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PESIT Bangalore South Campus
Hosur road, 1km before Electronic City, Bengaluru -100
Department of MBA
ANSWER KEY FOR INTERNAL ASSESSMENT TEST – 2
Date
: 17/05/2017
Subject & Code : Integrated Marketing Communication - 14MBAMM408
Name of faculty : Ravi Urs
Max Marks : 50 marks
Section
: A
Time : 8:30 – 10:00 AM
Note: Answer all questions
1(a)
Define: Media planning, reach and coverage
(3 marks)
Media Planning: Media Planning is a series of decisions involved in delivering the promotional
message to the prospective purchasers and users of product or brand. It is a process. The
decisions taken may be altered or abandoned as the plan develops.
Reach: It is a measure of the number of different audience members exposed at least once to a
media vehicle in a given period of time. It is the actual audience to whom the message is
delivered.
Coverage: It is the potential audience that might receive the message through a media vehicle.
It relates to potential audience.
(b)
What is clutter? Explain
(3 marks)
Clutter refers to the scenario where a large number of advertisers are using a media vehicle.
This leads to many advertisements being seen by the customers within a short period of time.
This limits the ability of the customers to pay attention to the advertisements and comprehend
the messages.
2(a)
Explain the scheduling methods available to the media planner.
Though ideally every marketer would like to show the product or brand at every given
opportunity it is not practical due to constraints like budget. Scheduling is intended to time
promotional efforts so that they will coincide with the highest potential buying times.
Three types of scheduling methods can be used:
Continuity
It is a continuous pattern of advertising like every day, every week or every month
MBA IV SEMESTER
(7 marks)
USN
PESIT Bangalore South Campus
Hosur road, 1km before Electronic City, Bengaluru -100
Department of MBA
A regular pattern is developed without gaps or non-advertising periods
This scheduling is useful for food products, laundry detergents, or items consumed on an
ongoing basis without regard to seasonality
E.g. Toothpaste and shampoo ads
Advantages
Serves as a constant reminder to the consumer
Covers the entire buying cycle
Allows for media priorities (quantity discounts, preferred locations, etc)
Disadvantages
Higher costs
Potential for over exposure
Limited media allocation possible
Flighting
Here the scheduling is intermittent period of advertising and non-advertising
E.g. Cool drinks during summer, warm clothing during winter
Advantages
Cost efficiency of advertising only during purchase cycles
May allow for inclusion of more than one medium or vehicle with limited budgets
Disadvantages
Increased likelihood of ware out
Lack of awareness, interest, retention of promotional message during nonscheduled times
MBA IV SEMESTER
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PESIT Bangalore South Campus
Hosur road, 1km before Electronic City, Bengaluru -100
Department of MBA
Vulnerability to competitive efforts during nonscheduled periods
Pulsing
It is a combination of first two methods
Here the continuity is maintained with certain periods of stepped up efforts
E.g. Holiday package may be continuous with heavy advertising during summer and winter
vocations
This strategy depends on objectives, buying cycles and budget
Advantages
Serves as a constant reminder to the consumer
Covers the entire buying cycle
Allows for media priorities (quantity discounts, preferred locations, etc)
Cost efficiency of advertising only during purchase cycles
May allow for inclusion of more than one medium or vehicle with limited budgets
Disadvantages
Not required for seasonal or cyclical products
Recent research have proved that continuity is more effective than flighting
It would be better for advertisers to continue weekly schedules as long as possible
MBA IV SEMESTER
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PESIT Bangalore South Campus
Hosur road, 1km before Electronic City, Bengaluru -100
Department of MBA
(b)
Explain the various problems in media planning.
Insufficient information
Planners need a lot of information for media planning
Sometimes data are not gathered as either they cannot be measured or measuring them is too
expensive
The timing of measurement can be a problem as the timing of the actual promotion may be
different from the time the measurement was taken
This is a bigger challenge for smaller companies as it is costly to purchase data
Inconsistent terminologies
The cost bases used by different media often vary
The standards of measurement used to establish these costs are not always consistent
Terms that actually mean something different (such as reach and coverage) may be used
synonymously
Time pressures
Advertisers are always under time pressure either to respond to an competitor ad or to create
a differentiating ad
This may lead to media selection decisions being made without proper planning and analysis of
MBA IV SEMESTER
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USN
PESIT Bangalore South Campus
Hosur road, 1km before Electronic City, Bengaluru -100
Department of MBA
the market or media
Difficulty measuring effectiveness
The difficulty of measuring the effectiveness is there in general for all media and is more
specific when attempt is made to compare effectiveness between various medium and media
vehicles
The planners have to resort to estimates or good guesses
Other problems
Managers have to assume the images of a medium in a market with which they are not
familiar
They have to anticipate the impact of recent events
They have to make judgments without full knowledge of all the available alternatives
3(a)
Explain the budgeting approaches to promotional programs.
Budgeting approaches
There are two broad approaches:
1. Top-down approaches
2. Build-up approaches
1. Top-down approaches
 Budgetary amount is established at top level and then monies are passed down to
various departments
 Budgets are predetermined and have no theoretical basis
 It includes:
1. The affordable method
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PESIT Bangalore South Campus
Hosur road, 1km before Electronic City, Bengaluru -100
Department of MBA
 The amount to be spent in areas like production and operations is determined
 What's left is allocated for advertising/promotion
 This amount is considered as ‘what the firm can afford’
 The task to be performed by advertising/promotion is not considered
 Likelihood of under or over spending very high
 Companies spending within their limits, no overspending is high
 No guidelines for measuring the effects of various budgets are established
 This method is common among small firms and large firms which are not market
driven and so do not understand the role of advertising.
 The logic for this approach is that the firm will not get in financial problems
 This method does not make any sound managerial decision making from a marketing
perspective
2. Arbitrary allocation
 There is no theoretical basis and the budget is set by fiat
 It is based on what management feels to be necessary
 There are no advantages in this method
 There is no systematic thinking
 No objectives have been budgeted for
 Concept and purpose of advertising/promotion ignored
3. Percentage of sales
 It is one of the most commonly used method
 The Advertising/promotion budget is based on sales of product
 The determination of the budget is done either as:
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PESIT Bangalore South Campus
Hosur road, 1km before Electronic City, Bengaluru -100
Department of MBA

Taking a percentage of the sales dollars
 The percentage is usually based on the industry standard
 It varies from industry to industry
 Sometimes it can also be a percentage of the projected sales rather
than the previous years sales
 Percentage of projected sales helps in better management of changing
environment as it reflects current conditions and be more appropriate

Assigning a fixed amount of the unit product cost to promotion and
multiplying this amount by the number of units sold
 The number of units sold can be the projected numbers for the
upcoming year also
4. Competitive parity
 In this method, managers match the competitor's percentage-of-sales expenditures
 Companies that provide competitive advertising information, trade associates, and
other advertising industry periodicals are a source for competitor’s information E.g.
Competitive media Reporting, which estimates top 1000 companies' ads in 10 media
and in total
 It may mean using the collective wisdom of industry
 It considers competition
 It may lead to stability in marketplace by minimizing marketing warfare
 It is mostly used in conjunction with the percentage-of-sales or other methods
 Smaller companies may use clipping service, where ads from the local print media are
clipped and the company works backwards to estimate the cost of budget
5. Return on Investment (ROI)
 Advertising/promotion are considered as investments
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PESIT Bangalore South Campus
Hosur road, 1km before Electronic City, Bengaluru -100
Department of MBA
 These investments leads to certain returns
 It is difficult to assess the returns provided by promotional effort
 It is a difficult method to employ
 It leads to predetermined budget appropriation often not linked to objectives and the
strategies designed to accomplish them
2. Build-Up approaches
 It helps overcoming the short comings of Top-down approach
 It considers the firm's communicative objective and budget is set to accomplish the
communicative objectives
 The idea of this method of budgeting is to ensure that the promotional mix strategies
can be implemented to achieve the stated objectives
Objective and Task Method
 Objective setting and budgeting must go hand in hand rather sequentially
 Budgeting is a must to achieve an objective and objective has to be set based on the
availability of budget
 This method uses the build up approach
 It has three steps:
1. Defining the communications objectives to be achieved
2. Determining the specific strategies and tasks needed to attain objectives
3. Estimating the costs associated with performance of these strategies and tasks
 Total budget is based on the accumulation of these costs
 There must be continuous monitoring and change in strategies to achieve the
objectives
 Steps in the process:
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1. Isolate objectives
 It is about isolating the marketing objectives and communication objectives
 Communication objectives are derived from marketing objectives
 Communication objectives will be designed to accomplish the marketing objectives
 Communication objectives must be specific, attainable, measurable and time limited
2. Determine tasks required
 It is about determining the tasks in strategic plan to attain the objectives established
 These tasks may involve advertising in various media, sales promotion and other
elements of promotion mix, each with its own role to perform
3. Estimate required expenditures
 Estimating the cost for activities mentioned in step 2
4. Monitor
 Performance must be monitored and evaluated in light of the budget appropriated
5. Reevaluate objectives
 Once specific objectives have been attained, monies must be better spent on new
goals
Advantage
 Budget is driven by objectives to be attained
 The managers closest to the marketing effort will have specific strategies and input
into the budget-setting process
Disadvantages
 Difficulty in determining which tasks will be required and the costs associated with
each
 Past experiences either in similar product or in same product category can be used as
MBA IV SEMESTER
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PESIT Bangalore South Campus
Hosur road, 1km before Electronic City, Bengaluru -100
Department of MBA
guide
 Difficult for new products
Payout planning
 Payout planning determines the investment value of the advertising and promotion
appropriation
 The basic idea is to project the revenue that will be generated and the cost that will be
incurred over the next two to three years
 Based on expected rate of return, the payout plan will help in determining how much
advertising and promotional expenditure will be necessary when the return might be
expected
 The advertisement and promotion figures are the highest in year 1 and decline in year
2 and 3. This reflects the additional layout needed to make as rapid an impact as
possible
 When used in conjunction with objective and task method, it provides a much more
logical approach to budget setting than the top-down approach
Quantitative models
 Multiple regression models are used to determine the relative contribution of the
advertising budget to sales
 It has met with limited acceptance
(b)
Explain the process of developing the media plan in detail.
Developing a media plan involves four stages
1. Market analysis
The key questions to be asked in this stage are:
To whom shall we advertise (who is the target market?)
It is about which specific group to target
It is planned with the client, account representative, marketing department and creative
MBA IV SEMESTER
(10 marks)
USN
PESIT Bangalore South Campus
Hosur road, 1km before Electronic City, Bengaluru -100
Department of MBA
directors
It may require data from primary and secondary research
Percentages and index numbers are preferred when using secondary data
The index number is given as:
Index number = (Percentage of users in a demographic segment/percentage of population in
the same segment)*100
Marketers may use this index number to target the group that is already using the product or
target the segment where the number of current users are less and so there is scope for
developing the segment
What internal and external factors may influence the media plan?
Internal factors may involve
Size of the media budget
Managerial and administrative capabilities
Organization of the agency
External factors may include
Economy (raising cost of media)
Change in technology (availability of new media)
Competitive factors
Brand Development Index (BDI)
It helps in finding the rate of product usage by geographic area
BDI =(Percentage of brand to total sales in the market/Percentage of total population in the
MBA IV SEMESTER
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PESIT Bangalore South Campus
Hosur road, 1km before Electronic City, Bengaluru -100
Department of MBA
market)*100
The higher this index number, the more market potential exists and there is high potential for
brand development
Category Development Index (CDI)
This index number talks about the potential for development of the total product category
rather than specific brands
CDI = (Percentage of product category total sales in market/ Percentage of total population in
the market)*100
When this information is combined with the BDI, a much more insightful promotional strategy
may be developed
2. Establishment of media objectives
Media objectives are designed to lead to the attainment of communication and marketing
objectives
They are goals for the media program
They should be limited to those that can be accomplished through media strategies
3. Media strategy development and implementation
The criteria considered in the development of media plans are:
The media mix
Media mix adds versatility to media strategies as each medium contributes in its distinct way
It helps in increasing coverage, reach and frequency levels while improving the likelihood of
achieving overall communications and marketing goals
MBA IV SEMESTER
USN
PESIT Bangalore South Campus
Hosur road, 1km before Electronic City, Bengaluru -100
Department of MBA
Target market coverage
Media planner must plan for maximum coverage within the market with minimum amount of
waste coverage
There is a trade-off between some people being not exposed to the message to people not
intended getting the message
Waste coverage is justified if the cost of waste coverage is exceeded by the value gained from
their use
Geographic coverage
Expose those markets to the message where there is high potential for getting good returns
for the exposure
Scheduling
Three types of scheduling methods can be used:
Continuity
It is a continuous pattern of advertising like every day, every week or every month
A regular pattern is developed without gaps or non-advertising periods
This scheduling is useful for food products, laundry detergents, or items consumed on an
ongoing basis without regard to seasonality
Flighting
Here the scheduling is intermittent period of advertising and non-advertising
Pulsing
MBA IV SEMESTER
USN
PESIT Bangalore South Campus
Hosur road, 1km before Electronic City, Bengaluru -100
Department of MBA
It is a combination of first two methods
Here the continuity is maintained with certain periods of stepped up efforts
This strategy depends on objectives, buying cycles and budget
Reach versus frequency
The advertisers must decide whether to have the message be seen or heard by more people
(reach) or by fewer people more often (frequency)
GRP and TRP are used to decide the reach and frequency
Creative aspects and mood
The context of the medium in which the ad is placed may also affect viewer’s perceptions
A specific creative strategy may require certain medium and media vehicle
Marketers must consider both creativity and mood factors
Flexibility
Flexibility is needed for the media strategy to be effective due to the rapidly changing
marketing environment
Opportunities may be lost and the company may not be able to address new threats if
flexibility is not incorporated in media plan
Budget considerations
Cost estimating is one of the most important decisions in developing media strategy
Value of a strategy is determined by how well it delivers the message to the audience with the
lowest cost and least waste
MBA IV SEMESTER
USN
PESIT Bangalore South Campus
Hosur road, 1km before Electronic City, Bengaluru -100
Department of MBA
4. Evaluation and follow-up
Measures of effectiveness of media strategy implementation must consider two factors:
How well did these strategies achieve the media objective?
How well did this media plan contribute to attaining the overall marketing and
communications objectives?
All the medium in both the medias the print and broadcast are being evaluated. Every medium
has its advantages and disadvantages. These have to be evaluated to understand how
effectively these mediums can be used.
4
Case Study
Consumers are inundated with various options when selecting a sneaker. Nike, for example,
offers options such as monkey paw, ball control materials, N site, tensile sock liner, abrasion
resistant materials and foot form. Many of the options appear in shoes targeted at particular
athletic event. Monkey paw is for basketball players, ball control materials and tensile sock
liners are for soccer players, N-site and foot form are for runners and abrasion resistant
materials is for tennis players.
Over the past two decades, Nike's innovative product development process has become the
industry standard. In the late 1970s, Nike began the development of shoes with air bag
cushioning and 'Nike Air' was born. A few of the Nike shoes built on this air technology were
called Tailwind, Pagasus, Epic and Air Max. The introduction of Air Max started the market
trend of see through openings that allowed consumers to see the air cushioning system.
Throughout the company's history technological development has been the corner stone of
the brand's success. Although Nike will continue to follow a strategy of continual product
innovation, changes in the traditional footwear market are driving Nike and other shoe
manufacturers to rethink about their strategies.
For Nike this meant the creation of the Alpha project. The Nike Alpha project is an attempt to
focus on the broader needs of an athlete footwear, apparel and equipment. Alpha will focus
on a particular sport and market the entire line of Nike products to the players of this
particular sport. The company will have Alpha athletes with targeted ads featuring the Alpha
Athlete clad solely in Nike products. Perhaps Nike hopes this shift in focus - from footwear
technology to complete athletic outfitting - will help recapture the attention of younger
consumers who are leaving the sneaker market for walking shoe market.
MBA IV SEMESTER
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PESIT Bangalore South Campus
Hosur road, 1km before Electronic City, Bengaluru -100
Department of MBA
(a)
(b)
(c)
Questions:
Is Alpha project consistent with Nike's historical brand message? Give reasons.
 Yes, the Alpha project is consistent with Nike’s historical brand image

Nike's historical brand message has been product innovation focused on making the
best sneakers for different sports.

Their attention was on giving the best comfort to players

The Alpha project is an continuation of the same brand message of product innovation
and giving the best products to the sportsmen

The renewed focus in Alpha project has been to choose a sport and to make an entire
line of Nike products for that sport.

They also plan to use Alpha athletes in each sport to promote products related to that
sport
What are the implications for Nike if the shift to complete athletic outfitting is perceived by
the market as a departure from the company's historic image and positioning?
 Sports persons may doubt the ability of Nike to be as innovative in creating other
products related to sport as they are with sneakers

Their new products will be compared with the products from existing manufacturers

Nike may no longer to known as sneakers manufacturing company

Nike may get an opportunity to include more products in its portfolio

Alpha sportspersons will be needed to build Nike brand in related products

Nike will need to be more innovative in its product design

The sports it wants to focus has to be chosen carefully
Will the use of Alpha athletes bring younger buyers back to sneakers?
 Alpha athletes have the following characteristics:
a) Famous
b) Young
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PESIT Bangalore South Campus
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c) Achievers
d) Idols
e) Heroes
f)
Best in the game

When these alpha players endorse Nike products, then certainly they will be appealing
to the young generation.

Since the young generation look up to their heroes (alpha athletes) there is a very high
probability that they will be able to bring the young buyers back to buying Nike
sneakers
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