point that such goals are more
appropriate for advertising as compared to some other measures like sales, which have
multiple causes. The DAGMAR approach also focuses attention upon measurement,
thus, encouraging marketers to create objectives which are specific, measurable and
operational.
However, the DAGMAR approach has been criticized on the following grounds.
I. Sales Goal: The DAGMAR approach emphasizes on the intervening variables like
awareness, comprehension, etc. which will ultimately lead to sales.. Critics say that
if there is a close relationship between these intervening variables and -sales then
why not measure sales directly and set sales as the advertising objective.
2. Measurement Problems: Intervening variables like awareness, brand comprehension,
attitude etc. are difficult to measure as compared to sales.
3. Noise in the System: It can be argued that there might be many other factors besides
advertising that determine awareness, brand comprehension etc. For instance, an
adverse publicity might lead people to comprehend the brand in a particular way.
It does not necessarily mean that the advertisement was ineffective.
4. Inhibits Ideas: The DAGMAR approach provides guidance to the creative team in
designing the advertising campaign. By emphasizing intervening variables and not
the final result, the creative talent of these people might be inhibited and there is a
likelihood that they may not come up with great ideas.

COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVES OF ADVERTISING

It follows from the aforesaid discussion that an advertising objective involves a
communication task to be accomplished. A marketer may, thus, focus on the following
communication objectives of advertising.
 Ad-vertr;mz aruf •.
I tr;,,
5.12 .
1P"_;._ "

• To Create Awareness: One of the important

1
objectives of advertising is to create awareness
about the existence and availability of a
product or a service. It also makes the target
audience aware about any changes or
modifications introduced in the product. for
instance, when Hutch became Vodafone, its
advertisements did a good job in creating ..;-~
awareness that "Hutch is now Vodafone~ The c;;.----- ~-~
story was told by Hutch's brand ambassador-
pug, the cute little dog. The ad opened with the famous "Hutch" pug re~tir., . 1
pink kennel (Pink was the colour of brand "Hutch"). The pug left for a ~tr,~ ··:.i l
came back and found a bigger red kennel imtead of his pink one and t!-.e: r.. ~;....~ j
1
that popped up was, "Change is good" followed by "Hutch is now Vudaf,Jr,( -:~t
Recently, Philips went digital to launch the awareness campaign for its air p1.:r/...
with a dedicated website named 'Breathe the Difference: and through social rr.~,: ~
The 'Breathe the Difference' website gives all the information about the air p1~r~f;
in simplified terms, along with a product demo video. It also provides a link t,1 l:. ·:
the product. ·:

1,/t 1 •,r '1 1 ~;f'1

'/, ,t ,,' /, ,,
brea th~ healtht • ir. &(,t,,,ty\l

Philip~ / dr r.1uri(10r

The Philips Home Living

Facebook page along with the
Twitter page posted the initial Introducing
th t our new Ph1l1ps II nJ(r
" ', ur, III.I ~o
content on the air purifier. The . a ,your loved on<c:s can breathe health 'y
air.a waysf
Facebook page featured a cover Know more he:rc:
photo along with posts sharing
the demo video and the website.
The brand's Twitter page also
helped in spreading awareness
with its tweets and about the 2 ., lh' • , .• 2 ' "'

importance of cleaner indoor ' ,

air, during the launch period.
Advertising Objectives 5.13

2. To Develop Comprehension:
communication obje~tive of advertising is to
develop comprehension, that is, to create an
Another
HOW PURE IS YOUR
PURIFIED WATER?
-
understanding wherein, consumers are educated b
providing knowledge about the product or servic:.
Some advertisers hav~ done a great job in imparting
knowledge about their brands and their features to
the target audience. For instance, advertisements
by Saffola Gold have stressed on the fact that Saffola
Gold refined oil helps in reducing the cholesterol
level. Similarly, advertisements of Kent RO educates
the consumers ~at the product helps in killing bacteria and viruses present in the
water, removes dissolved impurities and maintains natural minerals present in the
drinking water.
3. To Create Conviction: Advertising seeks to
convince the target audience that they need the
product and they will be benefited by the product
if they purchase it. For instance, the advertisement
of Olay anti-ageing lotion tries to convince its target
audience that they need the product to protect their
skin from the signs of ageing. The ads talk about
tlie 7 benefits that Olay gives to its users including
providing protection against dark spots, dry skin,
dull glow-less skin, fine lines and wrinkles, sagging
skin, open pores and uneven skin tone. The ads also
use famous personalities like Kajol, Karisma
Kapoor etc. as the spokesperson to create
convicti~n amongst its target consumers.
4. To Secure Action: The last communication objective of advertising is to persuade
target customers to respond. Such a response or actio11 can be secured in the form
of a purchase or by making enquiries about the product from the dealers or by
walking into the showroom etc. For instance, an advertisement announcing Rs.5
off on purchase of Maggi Family Pack is expected to secure an action in the form of
purchases by the target customers.
Advertising Insight 5.2 explains how BookMyShow conceptualized its
advertisement in order to encourage people to use the platform to build a habit of
early booking of movie tickets.