This is the second part of Career in Marketing, for Phase-1, click here.
For any product to be designed and/or re-designed, there are two tasks to be performed. The first is the analysis of consumer needs (and trends thereof) and designing/re-designing a product or service around it. The second is a clear communication of this to the consumers. For this task, the Brand Manager works closely with the team handling Integrated Marketing Communications – also called MarCom or Marketing Communication. Every communication needs two things (1) a Message and (2) a Medium through which to transmit this message. MarCom looks after both aspects (designing the message and choosing the ideal medium for transmitting this message). When a student sits in a Marketing class, the teacher is giving the message and the classroom is the medium where the student receives the message. Things become much more complicated if you are selling, say Soaps – where your consumers span the length and breadth of the country and hence you will need to look at media which will help you reach your message to them. Ditto for this Blog!
Let us look at the Message first. This is perhaps the one area of Marketing, where the word “Creative” comes into play because you are trying to craft a message which is memorable to the consumers, stands out from what the competition is saying – and yet does not lose the essence of what you are trying to communicate. An advertisement which is memorable but where the consumer is unable to remember the brand name is a disaster. An advertisement is crafted to sell a product or service – entertainment is an optional extra. Also understand that in addition to the Creativity to be exhibited by the person designing the message, there has to be what is called “Creative Judgment” to be shown in choosing the best designed message among the many options available. Hence, it requires a flash of inspiration to design the Fevicol advertisement. It also requires a Marketing Team which sees the merit in putting money behind this advertisement. We could easily have had the Marketing Team saying – what is this crazy ad with people sticking to a bus, where is product? And you and I would have never seen this advertisement. The designing of the messages (or the advertisements) is done by the Creative Team from the Advertising Agencies (which are now called Integrated Marketing Communication Agencies). The Creative team would comprise of persons who handle the visual part of the communication (and this is increasingly including animation and graphic designing) and others who handle the text/audio part of the communication. MBAs in this field are an exception – and even if they are there, it is because of skills other than those taught in the B-School. The Creative Team is also involved in the design of logos, package designs and brand identity kits (which includes visiting cards, letterheads and signboards) if needed.
Any Message has two components. What is the Message? And “How” will this message be designed. In the above Fevicol example, the “What” of the message is durable adhesiveness. The How is the way the advertisement was designed to communicate this message. The “What” is equally important. While the Marketing Team from the company making the product decides on this, helping them from the Advertising Agency is the Client Servicing or Account Management team. The Account Management team also assists the Marketing team in Creative Judgment – or in choosing the best way to communicate the message.
To be continued . . .
- By Prof. Govindrajan
For Career in Marketing Phase-3, click here.
For any product to be designed and/or re-designed, there are two tasks to be performed. The first is the analysis of consumer needs (and trends thereof) and designing/re-designing a product or service around it. The second is a clear communication of this to the consumers. For this task, the Brand Manager works closely with the team handling Integrated Marketing Communications – also called MarCom or Marketing Communication. Every communication needs two things (1) a Message and (2) a Medium through which to transmit this message. MarCom looks after both aspects (designing the message and choosing the ideal medium for transmitting this message). When a student sits in a Marketing class, the teacher is giving the message and the classroom is the medium where the student receives the message. Things become much more complicated if you are selling, say Soaps – where your consumers span the length and breadth of the country and hence you will need to look at media which will help you reach your message to them. Ditto for this Blog!
Let us look at the Message first. This is perhaps the one area of Marketing, where the word “Creative” comes into play because you are trying to craft a message which is memorable to the consumers, stands out from what the competition is saying – and yet does not lose the essence of what you are trying to communicate. An advertisement which is memorable but where the consumer is unable to remember the brand name is a disaster. An advertisement is crafted to sell a product or service – entertainment is an optional extra. Also understand that in addition to the Creativity to be exhibited by the person designing the message, there has to be what is called “Creative Judgment” to be shown in choosing the best designed message among the many options available. Hence, it requires a flash of inspiration to design the Fevicol advertisement. It also requires a Marketing Team which sees the merit in putting money behind this advertisement. We could easily have had the Marketing Team saying – what is this crazy ad with people sticking to a bus, where is product? And you and I would have never seen this advertisement. The designing of the messages (or the advertisements) is done by the Creative Team from the Advertising Agencies (which are now called Integrated Marketing Communication Agencies). The Creative team would comprise of persons who handle the visual part of the communication (and this is increasingly including animation and graphic designing) and others who handle the text/audio part of the communication. MBAs in this field are an exception – and even if they are there, it is because of skills other than those taught in the B-School. The Creative Team is also involved in the design of logos, package designs and brand identity kits (which includes visiting cards, letterheads and signboards) if needed.
Any Message has two components. What is the Message? And “How” will this message be designed. In the above Fevicol example, the “What” of the message is durable adhesiveness. The How is the way the advertisement was designed to communicate this message. The “What” is equally important. While the Marketing Team from the company making the product decides on this, helping them from the Advertising Agency is the Client Servicing or Account Management team. The Account Management team also assists the Marketing team in Creative Judgment – or in choosing the best way to communicate the message.
To be continued . . .
- By Prof. Govindrajan
For Career in Marketing Phase-3, click here.
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