Advertising Agency, Selecting Advertising Agencies

Advertising agency
“The work of a tailor is to collect the raw material, find matching threads, cut the cloth in desired shape, finally stitch the cloth and deliver it to the customer.”

Advertising Agency is just like a tailor. It creates the ads, plans how, when and where it should be delivered and hands it over to the client. Advertising agencies are mostly not dependent on any organizations.

These agencies take all the efforts for selling the product of the clients. They have a group of people expert in their particular fields, thus helping the companies or organizations to reach their target customer in an easy and simple way.

The first Advertising Agency was William Taylor in 1786 followed by James “Jem” White in 1800 in London and Reynell & Son in 1812.

Role of Advertising Agencies

1. Creating an advertise on the basis of information gathered about product
2. Doing research on the company and the product and reactions of the customers.
3. Planning for type of media to be used, when and where to be used, and for how much time to be used.
4. Taking the feedbacks from the clients as well as the customers and then deciding the further line of action

All companies can do this work by themselves. They can make ads, print or advertise them on televisions or other media places; they can manage the accounts also. Then why do they need advertising agencies?

The reasons behind hiring the advertising agencies by the companies are:

1. The agencies are expert in this field. They have a team of different people for different functions like copywriters, art directors, planners, etc.
2. The agencies make optimum use of these people, their experience and their knowledge.
3. They work with an objective and are very professionals.
4. Hiring them leads in saving the costs up to some extent.

Types of advertising agencies.

1. Full service Agencies
   • Large size agencies.
   • Deals with all stages of advertisement.
   • Different expert people for different departments.
   • Starts work from gathering data and analyzing and ends on payment of bills to the media people.
2. Interactive Agencies
   • Modernized modes of communication are used.
   • Uses online advertisements, sending personal messages on mobile phones, etc.
   • The ads produced are very interactive, having very new concepts, and very innovative.
3. Creative Boutiques
   • Very creative and innovative ads.
   • No other function is performed other than creating actual ads.
   • Small sized agencies with their own copywriters, directors, and creative people.
4. Media Buying Agencies
   • Buys place for advertise and sells it to the advertisers.
   • Sells time in which advertisement will be placed.
   • Schedules slots at different television channels and radio stations.
   • Finally supervises or checks whether the ad has been telecasted at opted time and place or not.
5. In-House Agencies
   • As good as the full service agencies.
   • Big organization prefers these type of agencies which are in built and work only for them.
   • These agencies work as per the requirements of the organizations.

There are some specialized agencies which work for some special advertisements. These types of agencies need people of special knowledge in that field. For example, advertisements showing social messages, finance advertisements, medicine related ads, etc.

Advertising Techniques – Most Common Techniques Used by the Advertisers

Today every company needs to advertise its product to inform the customers about the product, increase the sales, acquire market value, and gain reputation and name in the industry. Every business spends lot of money for advertising their products but the money spent will lead to success only when the best techniques of advertising are used for the product. So here are some very common and most used techniques used by the advertisers to get desired results.

1.Emotional Appeal

• This technique of advertising is done with help of two factors – needs of consumers and fear factor. Most common appeals under need are:
• • need for something new
  • need for getting acceptance
  • need for not being ignored
  • need for change of old things
  • need for security
  • need to become attractive, etc.Most common appeals under fear are:
  • fear of accident
  • fear of death
  • fear of being avoided
  • fear of getting sick
  • fear of getting old, etc.

2.Promotional Advertising

This technique involves giving away samples of the product for free to the consumers. The items are offered in the trade fairs, promotional events, and ad campaigns in order to gain the attention of the customers.

3.Bandwagon Advertising

• This type of technique involves convincing the customers to join the group of people who have bought this product and be on the winning side. For e.g. recent Pantene shampoo ad which says “15crores women trusted Pantene, and you?”

4.Facts and Statistics

• Here, advertisers use numbers, proofs, and real examples to show how good their product works. For e.g. “Lizol floor cleaner cleans 99.99% germs” or “Colgate is recommended by 70% of the dentists of the world” or Eno – just 6 seconds.

5.Unfinished Ads

• The advertisers here just play with words by saying that their product works better but don’t answer how much more than the competitor. For e.g. Lays – no one can eat just one or Horlicks – more nutrition daily. The ads don’t say who can eat more or how much more nutrition.

6.Weasel Words

• In this technique, the advertisers don’t say that they are the best from the rest, but don’t also deny. E.g. Sunsilk Hairfall Solution – reduces hairfall. The ad doesn’t say stops hairfall.

7.Endorsements

• The advertisers use celebrities to advertise their products. The celebrities or star endorse the product by telling their own experiences with the product. Recently a diamond jewellery ad had superstar Amitabh Bacchan and his wife Jaya advertising the product. The ad showed how he impressed his wife by making a smart choice of buying this brand. Again, Sachin tendulkar, a cricket star, endorsed for a shoe brand.

8.Complementing the Customers

• Here, the advertisers used punch lines which complement the consumers who buy their products. E.g. Revlon says “Because you are worth it.”

9.Ideal Family and Ideal Kids

• The advertisers using this technique show that the families or kids using their product are a happy go lucky family. The ad always has a neat and well furnished home, well mannered kids and the family is a simple and sweet kind of family. E.g. a dettol soap ad shows everyone in the family using that soap and so is always protected from germs. They show a florescent color line covering whole body of each family member when compared to other people who don’t use this soap.

10.Patriotic Advertisements

• These ads show how one can support their country while he uses their product or service. For e. g some products together formed a union and claimed in their ad that if you buy any one of these products, you are going to help a child to go to school. One more cellular company ad had a celebrity showing that if the customers use this company’s sim card, then they can help control population of the country.

11.Questioning the Customers

• The advertisers using this technique ask questions to the consumers to get response for their products. E.g. Amway advertisement keeps on asking questions like who has so many farms completely organic in nature, who gives the strength to climb up the stairs at the age of 70, who makes the kids grow in a proper and nutritious ways, is there anyone who is listening to these entire questions. And then at last the answer comes – “Amway : We are Listening.”

12.Bribe

• This technique is used to bribe the customers with some thing extra if they buy the product using lines like “buy one shirt and get one free”, or “be the member for the club for two years and get 20% off on all services.”

13.Surrogate Advertising

• This technique is generally used by the companies which cannot advertise their products directly. The advertisers use indirect advertisements to advertise their product so that the customers know about the actual product. The biggest example of this technique is liquor ads. These ads never show anyone drinking actual liquor and in place of that they are shown drinking some mineral water, soft drink or soda.

These are the major techniques used by the advertisers to advertise their product. There are some different techniques used for online advertising such as web banner advertising in which a banner is placed on web pages, content advertising using content to advertise the product online, link advertising giving links on different sites to directly visit the product website, etc.

List of the Best Advertising Agencies in India

• DDB Mudra Communications
• Grey India
• Rediffusion (Y&R)
• McCann-Erickson India Ltd
• Ogilvy & Mather
• JWT-India
• Triverse Advertising
• FCB-Ulka Advertising Ltd
• Chaitra Leo Burnett Pvt Ltd
• Dentsu Aegis

1. DDB Mudra Communications

Introduction: It is known as India’s no. one and largest marketing communications services enterprise. It has expertisation under four disciplines (Media, Outdoor Advertsing, Retail, and Experiential).

It has bragged most of the awards in national and international film festivals like Cannes, Spikes Asia, Clio, Adfest, ABBYs, OAA etc. 25 March is still celebrated across all Mudra offices as Mudra Day. On When comparing the awards, it has won a Silver at the Olive Crown Awards in the ‘Young Green Art Director of the Year’ category.

History: It was founded on 25 March 1980 by A. G. Krishnamurthi and its headquarter is situated in Mumbai. Initially it started with only 15 employees, 500 sq.ft space and Rs 40,000 as startup capital But in 1990, Mudra signed a collaboration agreement with DDB Needham Worldwide.

In 2011, Mudra group was acquired BY Ominicom Group and named as DDB Mudra group and was merged with DDB worldwide. Currently It has three agency networks and six specialist agencies and eleven SBU.

Sonal Dabral is currently the Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of DDB Mudra Group.

Clients: Linen Club, Aditya Birla Group, Bharat Petroleum, Henkel, ACC Limited, Pepsi, Colgate, USHA, McDonalds, Reebok, Puma, Peter England, among many others.

Iconic Campaign:

Became the largest selling soft drink in 1986.

Rasna (I Love you Rasna)

PUMA (Forever faster)

2. Grey India

Introduction : Grey India is a part of Grey global group and is among the world’s top marketing and advertising agencies. They have shown some famous and effective work for some of the India’s most prestigious clients.

History: It was founded in 1917 by Lawrence Valenstein and has its headquarted in U.S. It has many subsidary branches named as Grey India, G2, GHG, GCI Group, MediaCom Worldwide, Alliance, G WHIZ, WING, Grey EMEA, ArcTouch. In India its office is situated in Mumbai which handle projects in retailing, visualdesign and fixture design.

Clients: Sensodyne, BNatural, Gillette, Dell, Crocin, Indian Air Force, Tic-Tac, Ferrero, Fortis Healthcare, Pantene, Cadbury Silk, Kinder Joy and many more.

Iconic Work: Kinder Joy and BNatural

BNatural

3. Rediffusion (Y&R)

Rediffusion is a part of WPP group which is among the top leading advertising agencies in India. The company offers various services which includes advertisement, consultancy, web design, social media, promotion and program setups.

History: Rediffusion was started with a collaborative efforts of The three people, Diwan Arun Nanda, Ajit Balakrishnan, and Mohammed Khan in 1973. It was created for creating fearless, bold and passionate work. Rediffusion-Y&R is part of the Young & Rubicam network having 187 offices and 6,500 employees with offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai, and in Sri Lanka, providing strategic and creative solutions to its clients.

Clients: Tata Motors, ITC Stationery, Eveready, Handard, Ambuja, Emani and many more.

Iconic Ad

Tata Motor T1Prima Truck

4. McCann-Erickson India Ltd

Introduction: It is one of the highest ranked company of the advertising agencies in India . McCann has been awarded the Global Agency of the Year by Adweek thrice. It was also named as “Global Agency of the Year”.

History: It was founded in the year 1902 and 1912 McCann registered the world’s first advertising trademark ‘Truth Well Told’. McCann has offices in 120 countries spreading a global network in different parts of the country.They work through creative ideas born at the intersection of technology solutions, measurable performance and their unique understanding of people .

Clients

Maybelline, Loris,Spirite, Master card, Cococola, Microsoft and etc

Iconic ads: Coca Cola and Nescafé.

5. Ogilvy & Mather

Introduction: Ogilvy & Mather is a well known and among the top Advertising companies in India who works on the principle of 360 degree branding on both local and global scale and has created a digital dominance for them. This agency works on “We sell or else.” These words sound simple, but are very meaninful to a ad agency. It is the only firm that grabbed network of the year at cannes for 3 consecutives year.

History

It was founded in the year 1948 by David Oligavy and has its offices in more than 150 countries worldwide. It operates in 6 cities throughout India and has become one of the leading advertising agencies in India.

Clients

American Express, IBM, Dove, NASCAR, Philips, Coke Zero, IKEA, UPS, Nationwide and Tiffany & Co.

Iconic Campaign

Cadbury Dairy Milk,Vodafone, Incredible India, Coco Cola.

6. JWT-India

Introduction: One of the oldest advertisement company and most admired company in India. It has a widespread integrated network spread in New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Bangalore.

History: It is a leading advertisement company in India which was founded in the year 1896 and has its corporate office in New York. The company has been operating in more than 90 countries worldwide and taken over Hindustan Thompson in the year 2002.

Notable Clients: Nestle, Unilever, DTC etc.

Iconic Campaign: Kitkat (Kit into space Campaign), Burger King etc.

Kitkat (Kit into space Campaign)

Burger King

7. Triverse Advertising

Introduction: A Gurgaon based popular ad agency which is providing services in brand architecture and brand design language, social media and advertising .

History: It was founded on 9^th may 2008 by Suresh Tiwari. It is classified as Non-Govt company and is registered under Registrar of Companies, Delhi and is successfully handling the communication requirements of different sections of National & Regional brands, with insights for creating a kind of work that are reflected in the international ad agency for which includes both luxury & mass brands.

Clients: Vardhman, Brijwasi, SMC, Pari India.

Notable Campaigns:

8. FCB-Ulka Advertising Ltd

Introduction: FCB-Ulka is consistently maintaining its position in the top 10 Advertising agencies in India since its inception and is responsible for breaking the sterostype of the ad agency.

History: Bal Mundkurwas founded in 1961 and has its corporate office in Mumbai. FCB-Ulka has its presence in 92 countries having 150 offices across the world. Last year the agency celebrated its 50th year of Building Brand Wealth. Presently, FCB Ulka is among the top three agency groups in India with 53 of its brands as category leaders. Brands that have been built from scratch and were virtually non-existant when the agency was assigned their business.

Notable clients: Levi’s, Abbot, Amul, HP, Candy Man, Hero, Indian Oil, ITC, Nerolac, Sunfeast, Tata, Whirlpool, Wipro, Zee etc.

Iconic Campaigns: Pediasure, Amul Women Power, Hero Pleasure & Maestro Edge

Pediasure

Amul Women Power

Hero Pleasure

Maestro Edge

9. Chaitra Leo Burnett Pvt Ltd

Introduction: It has been recently rated as among the top 10 advertisement agencies in India which work on the principle of satisfying people purpose and need .

History: Leo Burnett is advertisement company established in 1992 in chicago and is operating in India from their regional offices based at Bangalore, Karnataka. It has over 100 offices located in different parts of the world.

Clients: P&G, Kellogs, Coco cola, Fiat, Samsung, Altria

Iconic Campaign: Phir ho Ja Shuru (Limca), Solar Powered Smart Lites

Phir ho Ja Shuru

Solar Powered Smart Lites

10. Dentsu Aegis

Introduction: As the name suggests it is a Japanese PR and advertising agency. The headquarter of company is located in Tokyo. It was founded as Telegraphic service co Japan Advertising Ltd by Hoshiro Mitsunaga.

History: It was founded in the year 2003 and its operating offices are based in Bengaluru, with additional offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, and Chennai, India. Dentsu Communications Pvt. Ltd. operates as a subsidiary of Dentsu. It works on the principle of combining creativity with technology in the campaigns.

Functions of an Ad Agency

Attracting clients

Research function

Advertising planning

Creative function

Media selection

Advertising budget

Coordination

Sales promotion

Marketing research

Non-advertising functions

Public relations

Selecting Advertising Agencies

An advertising agency may be a full-service agency or part-service agency. Each has a different outlook and advertising activities. The selection of advertising agencies depends on whether one wants a full-service agency or a part-time agency. The selection is also made on the basis of compatibility of the agency team, agency stability, services, credibility and the agency’s problem solving approach.

Services offered by Ad-agency –

There are different agencies provides different services, some provides all the services, some provide selected services, some provides only media services. It depends on the requirement of advertiser whether he need a fulls service agency, creative boutique, media buying service agency, or a sweet shop.
 
Experience of Agency –

An experienced agency performs better then a new agency  because it is familiar with different components of marketing environment like- competitors’ policies, taste of consumer, income of consumer, consumer responses, fashions and trends, reputation of different media etc.
 
Location –

A major factor to be considered while selecting ad-agency is location of office of agency. A considerable amount of communication is required at different level of ad planning, creation and execution. So, a local or near by ad-agency should be preferred which is easily accessible.
 
Size of Agency –

There are both large size agencies and small size agencies, both have their own advantages and disadvantages. Large agencies serves big clients, provides wide variety of services, and charges higher but, cannot give personal attention because of having large number of clients, also cannot give much attention to small clients because of having large number of big clients.

Competitors’ Agency –

Agency which is working for competitors must be avoided otherwise agency will not  prepare ads which help the advertiser to take an edge over competition.
 
Image of Agency –

While selecting ad-agency the advertiser should inquire the image, integrity, ethical standards, and relations of agency with its clients.
 
Creativity and other skills –

Ad-agency must be creative enough to generate new ideas to gain the attention of target audience.
 
Rates Charged by Agency –

The rates of agency must suit the pocket of client. Advertiser should select agency whose rates are reasonable and within the ad-budget.
 
Financial Strength of Agency –

A financially strong ad-agency have better turnover and better contacts with media owner, and afford better infrastructure, well-equipped-ad labs, and quality staff.
 
Past Records of Agency –

It is necessary to know who were the past clients of agency, how long were they with agency, why they left the agency, brand image of products of clients, etc.