Advertising has undergone a major revamp in India in the last decade or so. The entire process, the media used and the effects desired have all changed with the changing times and the changing needs and requirements of the consumers. An
advertising Company India today has to be a lot more than just a marketing or promotional medium for the products. It has to develop a concept and execute it in accordance with the target consumer segment. But more than that, it has to strike a perfect balance between the different types of media available today for reaching out to the public. Todays most powerful medium is undoubtedly the internet, besides the conventional mass media which has been in vogue for the past several years such as TV, newspaper, radio etc. A clever and exhaustive usage of the internet as a powerful medium to advertise the products is often the core competency of an
advertising company and often the fine line between success and failure of an advertising campaign. Todays consumer is much more clear about what he wants and he simply cannot be coaxed into buying or using a product he doesnt find favors with.
Now, advertisement is no longer defined as mass communication. Rather, it is a new age adverting era where specific target is aimed at with high accuracy skills. Gone are the days when a simple advertisement was aired on television and everyone, irrespective of who they are, watched it consciously or subconsciously. Advertisements now have to be very specific, clearly targeting and penetrating the target customers and target markets respectively. Moreover mass communication today has very limited relevance in todays market where likes and dislikes change at the whim of a fancy and gap between patrons of various products is widening. Moreover, the requirements of different individuals border on the sidelines of personality, lifestyle and attitude and what may be good for one may be out rightly rejected by the others. So no point in targeting each and every consumer with the same message as the relative success ratio would be pretty low as compared to direct and segregated advertisements targeting a particular customer group.
Direct advertising today has changed everything right from the process of conception of ideas to reaching out to customers. Advertising in the form ofsampling, letters, information are being sent to the people who actually need it. Companies are becoming very serious about the budget allocationfor advertising and they want to generate maximum output through the expenses incurred on the promotion of their products. All this and more has paved the way for below the line activity which is fast gaining momentum in right direction giving highly effective and efficient results to the brands and industry at large. Below the line activity,which includes promotional activity through which consumer can actually feel the product by coming in direct contact of the product has re defined the product promotion strategy of the advertising companies in India. Retail promotion, kiosk activity, productsamplingare some of the activities which are gaining fast attention of consumer like never before largely due to the concentrated efforts of the advertising agencies towards their brisk implementation.
Mass communication, though still actively being pursued by advertising companies in India, leaves a lot to be desired in cases where direct attention is needed. Hence, mass communication cannot be blindly pursued without thorough review of the objective of the promotional process. Promotions via mass communications are and will be meant only to spread the name of the product rather than what they do because they try to be everything without being anything specific and hence more often than not, lose the plot.
Its high time that advertising companies realized that direct marketing is the new age advertising on road to maximize the business growth. Without having the direct appeal to the audience where you want to create a buzz rather than the mass appeal where a majority of people dont understand your product specification and the importance of the product with due respect to the genuineness that it possesses, the money of the advertisers and the sweat laden effort of the advertising company will go unnoticed.
Below the line advertising by the advertising companies is definitely creating a positive impact about what was needed by the manufacturer to let the people actually know what the product is and what it does, in the most favorable manner. People are entering into a contact like never before after the effective up gradation and implementation of innovative ideas in the form of below the line advertising. Below the line advertising has opened the doors for advertising companies to reach out to people like never before and maximize the productivity of the brand to greater proportions in sync with the new advertising mantra of interacting to interest which can further be converted into interacting with the interested.
