Media Characteristics

• Media: an umbrella term for all types of print, broadcast, out-

of-out, and interactive communication.
• Medium: Each specific type of media (TV, Radio,
Newspapers)
• Examples of Media Vehicles: Manila Bulletin, MTV, 90.7
• Mass Media: communication channels through which
messages may be sent to the “masses”-large, diverse audiences.
• Niche Media: communication channels through which
messages are sent to audiences with a distinct commonality.
• Addressable Media: media that carry messages to identifiable
customers or prospects.
• Interactive Media: two-way media allowing both companies
and customers to send and receive messages.
Medium Advantages
Newspapers Many ad sizes available, quick placement,
and local targeting.

Magazines High-quality graphics/reproduction, prestige

factor, and color.

TV Combines sight, sound, movement. A single

message. Demonstration.

Radio Intimacy, loyal following, and ability to

change message quickly.

Direct Mail Measurable, graphics, color, 3-D, and highly

personal.

Outdoor Local targeting, graphics, color, simple

message, and larger than life.
• Newspapers
• Formats and Features:
• Broadsheets
• Tabloids
• Content divided by topic
• Ad space is sold per column inch (a space that is one column wide
and one inch tall) (Ex. If column is 4 columns wide and 10 inches
tall-40 column inches).
• Coverage & audience measurement: circulation and readers per copy
(RPC)
• Newspapers
• Classified ads: small-space, words-only ads presented in a clearly labeled
section with no surrounding editorial content. (Classified display ads:
includes graphics and larger sizes of type)
• Display ads: ads that generally contain more graphics and white space
that copy and appear next to editorial content.
• Supplement inserts: inserts that are preprinted by an advertiser and
enclosed with the newspaper
• Free-standing inserts: supplements that contain ads, most with coupons,
for a variety of national brands.
Mass medium Selective attention
Local medium Creative flexibility
Comprehension in An active medium
scope
A permanent record
Geographic selectivity
Reasonable cost
Timeliness
Credibility
Use simple layouts Develop a single ad
format
Always caption photos
Before-and-after photos
Long copy is okay
better than words
Avoid negative headlines
Do not print copy in
Seek story appeal reverse type
Photos work better than Make each ad a
illustrations complete sale
Look at your ad in its
editorial environment
• Magazines
• Classification:
• Frequency of distribution (weekly, monthly, quarterly)
• Type of audience (consumer, business, trade and professional)
• Type of distribution:
• Paid-circulation publications-magazines that sell subscriptions
• Controlled-circulation publications-trade, industrial, and organizational
magazines that are distributed free to those working in a given subject
area or affiliated with a given organization
• Higher pass-along rate or RPC
• Magazines
• Gatefolds: two or more oversize pages that fold-out
from the magazine
• Tip-ins: Pre-printed ads that are bound or glued into
the magazine but are printed on heavier paper than the
rest of the magazine.
• Business Reply Cards (BRCs): postcard-sized ads that
are (a) slipped between the pages (so they easily fall
out when the magazine is read), (b) tipped into the
binding so they are easily seen but held in place, or (c)
stuck onto an ad.
• Pop-up ads: three-dimensional ads that stand up when
the magazine is opened to the page on which they
appear.
• Scent strips: patches that readers can scratch or pull off
to elicit a smell (used for perfumes, air fresheners, and
foods).
• Magazines
• Ad space sold in portions of a page-quarter-, half-, and full-age ads, as
well as double-page spreads (which are ads printed across two facing
pages).
• Bleed ads: ads with graphics that go to the edge of the page.
Flexibility Cost efficiency
Color Selling power
Authority and Reader loyalty
believability
Extension pass-along
Permanence readership
Prestige Merchandising
assistance
Audience selectivity
• Audience measurement
• Rating point: 1 percent of a communication vehicle’s coverage area that
has been exposed to a broadcast program.
• Audience share: the percentage of persons using a radio or TV at a
particular time who are tuned to a particular station.
• Sales pricing (:30 and :60)
• Radio
• Image transfer: a process by which members of a target
audience exposed to the sights and sounds of a brand’s TV
message when they are exposed to a similar soundtrack on
radio.
• Daypart: block of time identified by a station for the purpose
of setting ad rates (6-10AM, 10AM-3PM, 3-7PM, 7PM-
Midnight, Midnight-6AM)
• TV
• Infomercials: 30-minute commercial “program” that
demonstrates a product, presents testimonials from satisfued
users, and offers viewers one or more ways to buy the
product direct (toll-free number, website address, mailing
address).
• Interactive TV: the convergence of computers, television,
and the internet
 Pros Cons
Mass coverage High production costs
Low cost High air-time costs
Some selectivity Limited selectivity
Impact Brevity
Creativity Clutter
Prestige Zipping and Zapping
Social dominance
 a. Network

Advertiser

Commercials
Producer Network Local
station

Programming Programming

b. Syndication

Producer Commercials Local

station
Advertiser

Programming
 Pros Cons
Reach and Frequency Limitations of sound
Selectivity Segmented audiences
Cost-efficiency Short-lived and half-
heard commercials
Timelessness
Clutter
Immediacy
Local relevance
Creative flexibility
• Out-of-home
• Billboards or outdoor boards
• Theater and video ads
• Product placement in movies
• Aerial advertising
• Electronic kiosks
• Ads in elevators or bathroom stalls
• Banner displays on ATM
• Chalk and stencil sidewalk messages
• Placards on shopping carts
• Out-of-home
• Bulletins: 14x48 ft; either painted or printed panels;
usually create for a local marketer in the outdoor
company’s shop and then assembled on the billboard
structure.
• 30-sheet posters: 12x25 ft; printed on large sheets in
multiple copies and then distributed to a local outdoor
companies, which mount the sheets on the outdoor
board.
• 8-shweet panels (also called junior panels): 5x11 ft;
good with pedestrian traffic; often used by food-
product manufacturers as a reminder near a grocery
store.
• Spectaculars: nonstandard; used in busy metro areas
such as New York, Hong Kong, etc.; electronic signs
with movement, color, and flashing lights designed to
grab attention in high-traffic areas.
• Cinema and Video
• Promotional video networks: companies that use
videos or satellite transmission to a distribute programs
and commercial messages.
• Nontraditional Media
• Guerilla marketing: a marketing approach that reaches
people in unconventional ways-in the streets or in other
unexpected places.
• Product Placement
• Paid verbal or visual brand exposure in entertainment
programming
 Pros Cons
Accessibility Fleeting message
Reach Environmental influence
Frequency Audience measurement
Geographic flexibility Control (hard to inspect
panels for quality, etc.)
Demographic flexibility
Planning and costs (long
Cost (lowest per exposure)
lead times, upfront costs)
Impact
Availability of locations
Creative flexibility
Visual pollution
Location
• Truck Ads
• Bus Wraps
 Pros Cons
Long exposure Status (lack of)
Repetitive value Crowded environment
Eagerly read messages Selectivity
Low cost Clutter
Creative flexibility Location
(special constructions, etc.)
Creative restrictions
Need satisfying (able to (copy limited, etc.)
target it well)
Environmentally sensitive
(fits growth in public transit)
• Banner Ads
• Content Sponsorships
• Email Ads
• Websites
 Pros Cons
Truly Interactive Untested medium
Enormous audience Targeting costs
Immediate response Slow downloads
Affluent market Not yet mainstream
In-depth information Ad may be placed
inappropriately
Rapid-growth industry
Unproved security and
Business-to-business
privacy
Advertorials
Global marketing
Virtual storefront limitations
 Pros Cons
Selectivity High per-exposure cost
Intensive coverage, Delivery problems
extensive reach
Lack of editorial content
Flexibility support
Control Selectivity problems
Personal Impact Negative attitudes
Exclusivity Environmental concerns
Highest response
Testability
 Authoritative Influential
3% 2%
11% 3%
9%
5%
20%
57% 81%

9%

Television Newspapers Don’t know

Radio Magazines
• Ease (to handle and store)
• Convenience
• List ingredients
• Instructions
• Life o f product
• Disposal method
• Toll-free phone number for emergencies
• Performance guarantees
• Safety guarantees
• Environmental safety (biodegradability)
• Reusable
• Recyclable
• Package safe to handle and use
• Environmentally safe
• Package free of health hazards
• Self-informative
– List of ingredients
– Instructions
– Disposable method
– Toll-free phone number for emergencies
– Warranties
– Expiration dated
• Recyclable
• Adherence to federal and local regulators