Marketing Management - 12th Edition - Kotler/Keller



Chapter 17:

Designing and Managing

Integrated Marketing Communications

GENERAL CONCEPT QUESTIONS

Multiple Choice

1. Modern marketing calls for more than developing a good product, pricing it attractively, and making it accessible. Companies must also ________ with present and potential stakeholders, and the general public.

a. attract

b. reach

c. relate to

d. advertise to

e. communicate

Answer: e Page: 535 Level of difficulty: Easy

2. Marketing communications are the means by which firms attempt to ________, persuade, and remind consumers about the product and brands that they sell.

a. inform

b. reach

c. attract

d. interest

e. none of the above

Answer: a Page: 536 Level of difficulty: Easy

3. Marketing communications can contribute to brand equity by establishing the brand in memory and ________ a brand image.

a. create interest

b. communicate

c. create demand

d. crafting

e. introducing

Answer: d Page: 536 Level of difficulty: Medium

4. The marketing communications mix consists of six major modes of communications. Which of the following is NOT one of these modes?

a. Personal selling

b. Direct marketing

c. Sales promotions

d. Packaging

e. Advertising

Answer: d Page: 536 Level of difficulty: Hard

5. Every ________ delivers an impression that can strengthen or weaken a customer’s view of the company.

a. brand equity

b. brand contact

c. salesman

d. featured ad

e. direct mail piece

Answer: b Page: 537 Level of difficulty: Medium

6. Brand equity is composed of four elements. Which of the following is NOT one of these elements?

a. Brand performance

b. Brand awareness

c. Brand image

d. Brand responses

e. Brand relationships

Answer: a Page 537 Level of difficulty: Hard

7. The starting point in planning marketing communications is an audit of all the potential ________ that customers in the target market may have with the brand and the company.

a. consumers

b. interests

c. interactions

d. usages

e. exposures

Answer: c Page 538 Level of difficulty: Hard

8. Marketers need to assess which experiences and impressions will have the most influence at each ________ of the buying process.

a. stage

b. level

c. consumer

d. step

e. none of the above

Answer: a Page: 538 Level of difficulty: Medium

9. Brand awareness is a function of the number of brand-related exposures and experiences. Anything that causes the consumer to notice and pay attention to the brand can ________ brand awareness.

a. decrease

b. increase

c. effect

d. affect

e. influence

Answer: b Page: 539 Level of difficulty: Easy

10. The macromodel of effective communications contains nine elements. Two elements represent the major parties in a communication. These two parties are called ________ and ________.

a. sender/subject

b. beginner/receiver

c. receiver/starter

d. initiator/receiver

e. sender/receiver

Answer: e Page: 539 Level of difficulty: Medium

11. According to the macromodel of communication, the four major communication functions are decoding, response, feedback, and ________.

a. message

b. encoding

c. response

d. feedback

e. noise

Answer: b Page: 539 Level of difficulty: Easy

12. In communicating, selective attention, selective distortion, and ________ come into play.

a. selective listening

b. noise

c. selective retention

d. selective hearing

e. selective interest

Answer: c Page: 540 Level of difficulty: Hard

13. In micromodels of marketing communications the four classic response hierarchy models includes all of the following EXCEPT ________.

a. communications model

b. innovation-adoption

c. hierarchy-of-effects

d. AIDA

e. BAMT

Answer: e Page: 540 Level of difficulty: Medium

14. The eight steps in developing effective communications starts with the basics: identifying the target audience, determining the objectives, designing the communications, ________ , and establishing the budget.

a. selecting the advertising copy

b. managing the process

c. choosing the media mix

d. selecting the channels

e. measuring results

Answer: d Page: 541 Level of difficulty: Medium

15. A major part of audience analysis is assessing the current image of the company, its product, and its ________.

a. reputation

b. competitors

c. markets

d. users

e. management

Answer: b Page: 542 Level of difficulty: Easy

16. ________ is the set of beliefs, ideas, and impressions a person hold regarding an object.

a. Brand

b. Product

c. Image

d. Concept

e. Idea

Answer: c Page: 542 Level of difficulty: Medium

17. Formulating the communications to achieve the desired response will require solving three problems: message strategy, creative strategy, and ________.

a. market specific advertising

b. media sources

c. advertising

d. transformational appeal

e. message source

Answer: e Page: 544 Level of difficulty: Medium

18. Creative strategies are how marketers translate their messages into a specific communication. Creative strategies can be broadly classified as involving either informational or ________ appeals.

a. branded entertainment

b. point-of-purchase

c. advertorials

d. transformational

e. individualization

Answer: d Page: 544 Level of difficulty: Medium

19. Communicators use positive emotional appeals to attract consumer attention and raise their ________ with an ad.

a. emotions

b. exposure

c. involvement

d. assessment

e. interest

Answer: c Page: 545 Level of difficulty: Medium

20. Messages delivered by attractive or popular sources can potentially achieve higher attention and recall. What is important is the spokesperson’s credibility. Source credibility consists of trustworthiness, likeability, and ________.

a. celebrity status

b. experience

c. expertise

d. age

e. reputation

Answer: c Page: 546 Level of difficulty: Hard

21. Multinational companies wrestle with a number of challenges in developing global communications programs. These challenges include all of the following EXCEPT ________.

a. produce the ad locally or at headquarters

b. if the ad style is acceptable

c. that the market segment is legal and customary

d. if the product is appropriate

e. identifying the proper spokesperson

Answer: e Page: 546 Level of difficulty: Hard

22. Personal communications channels derive their effectiveness through ________ presentation and feedback.

a. effective

b. group

c. canned

d. individualized

e. persuasion

Answer: d Page: 548 Level of difficulty: Medium

23. ________ channels consist of company salespeople contacting buyers in the target market.

a. Individualized

b. Personal

c. Expert

d. Advocate

e. Social

Answer: d Page: 548 Level of difficulty: Easy

24. ________ channels consists of neighbors, friends, family members, and associates talking to target buyers.

a. Social

b. Expert

c. Advocate

d. Professional

e. None of the above

Answer: a Page: 548 Level of difficulty: Easy

25. Personal influence carries especially great weight with consumers in two situations. The first is with products that are expensive, risky, or purchased infrequently. The second is where the product ________.

a. suggests something about the user’s ethnic background

b. suggests something about the user’s education

c. suggests something about the user’s family

d. suggests something about the user’s financial wealth

e. suggests something about the user’s status or taste

Answer: e Page: 548 Level of difficulty: Hard

26. Nonpersonal channels are communications directed to more than one person and include media, sales promotions, events, and ________.

a. Internet access

b. coupons

c. direct exposure

d. guerilla tactics

e. publicity

Answer: e Page: 551 Level of difficulty: Easy

27. Mass communications affect personal attitudes and behavior through a two-step process. Ideas often flow from radio, television, and print to opinion leaders and from these to the less ________-involved population groups.

a. media

b. advertising

c. informed

d. involved

e. none of the above

Answer: a Page: 552 Level of difficulty: Hard

28. The two-step flow of information challenges the notion that consumption styles are ________ influenced by a “trickle-down” or “trickle-up” effect from mass media.

a. secondarily

b. affected

c. starts with

d. primarily

e. originates

Answer: d Page: 552 Level of difficulty: Hard

29. The four common methods that companies use to decide on a promotion budget includes the affordable method, the percentage-of-sales method, ________, and the objective-and-task method.

a. financial method

b. incremental growth method

c. zero-based budgeting method

d. competitive-parity method

e. last year’s budget method

Answer: d Pages: 553–554 Level of difficulty: Easy

30. Companies must allocate the marketing communications budget over the six major modes of communication—advertising, sales promotion, public relations and publicity, events and experiences, sales force, and ________.

a. incentives

b. couponing

c. integrated marketing communications

d. Internet marketing

e. direct marketing

Answer: e Page: 554 Level of difficulty: Easy

31. The ________ among communications tools explains why marketing functions need to be coordinated.

a. significant costs

b. power

c. importance

d. incremental costs

e. substitutability

Answer: e Page: 555 Level of difficulty: Medium

32. Advertising can be used to build up long-term image for a product and usually contains the qualities of impersonality, amplified expressiveness, and ________.

a. invitation

b. motion

c. sound and sight

d. pervasiveness

e. intrusion

Answer: d Page: 555 Level of difficulty: Hard

33. Sales promotions tools offer three distinctive benefits to marketers. Among these benefits are communication, invitation, and ________.

a. credibility

b. impersonality

c. exclusion

d. inclusion

e. incentive

Answer: e Page: 555 Level of difficulty: Medium

34. Personal selling is the most effective tool at later stages of the buying process, particularly in building up buyer preference, conviction, and action. Personal selling has three distinctive qualities. These are personal interaction, response, and ________.

a. customized

b. dramatization

c. involving

d. relevance

e. cultivation

Answer: e Page: 556 Level of difficulty: Medium

35. Companies must consider several factors in developing their communications mix: type of product market, consumer readiness to make a purchase, and the stage in the ________.

a. product life cycle

b. marketing mix

c. advertising mix

d. buying process

e. none of the above

Answer: a Page: 556 Level of difficulty: Medium

36. An effectively trained company sales force can make four important contributions. These are increased stock position, missionary selling, key account management, and ________.

a. customer contacts

b. relationship selling

c. direct sales contacts

d. enthusiasm building

e. account management

Answer: d Page: 557 Level of difficulty: Medium

37. Senior managers want to know the outcomes and revenues resulting from their communications investments. Too often, however, their communications directors supply only ________ and expenses.

a. inputs

b. outputs

c. measures

d. ads

e. none of the above

Answer: b Page: 557 Level of difficulty: Medium

38. In measuring the effectiveness of a firm’s communications investment, ultimately ________ measures capture the real payoff.

a. behavior-change

b. purchases

c. action

d. inaction

e. none of the above

Answer: a Page: 557 Level of difficulty: Hard

39. Integrated marketing communications is a concept of marketing communications planning that recognizes the added value of a ________ plan.

a. integrated

b. coherent

c. complete

d. comprehensive

e. none of the above

Answer: d Page: 558 Level of difficulty: Easy

40. Many companies still rely on one or two communication tools. This practice persists in spite of the fragmenting of mass markets into a multitude of mini markets, each requiring its own approach; the proliferation of new types of media; and the growing ________ of consumers.

a. interests

b. splintering

c. randomness

d. time poverty

e. sophistication

Answer: e Page: 558 Level of difficulty: Hard

41. Media coordination can occur across and within media types. A multiple media campaign deployed within a tightly defined time frame can increase message _________ and impact.

a. delivery

b. awareness

c. reach

d. impact

e. content

Answer: c Pages: 558–559 Level of difficulty: Hard

42. To build brand equity, communication effects created by advertising must be linked to the brand. Often, such links are difficult to create because of ________.

a. consumer involvement

b. capital budgets

c. management structure

d. marketing/departmental infighting

e. none of the above

Answer: a Page: 560 Level of difficulty: Medium

43. The advantages of integrated marketing communications to the firm are many. Which of the following is NOT one of the advantages of having an integrated marketing communications program?

a. It forces management to think about how the company communicates.

b. It forces management to think about every way the customer comes in contact with the company.

c. It produces greater sales impact.

d. It increases consumer involvement.

e. It produces stronger message consistency.

Answer: d Page: 561 Level of difficulty: Hard

44. In assessing the collective impact of an IMC program, the overriding goal is to create the most effective and efficient communications program possible. Six criteria can be used to help determine whether communications are truly integrated. Which of the following is NOT one of these six criteria?

a. Clutter

b. Coverage

c. Contribution

d. Commonality

e. Complementarily

Answer: a Page: 562 Level of difficulty: Medium

45. A one-time mailing offering a cookware item to a consumer is an example of a ________.

a. single-vehicle, single-stage campaign

b. direct campaign

c. single-vehicle, multiple-stage campaign

d. multiple-vehicle, multiple-stage campaign

e. none of the above

Answer: a Page: 559 Level of difficulty: Medium

46. Communication tools vary in cost-effectiveness at different stages of buyer readiness. ________ and publicity play the most important role in the awareness-building stage.

a. direct marketing

b. sales promotion

c. advertising

d. publicity

e. “buzz”

Answer: c Page: 557 Level of difficulty: Easy

47. Events and experiences provide many advantages to marketers. Among these advantages are relevancy, “soft sell,” and ________.

a. dramatic

b. exciting

c. involving or engaging

d. personally involving

e. intimate

Answer: c Page: 556 Level of difficulty: Medium

48. The appeal of public relations and publicity is based on three distinctive qualities. These include, ________, the ability to catch buyers off guard, and dramatization.

a. invitation

b. “free”

c. high credibility

d. exposure

e. low cost

Answer: c Pages: 555–556 Level of difficulty: Medium

49. Many companies set promotion expenditures at a specified percentage of sales (either current or anticipated) or of the sales price. This method of budgeting is called ________.

a. objective-and-task method

b. percentage-of-sales method

c. affordable method

d. competitive parity method

e. none of the above

Answer: b Page: 553 Level of difficulty: Easy

50. Any discussion about the effectiveness of mass communication has to take into account the dramatic changes that have ________ the effectiveness of the mass media.

a. eroded

b. increased

c. expanded

d. supplemented

e. all of the above

Answer: a Page: 552 Level of difficulty: Hard

51. Marketers must be careful in reaching out to consumers. Consumers also can resent personal communications if unsolicited. A 2003 survey found that roughly ________ percent of the sample of consumers were very annoyed by pop-up ads, spam, and telemarketing.

a. 80

b. 40

c. 90

d. 60

e. 100

Answer: a Page: 551 Level of difficulty: Easy

52. Internet marketers are using ________ as a form of word of mouth, or word of mouse, to draw attention to their sites.

a. event marketing

b. subliminal marketing

c. viral marketing

d. place marketing

e. public relations

Answer: c Page: 550 Level of difficulty: Medium

53. Communication researchers are moving toward a social-structure view of interpersonal communication. They see society as consisting of ________, small groups whose members interact frequently.

a. targets

b. communities

c. liaisons

d. clubs

e. cliques

Answer: e Page: 549 Level of difficulty: Hard

54. A well-chosen celebrity can draw attention to a product or brand. The choice of the celebrity is critical. The celebrity should have high recognition, high positive affect, and high ________ to the product.

a. interest

b. attachment

c. relevancy

d. appropriateness

e. “fit”

Answer: d Page: 547 Level of difficulty: Medium

55. Communicators use ________ appeals such as fear, guilt, and shame to get people to things or stop doing things.

a. destructive

b. scary

c. attractive

d. emotional

e. negative

Answer: e Page: 545 Level of difficulty: Easy

56. John Maloney saw buyers as expecting one of four types of reward from a product. These include rational, social, ego satisfying, and ________.

a. exciting

b. functional

c. low costs

d. sensory

e. safety

Answer: d Page: 544 Level of difficulty: Medium

57. The two scales that when combined can develop insight into the nature of the communication challenge facing marketers includes the familiarity scale and the ________ scale.

a. usage

b. favorability

c. targeted

d. selectivity

e. image

Answer: b Page: 542 Level of difficulty: Medium

58. The hierarchy-of-effects model contains awareness, knowledge, liking, ________, conviction, and purchase.

a. cognitive response

b. preference

c. interest

d. attitude

e. none of the above

Answer: b Page: 540 Level of difficulty: Medium

59. Senders know that to effectively communicate they must encode their messages so that the target audience can decode them; the must transmit the message through the media that reach the target audience and develop ________ channels to monitor the responses.

a. feedback

b. interest

c. response

d. decoding

e. none of the above

Answer: a Page: 539 Level of difficulty: Hard

60. One implication of the concept of brand equity is that the manner in which brand associations are formed does not matter. In other words, if a consumer has an equally strong, favorable, and unique brand association the impact in terms of brand equity should be ________.

a. prominent

b. identical

c. different

d. measurable

e. actionable

Answer: b Pages: 537–538 Level of difficulty: Hard

True/False

61. One implication of the concept of brand equity is that the manner in which brand associations are formed does not matter. In other words, if a consumer has an equally strong, favorable, and unique brand association the impact in terms of brand equity should be identical.

Answer: True Pages: 537–538 Level of difficulty: Medium

62. Marketing communications are the means by which firms attempt to inform, persuade, and remind consumers about the products and brands that they sell.

Answer: True Page: 536 Level of difficulty: Easy

63. Every brand contact delivers an impression that can strengthen or weaken a customer’s view of the company.

Answer: True Page: 537 Level of difficulty: Medium

64. The starting point in planning marketing communications is an audit of all the brands that customers in the target market have with the company.

Answer: False Page: 538 Level of difficulty: Medium

65. From the perspective of building brand equity, marketers should evaluate some of the different possible communication options according to their effectiveness criteria.

Answer: False Page: 539 Level of difficulty: Hard

66. In the macromodel of communication, noise does not affect the communication process between sender and receiver.

Answer: False Page: 539 Level of difficulty: Medium

67. Micromodels of marketing communications concentrate on consumers’ specific responses to communications.

Answer: True Page: 540 Level of difficulty: Medium

68. The “learn-do-feel” model of consumer response models is relevant when the audience has low involvement and perceives little differentiation within the product category.

Answer: True Page: 540 Level of difficulty: Hard

69. AIDA is an acronym for attention, interest, desire, and action.

Answer: True Page: 540 Level of difficulty: Medium

70. There are eight steps in developing an effective communication’s program.

Answer: True Page: 541 Level of difficulty: Easy

71. Image is a set of beliefs, ideas, and impressions a person holds regarding an object. Images are “sticky”; they persist long after the organization has changed.

Answer: True Page: 542 Level of difficulty: Medium

72. Communication objectives can be set at any level of the hierarchy-of-effect model.

Answer: True Page: 542 Level of difficulty: Easy

73. Formulating the communications to achieve the desired response will require solving three problems: what to say, how to say it, and how to pay for it.

Answer: False Page: 544 Level of difficulty: Hard

74. An informational appeal elaborates on product or service attributes or benefits.

Answer: True Page: 544 Level of difficulty: Easy

75. Attention-getting tactics are often too effective and distract from brand or product claims.

Answer: True Page: 545 Level of difficulty: Medium

76. Two-sided messages are more effective with audiences that are more educated and those who are initially opposed to the product.

Answer: True Page: 544 Level of difficulty: Hard

77. The factors that underlie source credibility include expertise, trustworthiness, and appropriateness.

Answer: False Page: 546 Level of difficulty: Easy

78. If a person has a positive attitude toward a source and a message, or a negative attitude toward both, a state of congruity is said to exist.

Answer: True Page: 546 Level of difficulty: Hard

79. The “principle of congruity” implies that communicators can use their good image to reduce some negative feelings toward a brand but in the process might lose some esteem with the audience.

Answer: True Page: 546 Level of difficulty: Medium

80. Companies that sell their products to different cultures or in different countries do not need to worry about varying their message.

Answer: False Page: 547 Level of difficulty: Easy

81. Selecting efficient channels to carry the message becomes more difficult as channels of communication become more fragmented and cluttered.

Answer: True Page: 548 Level of difficulty: Easy

82. Personal communication channels derive their effectiveness through individualized presentation and feedback.

Answer: True Page: 548 Level of difficulty: Easy

83. A liaison is a person who connects two or more cliques without belonging to either.

Answer: True Page: 549 Level of difficulty: Medium

84. One team of viral marketing experts caution that while influencers or “alphas” start trends, they are often too introspective and socially alienated to spread them.

Answer: True Page: 551 Level of difficulty: Medium

85. Consumers are welcoming personal communications even if unsolicited.

Answer: False Page: 551 Level of difficulty: Medium

86. Mass communications affect personal attitudes and behavior through a two-step process.

Answer: True Page: 552 Level of difficulty: Medium

87. The influence of mass media on public opinion is as direct, powerful, and automatic as supposed.

Answer: False Page: 552 Level of difficulty: Medium

88. The two-step flow confirms the notion that consumption styles are primarily influenced by the “trickle-down” or “trickle-up” effect from mass media.

Answer: False Page: 552 Level of difficulty: Medium

89. The percentage-of-sales method of setting promotional expenditures calculates spending dollars based upon a percentage of last years total sales.

Answer: False Page: 553 Level of difficulty: Easy

90. The objective-and-task method calls upon marketers to develop promotion budgets by defining specific objectives, determining the tasks that must be performed to achieve these objectives, and estimating the costs of performing these tasks.

Answer: True Page: 554 Level of difficulty: Medium

91. In deciding on the marketing communications mix, companies must allocate the budget over the six major modes of communication.

Answer: True Page: 554 Level of difficulty: Easy

92. Advertising can be used to build up a long-term image for a product or trigger quick sales.

Answer: True Page: 555 Level of difficulty: Easy

93. The “pervasiveness of advertising permits the seller to repeat a message many times. It also allows the buyer to receive and compare the messages of various competitors.

Answer: True Page: 555 Level of difficulty: Medium

94. Companies must consider several factors in developing their communications mix: the type of product market, consumer readiness to make a purchase, and stage in the product’s life cycle. Also, the company’s must account for its market rank.

Answer: True Page: 556 Level of difficulty: Medium

95. In measuring communication results, senior managers want to know the outcomes and revenues from their communications investments.

Answer: True Page: 557 Level of difficulty: Medium

96. Integrated marketing communications is a concept of marketing communications planning that recognizes the added value of a comprehensive plan.

Answer: True Page: 558 Level of difficulty: Easy

97. The awareness and attitudes created by advertising campaigns do not generally affect the success of direct sales pitches.

Answer: False Page: 559 Level of difficulty: Medium

98. Integrated marketing communications can produce stronger message consistency and greater sales impact.

Answer: True Page: 561 Level of difficulty: Easy

99. In assessing the collective impact of an IMC program, the overriding goal is to create the most effective communications program possible.

Answer: True Page: 562 Level of difficulty: Easy

100. Marketing communications perform many functions for consumers such as being told or shown how and why a product is used, by what kind of person, and where and when.

Answer: True Page: 536 Level of difficulty: Easy

Essay

101. Marketing communications are the means by which firms attempt to inform, persuade, and remind consumers—directly or indirectly—about the products and brands that they sell. The marketing communications mix consists of six major modes of communication. List and briefly explain each.

Suggested Answer: These six are: (1) advertising, (2) sales promotion, (3) events and experiences, (4) public relations and publicity, (5) direct marketing, and (6) personal selling.

Page: 536 Level of difficulty: Medium

102. Marketing communication activities contribute to brand equity in many ways. Briefly list the six elements of the marketing communications mix and tell how these affect brand equity.

Suggested Answer: As Figure 17.1 shows, marketing communications activities contribute to brand equity by creating awareness of the brand; linking the right associations to the brand image in consumers’ memory; eliciting positive brand judgments or feelings; and/or facilitating a stronger consumer-brand connection. Every brand contact delivers an impression that can strengthen or weaken a customer’s view of the company. The elements of the marketing communications mix are advertising, sales promotion, events and experiences, public relations and publicity, direct marketing, and personal selling.

Page: 537 Level of difficulty: Hard

103. Explain the elements of the macromodel of communication process and list the nine elements contained.

Suggested Answer: The macromodel of the communication process first lists the two major parties in a communication—sender and receiver. Followed by the major communication tool—message and media. Four elements represent major communication functions—encoding, decoding, response, and feedback. The last element in the system is noise (random and competing message that may interfere with the intended communication). See Figure 17.2.

Page: 539 Level of difficulty: Hard

104. Micromodels of marketing communications concentrate on consumers’ specific responses to communications. There are four classic response hierarchy models. List each model and outline their processes from the cognitive stage, affective stage, and behavior stage.

Suggested Answer: The four classic hierarchy models are AIDA, hierarchy-of-effects, innovation-adoption model, and communications model. In the AIDA model, the first stage is attention, followed by interest, then by desire, and finally by action. In the hierarchy-of-effects model, first is awareness, then knowledge, and liking, followed by preference, conviction, and finally purchase. In the innovation-adoption model first is awareness, then interest, evaluation, trial, and finally adoption. In the communications model, first is exposure, then reception, cognitive response, attitude, intention, and finally behavior.

Page: 540 Level of difficulty: Hard

105. There are eight steps in developing effective communications. List these steps in their order of flow.

Suggested Answer: First we identify the target audience, then determine the objectives, followed by designing the communications. After that, we select the channels, establish the budget, decide on the media mix, measure the results, and finally manage integrated marketing communications. See Figure 17.4.

Page: 541 Level of difficulty: Hard

106. A major part of audience analysis is assessing the current image of the company, its products, and its competitors. Image is the set of beliefs, ideas, and impressions a person holds regarding an object. People’s attitudes and actions toward an object are highly conditioned by that object’s image. Images are “sticky”; they persist long after the organization has changed. Explain why this is so and how marketers can change a person’s “image” about an object.

Suggested Answer: Image persistence is explained by the fact that once people have a certain image, they perceive what is consistent with that image. It will take highly disconfirming information to raise doubts and open their minds, especially when people do not have continuous or new firsthand experiences with the changed object. Marketers must therefore ensure that the consumers who hold this pejorative image are exposed to or receive the “new and improved” product to try for themselves and to communicate to others.

Page: 542 Level of difficulty: Hard

107. Formulating the communications to achieve the desired response will require solving the problems of message strategy and creative strategy among others. Define and then describe the differences between these two strategies.

Suggested Answer: Message strategy is where management searches for the appeals, themes, or ideas that will tie into the brand positioning and help to establish points-of-parity or points-of-differences. Some of these may be related directly to product or service performance whereas others may relate to more considerations that are extrinsic. Creative strategies can be broadly classified as involving either “informational” or “transformational” appeals. An informational appeal elaborates on product or service attributes or benefits. A transformational appeal elaborates on a non-product-related benefit or image.

Page: 544 Level of difficulty: Hard

108. Explain the principle of congruity as it pertains to message sources. And what happens when a person holds one attitude toward the source and the opposite toward the message.

Suggested Answer: The principle of congruity implies that communicators can use their good image to reduce some negative feelings toward a brand but in the process might lose some esteem with the audience. If a person has a positive attitude toward a source and a message, or a negative attitude toward both, a state of congruity is said to exist.? Osgood and Tannenbaum say that attitude change will take place in the direction of increasing the amount of congruity between the two evaluations. The consumer will end up respecting the celebrity somewhat less or respecting the brand somewhat more.

Page: 546 Level of difficulty: Hard

109. Companies can take several steps to stimulate personal influence channels to work on their behalf. List these eight steps.

Suggested Answer: These steps are: (1) identify influential individuals and companies and devote extra effort to them; (2) create opinion leaders by supplying certain people with the product on attractive terms; (3) work through community influentials such as local disk jockeys, class presidents, and presidents of women’s organizations; (4) use influential or believable people in testimonial advertising; (5) develop advertising that has high “conversation value”; (6) develop word-of-mouth referral channels to build business; (7) establish an electronic forum; and (8) use viral marketing.

Page: 550 Level of difficulty: Hard

110. A major question regarding marketing communications is how much weight marketing communications should receive in relation to alternatives such as product improvement, lower prices, or better service. What is the answer to this question?

Suggested Answer: The answer depends on where the company’s products are in their life cycles, whether they are commodities or highly differentiable products, whether they are routinely needed or have to be “sold,” and other considerations. Marketing communications budgets tend to be higher when there is low channel support, much change in the marketing program over time, many hard-to-reach customers, more complex customer decision making, differentiated products and nonhomogeneous customer needs, and frequent product purchases in small quantities.

Page: 554 Level of difficulty: Medium

APPLICATION QUESTIONS

Multiple Choice

111. Your marketing communications mix includes mail, telephone, fax, e-mail, or the Internet to communicate directly with or solicit responses or dialogue from specific customers and prospects. Which of the six major modes of communication are you using?

a. Sales promotions

b. Advertising

c. Direct marketing

d. Personal selling

e. Events and experiences

Answer: c Page: 536 Level of difficulty: Easy

112. If a consumer has an equally strong, favorable, and unique brand association with Subaru with the concepts “outdoors,” “active,” and rugged” because of exposure to a TV ad that shows the car driving over rugged terrain at different times of the year, the impact in terms of brand equity should be ________.

a. identical

b. confusing

c. heightened

d. long lasting

e. none of the above

Answer: a Page: 538 Level of difficulty: Medium

113. In the process of buying a new car, a consumer might talk to others; research the car on the Internet, visit showrooms, and buy magazines dedicated to the automobile industry. Where would you start in developing your marketing communication planning?

a. Appoint an ad agency.

a. Conduct an audit of all the potential interactions the target market has with the

brand.

b. Create message strategy.

c. Create the creative strategy.

d. None of the above.

Answer: b Page: 538 Level of difficulty: Medium

114. Your responsibility is to spend the company’s communications dollars efficiently. As a result, you have collected the costs of the various forms of the communication’s mix. Your decision on “where” to spend your company dollars will be determined ________.

a. according to its ability to build brand equity and drive brand sales

b. according to its ability to reach the most consumers

c. according to its ability to return the “most bang for the buck”

d. according to its ability to communicate the “message” most creatively

e. according to its ability to have the highest return on investment

Answer: a Page: 538 Level of difficulty: Hard

115. For your target audience of “new parents,” communicating to them via newsletters, parenting magazines, “baby clubs,” and through hospitals, is an example of what element of the macromodel of the communications process?

a. Response

b. Receiver

c. Decoding

d. Encoding

e. Media

Answer: e Page: 539 Level of difficulty: Hard

116. You choose to use the AIDA model of consumers’ response hierarchy models. In the cognitive stage of the AIDA model, your campaign is designed just to ________.

a. gain attention

b. stimulate interest

c. gain exposure

d. increase knowledge

e. none of the above

Answer: a Page: 540 Level of difficulty: Medium

117. Consumer research has indicated that your target markets’ consumers are aware of your product, have sufficient knowledge of the product’s capabilities, like the product and established a preference for it, but have not developed a ________ about buying it.

a. cognitive response

b. liking

c. preference

d. purchase

e. conviction

Answer: e Page: 541 Level of difficulty: Medium

118. In developing effective communications, the first step that you have to take is to identify your target audience. It is often useful to define target audience in terms of ________ and loyalty.

a. exposure

b. image

c. reach

d. usage

e. none of the above

Answer: d Page: 541 Level of difficulty: Medium

119. If the answer you receive from your target market audience’s knowledge of your product consists of “know a little bit” about it, you are using the ________.

a. familiarity scale

b. favorability scale

c. marketing advertising

d. Likert scale

e. category research

Answer: a Page: 542 Level of difficulty: Medium

120. Establishing a product category, such as electric cars, as necessary to remove or satisfy a perceived discrepancy between a current motivational state and a desired emotional state is an example of a ________.

a. category need

b. brand awareness

c. brand attitude

d. cognitive dissonance

e. purchase intention

Answer: a Page: 542 Level of difficulty: Medium

121. The commercials for pain remedies that promise quick relief to your “aches and pains” is an example of what type of creative strategy?

a. Informational appeal.

b. Transformational appeal.

c. Collective appeal.

d. Personal appeal.

e. None of the above.

Answer: a Page: 544 Level of difficulty: Medium

122. The famous commercial that showed frying eggs and the tag line “this is your brains on drugs” is an example of ________.

a. interactive marketing

b. transformational appeal

c. informational appeal

d. fear advertising

e. all of the above

Answer: b Page: 545 Level of difficulty: Medium

123. The recent Kobe Bryant scandal and his losing millions of dollars in endorsements is an example of the risk of using celebrities as product endorsers. Of the three elements of source credibility, which one was affected most by Kobe Bryant’s actions?

a. Appropriateness

b. Recognition

c. Expertise

d. Likeability

e. Trustworthiness

Answer: e Page: 547 Level of difficulty: Medium

124. A visit by a textbook publisher’s sales representative is an example of ________.

a. advocate channels

b. expert channels

c. social channels

d. interactive marketing

e. e-marketing

Answer: a Page: 548 Level of difficulty: Medium

125. Your company wants to increase and stimulate personal influence channels to work on its behalf. One of the suggestions was to contract with a “known” celebrity for a testimonial. This suggestion depends upon the “celebrity” being ________ and believable.

a. available

b. interested

c. influential

d. attractive

e. none of the above

Answer: c Page: 550 Level of difficulty: Easy

126. Dannon makes it a priority to drive traffic to its Dannon Yogurt homepage so that the company can benefit from the twin paybacks of (1) forging direct relationships with customers and (2) building a database of its best customers. This is an example of ________.

a. personal selling

b. integrated marketing communications

c. coordinating media

d. brand linkages

e. direct marketing

Answer: c Page: 559 Level of difficulty: Medium

127. When a communications director presents senior management with such things as press clipping counts, the number of ads placed, media costs, and such, he is supplying ________.

a. feedback

b. revenues

c. outcomes

d. inputs

e. outputs and expenses

Answer: e Page: 557 Level of difficulty: Easy

128. We find that 80 percent of the consumers in the total market are aware of brand A, 60 percent have tried it, and only 20 percent who have tried it are satisfied. This indicates that the communications program is effective in creating awareness, but the product fails to meet consumer ________.

a. effect on complementary products

b. purchase intent

c. awareness

d. interests

e. expectations

Answer: e Page: 557 Level of difficulty: Medium

129. In the market that your product competes within, there is very low channel support and many hard-to-reach customers. As a rule then, your budget for your marketing communications program should be ________.

a. higher

b. lower

c. equal

d. same as competition

e. determined by objective and task

Answer: a Page: 554 Level of difficulty: Hard

130. The premise surrounding public relations and publicity is that news stories and features about your company’s product is more authentic and ________ to readers than advertisements.

a. true

b. influenced

c. impartial

d. effective

e. credible

Answer: e Page: 555 Level of difficulty: Easy

Short Answer

131. List the major ways that marketing communications activities contribute to brand equity.

Suggested Answer: Marketing communications activities contribute to brand equity by creating awareness of the brand; linking the right associations to the brand image in consumers’ memory; eliciting positive brand judgments or feelings; and or facilitating a stronger consumer-brand connection.

Page: 537 Level of difficulty: Medium

132. Marketing communications activities must be integrated to deliver a consistent message and achieve the desired strategic positioning. Explain how someone looking for a computer affects the needs of the marketer in planning the marketing communications activities.

Suggested Answer: The starting point in planning marketing communications is an audit of all the potential interactions that customers in the target market may have with the brand and the company. Marketers need to assess which experience and impressions will have the most influence at each stage of the buying process. Armed with these insights, marketers can judge marketing communications according to its ability to build equity and drive sales.

Page: 538 Level of difficulty: Hard

133. Micromodels of marketing communications concentrate on consumers’ specific response to communications. Please list the four classic response hierarchy models.

Suggested Answer: The four classic response hierarchy models are: (1) AIDA model; (2) hierarchy-of-effects model; (3) innovation-adoption model; and (4) communications model.

Page: 540 Level of difficulty: Medium

134. List the eight steps necessary in developing an effective communications program.

Suggested Answer: The eight steps are as follows: (1) identify target audience; (2) determine objectives; (3) design communications; (4) select channels; (5) establish budget; (6) decide on media mix; (7) measure results; (8) and manage integrated marketing communications.

Page: 541 Level of difficulty: Hard

135. Consumers are more likely to recognize Stouffer’s distinctive orange packages than recall the brand. When is brand recall important and when is brand recognition important?

Suggested Answer: Recognition is easier to achieve than recall. Brand recall is important outside the store; brand recognition is important inside the store. Brand awareness provides a foundation for brand equity.

Page: 543 Level of difficulty: Hard

136. The Geico advertisements that state in a 15-minute phone call can result in a 15 percent reduction on auto insurance combines what two communication objectives?

Suggested Answer: This combines both brand attitude and a call to action to build brand purchase intentions.

Page: 543 Level of difficulty: Medium

137. John Maloney saw buyers as expecting one of four types of reward from a product: rational, sensory, social, or ego satisfaction. Crossing these four types of rewards with the three types of experience generates 12 types of messages. Explain the phrase “Snickers satisfies your hunger.”

Suggested Answer: “Snickers satisfies your hunger” is a sensory reward promise connected with product-in-use experience

Page: 544 Level of difficulty: Hard

138. In describing the experience of using Coast soap for the first time (“The Eye Opener!”) we are describing a non-product benefit or image. This is the definition of what type of appeal?

Suggested Answer: A transformational appeal elaborates on a non-product-related benefit or image such as described above.

Page: 544 Level of difficulty: Easy

139. Communications that use cute babies, puppies, or provocative sex appeals are often employed to attract consumer attention and raise their involvement with an ad. What are some of the usages for “borrowed interest” devices?

Suggested Answer: “Borrowed interest” techniques are thought to be necessary in the tough new media environment characterized by low-involvement consumer processing and much competing ad and programming clutter. These techniques may also detract from ad comprehension, can wear out their welcome faster, and can overshadow the product.

Page: 545 Level of difficulty: Hard

140. In terms of source credibility, why would a medical doctor have greater source credibility as a spokesperson speaking about the effects of a new drug than a retired actor would. In your answer, be sure to list the characteristics of source credibility.

Suggested Answer: The factors that underlie source credibility are expertise, trustworthiness, and likability. The retired actor may have or possess a higher likability quotient but the medical doctor would have higher expertise and trustworthiness acceptances.

Page: 546 Level of difficulty: Medium

141. In personal communications channels, they derive their effectiveness through individualized presentation and feedback. In addition, we can distinguish between three channels: advocate channels, expert channels, and social channels. How would you characterize a seminar directed to retirees on buying real estate with no money down?

Suggested Answer: A seminar on buying real estate would be an example of an expert channel of personal communications.

Page: 548 Level of difficulty: Easy

142. You belong to a computer club and your spouse belongs to a gardening club. In terms of the social-structure of interpersonal communications, communication researchers would characterize you and your spouse as what?

Suggested Answer: You and your spouse would belong to a clique—both of you would be a bridge because you both belong to one clique and are linked by another person in another clique.

Page: 549 Level of difficulty: Easy

143. List some of the benefits of a working integrated marketing communications program.

Suggested Answer: A working integrated marketing communications program can produce stronger message consistency and greater sales impact. It forces management to think about every way the customer comes in contact with the company, how the company communicates its positioning, the relative importance of each vehicle, and timing issues.

Page: 561 Level of difficulty: Hard

144. Integrated marketing communications has been slow to take hold for several reasons. List these reasons.

Suggested Answer: Large companies often employ several communications specialists to work with their brand managers who may know comparatively little about the other communication tools. Further complicating matters is that many global companies use a large number of ad agencies located in different countries and serving different divisions, resulting in uncoordinated communications and image diffusion.

Pages: 560–561 Level of difficulty: Hard

145. Define the sequences of events for a multiple-vehicle, multiple-stage integrated marketing communications campaign.

Suggested Answer: The sequence would flow somewhat as follows: News campaign about a new product → Paid ad with a response mechanism → Direct mail → Outbound telemarketing → Face-to-face sales call → Ongoing communication.

Page: 559 Level of difficulty: Hard

146. Your sales force is efficient and effective. The four contributions that an effective sales force can make to the marketing communications mix are.

Suggested Answer: An effective sales force can (1) increase a customer’s stock positions; (2) build enthusiasm; (3) missionary selling; and (4)key account management (relationship building).

Page: 557 Level of difficulty: Medium

147. The repetition of the local car dealers’ commercials on late night television, besides being universally terrible, are examples of what characteristic of the advertising component of the communications mix.

Suggested Answer: These commercials demonstrate the pervasiveness of the advertising communications mix.

Page: 555 Level of difficulty: Medium

148. In introducing a new liquid dog treat to the market, you have been asked to prepare a promotion budget using the objective-and-task method. What would be your first step in this process?

Suggested Answer: The first step in the objective-and-task method would be to establish the market share goal of the dog treat market.

Page: 554 Level of difficulty: Easy

149. How do opinion leaders mediate the affect of mass communications?

Suggested Answer: Mass communications affect personal attitudes and behaviors through a two-step process. Ideas often flow from radio, television, and print to opinion leaders and from these to the less media-involved populations groups. This two-step flow has several implications. First, the influence of mass media on public opinion is not as direct, powerful, and automatic as supposed. Second, the two-step flow challenges the notion that consumption styles are primarily influenced by a “trickle-down” or “trickle-up” effect from mass media.

Page: 552 Level of difficulty: Hard

150. The macromodel of the communications process includes nine elements. Diagram the nine elements in the communications process.

Suggested Answer:

Sender → Encoding → Message → Decoding → Receiver

Media

←Noise →

Feedback Response

Page: 539 Level of difficulty: Medium

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download