In the current highly competitive market, it would be virtually impossible for a business to remain in business without an operational strategy to ensure its survival. This usually calls for ways of enlarging the market outreach of the business. One of the most efficient and recent modes of enlarging the market outreach has been use of messages on billboards, television advertisements and even on the actual products of the firm (Kang, 2007).
So as to come up with the best message, three basic factors are involved. The three aspects are: relevance, originality and impact. The three aspects draw the big picture and idea of communication in the market of the product (Kang, 2007).
In the process of coming up with the best message, the three aspects play a very important role. The relevance aspect relates the message and the product traits or use. A good example is the messages on advertisement of blue band margarine. The message explains on product traits (faster growth in children) and use (deep frying and application on bread). When there is high relevance between the product and message, the communication is highly efficient making the market outreach wider.
Originality is the other aspect. How new is the message to the eyes and ears of the consumers? Originality usually calls for more attention that the already known messages. This is mainly because of the curios nature of the human brain. Thus, coming up with a new original and attractive message catches more attention of the consumers due to the improved communication.
Impact is the last factor to consider. Will the product message impact negatively in the market or will it impact positively? This question guides the choice of words used since the message since new difficult words may have little impact compared to simple funny words. A good illustration is the use of the word ‘yummy’ in blue band audio advertisements. This makes the consumer have a mental picture of the product increasing the curiosity and maybe the use of the product.
This makes the big idea in this section to be creation of a highly simplified and communicative message to enhance sales promotion. This incorporates the idea of the process of coming up with the required message at minimal cost. One major aspect coming up in sales promotion is use of artists in the promotion. Associating the artists who are already celebrities in their fields of specialization with certain brands make the product brands have similar celebrity and gain popularity. This in turn results in improved market outreach. A good example of this technique is the association of Guinness brand with top class world football leagues (Kang, 2007).
Looking at celebrity involvement in advertisements in detail, the process has been on the rise. DDB Company has been one of the leading companies to help link the celebrities and the companies. The company helps maintain the relationship between the clients (company and the celebrity) (Julian, 2002).
One of the most outstanding advertisements in the current media is the Reebok advertisement which is done by Jay-Z. In the advertisement, the celebrity does the advertisement and gets paid by the company. From the relationship between the two parties, several problems have cropped up. The most common problem is the media used and term of relationship. The most proposed relationship between the two parties is partnership in which the celebrity does the advertisement as the capital share contribution. This business relationship has become difficult to maintain due to some problems and complex procedures involved. This is what is making it difficult for celebrities to become fully involved in sales promotion. It is also had to manage the relationship compared to the contract.
The aftermath of linking artists and brands contains both advantages and disadvantages. One of the main advantages is the popularity that the product gains through the celebrity. The popularity of the product greatly increases. The other advantage is the increased consumption of the product. This is mainly because many people tend to do things they see or hear celebrities do. An example is the increased use of Guinness beer which is said to be used by football superstars.
One of the disadvantages accrued from linking artists and brands is prejudice. There exists some prejudice against some artists thus if any brand is linked to artist, it faces the same prejudice as the artist.
The other disadvantage is the widespread rumor that most celebrities use drugs. From that perspective, linking a brand to the artists who are said to be drug users make the brand to appear linked to the drugs used by the artist. In return, the market share of the product shrinks since the consumers would not like to be linked to drug use which is illegal in most countries.
In the process of linking artists with brands, the media used to deliver the message must be carefully evaluated. If the product has to gain the maximum coverage, then mass media would be considered better than niche media. In case the message is intended only for a particular audience, niche media would be the best (Julian, 2002).
For products requiring demonstration, visual mass media are the best suited. This makes use of radio and print media become inefficient. If the target group is widespread over the globe, the best media to use would be the internet since it has the widest coverage though it requires the consumer to be computer literate (Julian, 2002). The process of finding the best media for any artist linked brand advertisement is mainly governed by the target group, coverage and level of endowment of the target group. Therefore, a universally best suited media cannot be described (Julian, 2002).
In conclusion, the process of surviving the vigorously changing competitive market environment is determined by the way the advertisement is done and the other promotion techniques. Linking celebrities with promotion has been helpful but the company has the task of evaluating the artist before entering into a partnership with the artist. This would help reduce the negative aspects of the relationship and enhance the communication of the intended message to the intended target group.
References.
http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/2011/02/celebrities-in-advertising-a-marketing-mistake.html
Julian, B. 2002. Put Away the Brief and Be Creative. B&T Marketing & Media.
Kang, S. 2007. Questions for Steve Stroute: Marketing Deals With Celebrities Grow More Complex. Pg B5A, October 31st.
