Advertising and Promotion - the Effectiveness of one Chocolate Brand's Communication

Question

An important aspect of developing effective communication requires an understanding of the receivers' response process. Assuming you are typical of the receiver, evaluate the effectiveness of one chocolate brand's communication effort (a print ad ) based on a review of alternative response hierarchies, information processing and advertising planning models that the brand might have adopted. Explain alternative approaches that this brand could use.

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Content

The function of all elements of the integrated marketing communication process is to communicate. An important aspect of developing effective communication requires an understanding of the receivers' response process. It is imperative that the proposed advertising is on the mark, acceptable and persuasive to the market consumer. This paper explains the fundamentals of communication and examines various perspectives and models concerning how a consumer responds to Kit Kat's marketing communication message. Through a review of alternative response hierarchies, information processing and advertising planning models that Kit Kat has adopted it will be seen that this advertisement is fundamentally successful in effective communication.

To communicate effectively, marketers must understand who the target market audience is, what they know about the brand and how to communicate with the audience to influence their decision making process. The audience level that Kit Kat is a mass market. Mass communications do not offer the marketer an opportunity to explain or clarify the message to make it more effective, therefore the message needs to be easily decoded. In this ad for Kit Kat it can be easily seen that it is intended that the consumer will associate Kit Kat as a snack while having a break from work.

Kit Kat's goal is to encode the message in such a way that it will be understood by the receiver. This means using words signs or symbols that are familiar to the target audience. The Kit Kat symbol is highly recognisable and is well known to consumers in Australia.

The encoding process leads to the development of a message that contains the information the source hopes to convey. In this print ad it is not the actual words of the message that determines the communication effectiveness, but rather the impression the image creates. Kit Kats goal was to encode the message 'Eat Kit Kat' in a graphic way that the reader should be able to translate.

To better understand the symbolic meaning of this advertisement, focusing on semiotics can be useful. The semiotics that are being explored in this ad is the object which is Kit Kat, the symbol of the boss broken in half, displaying that while enjoying a Kit Kat the consumer can ignore the stresses that the boss or workplace may have on them.

Decoding the message can be heavily influenced by the receiver's frame of reference, which refers to the experiences, perceptions, attitudes and values they bring to the communication situation. Effective communication is more likely when there is some common ground between the source and the receiver. For effective communication to occur, the message decoding process of the receiver must match the encoding of the sender. In reference to Kit Kat's advertisement, the receiver's frame of reference is closely linked to what the source is trying to portray and interoperates the ad as 'When you need a time out from your boss or work have a Kit Kat.'

Successful communication is accomplished when the marketer selects an appropriate source, develops an effective message or appeal that is best encoded properly, and then selects the channels or media that will best reach the target audience so that the message can effectively be decoded and delivered. Clutter is the most likely form of noise that this Kit Kat ad will suffer from. This is from the competing messages from competitors, especially when the audience are using multiple media simultaneously. This is an uncontrollable form of noise that will affect the audience. However the controllable form of noise is to minimise the lack of common ground and to have an understanding of the target audience.

The most important part of developing effective communication programs involves understanding the response process the receiver may go through in moving toward a specific behaviour and how the communication efforts of the marketer influence consumer response. The AIDA model represents the stages a sales person must take a customer through in the personal selling process. This hierarchy model is not necessary in understanding the receiver's response of the Kit Kat ad.

The Hierarchy of effects model evaluates the process by which advertising works. It demonstrates the series of steps in sequential order from initial awareness of a product to actual purchase. This is the most relevant model for depicting the stages a consumer will go through when referring to a confectionary campaign. This model is focused on the period of time that the effects of advertising occur. The Kit Kat ad may not lead to immediate behavioural response or purchase; rather a series of effects must occur, with each step fulfilled before the consumer can move to the next stage in the hierarchy.

The Innovation adoption model represents the stages a consumer passes through in adopting a new product. It is base on how potential adopters must move through a series of steps before taking some action. These steps preceding adoption are awareness, interest, evaluation and trial. The Kit Kat ad affects the awareness stage of this response model that is sparking interest in the consumer to change their desired state and forcing them to take action.

The information process model assumes the receiver is in a persuasive communication situation like advertising is an information-processor. The