Explain some of the factors that might lead to success in increasing sales and achieving communications objectives when competitors decrease their budgets.
> What are general capital assets? How are they reported in the fund and government-wide financial statements?
> How does a permanent fund differ from public-purpose trusts that are reported in special revenue funds? How does it differ from private-purpose trust funds?
> The computer department of a certain city, a General Fund department, charges other funds for data processing services. At the end of the fiscal year, the General Fund is owed $5,000 by the City Library Fund (a special revenue fund) and $8,000 by the Cit
> Explain why some governments may account for inventories of supplies using the purchases method in the General Fund and the consumption method at the government-wide level? How would the amount reported for expenditures in the General Fund compare with t
> How does accounting in a governmental fund for the purchase of supplies from an outside vendor differ from the purchase of supplies from an internal service fund?
> During a recession citizens and governments see a substantial decline in the value of homes. How might this decline in value impact a government’s gross property tax levy?
> In many cases, property taxes comprise a significant source of revenue and cash receipts for a government. If property tax cash collections typically occur during one or two collection periods, how do governments manage working capital needs?
> When preparing the statement or schedule of revenues, expenditures, and changes in fund balance on the budgetary basis, how are encumbrances outstanding at year end treated if they will be honored in the upcoming year?
> Explain why some transactions for governmental activities at the government wide level are reported differently than transactions for the General Fund. Give some examples of transactions that would be recorded in the general journals of (a) only the Gen
> Following is a description of the basic financial statements extracted from an example city’s management’s discussion and analysis (MD&A). Review the description and respond to the requirements at the end of the case. Government-wide Financial Statements
> Examine the Governmental Accounting Standards Board’s Web site (www.GASB.org) and prepare a brief report about its mission, standard setting process, board composition, and the role of the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council. Can you deter
> Marketers rely heavily on demographics when purchasing media. IMC Perspective 10–1 talks about additional factors that may be important. Discuss some of these factors and why they might impact media usage.
> There is new research that indicates that the number of ads one is exposed to in a day may be much lower than the thousands previously reported. Which numbers do you consider correct and why?
> A number of studies have examined the role that personality and/or other personal characteristics may have on consumers’ media usage. Discuss some of these studies. Do you think that these characteristics may have an impact, or should marketers rely prim
> Discuss some of the advantages of using programmatic media buying. Given that the majority of digital display ads are purchased this way, do you think this will be the only method media buyers use in the future?
> Discuss the role of music in advertising. Find an example of a television commercial that is using a specific song and discuss the role the music plays in delivering the message.
> Discuss the role of headlines in a print advertisement. What is the difference between a direct headline and an indirect headline and when might each be used?
> Discuss some of the reasons a marketer might choose to create a personality symbol or character to represent the company or brand. Analyze KFC's decision to bring back Colonel Sanders as a personality symbol for the brand. Do you agree with this decisio
> Choose three of the advertising execution techniques discussed in the chapter and find examples of advertisements that are using them. Discuss why the marketers might be using these particular ad execution techniques.
> IMC Perspective 9-1 discusses the new “Live Más” campaign for Taco Bell. Analyze the creative strategy used for this campaign, giving attention to the type of creative appeals used as well as the advertising execution.
> Discuss the value of virtual reality (VR) as a way for marketers to communicate with consumers. What are some of the applications of VR to integrated marketing communications? What challenges will marketers face in using virtual reality as a way to conn
> Discuss the changing role of account representatives in advertising agencies. Discuss how the role of account representative is changing and the developments that underlie these changes. Do you think account representatives will become obsolete in the
> Explain the concept of transformational advertising. Find an example of a company that is using transformational ads and discuss how the ads might enhance the experience of using the product or service.
> Discuss some of the reasons why emotion-based advertising appeals are effective.
> Digital and Social Media Perspective 9-2 discusses the Unskippable online advertising campaign created by the Martin Agency for GEICO. Why do you think this campaign was so popular among consumers? Do you think other marketers could use the technique us
> Discuss the challenges marketers face in developing online advertising messages. How will the creative strategy for online advertising differ depending on whether the goal is for concept, content or commerce types of online advertising?
> The chapter opener discusses how DASANI was able to use creative advertising to reposition the brand and make it the leading brand of bottled water. Evaluate the creative strategy used by The Lambesis Agency for DASANI bottled water as well as the two l
> Digital and Social Media Perspective 8-2 discusses the pros and cons of pretesting advertising creative work and how it is being impacted by the digital revolution. Discuss the pros and cons of the pretesting of creative work done by agencies and how th
> Many advertising creative personnel are opposed to focus group research as they argue that they may inhibit the creative process. Discuss the problems, as well as the value, of using focus groups to evaluate advertising creative work.
> Discuss the types of research that can be used by an advertising agency during the preparation, illumination, and incubation stages of the creative process. Find an example of an advertising campaign that has used research as input to the creative proces
> Discuss the various factors that account for the way divergence can be achieved in advertising creativity. Find an example of an advertisement that reflects these various characteristics and explain how it does so.
> The chapter discusses how advertising agencies are sometimes fired even though they create award-winning ads and campaigns for their clients. Evaluate the decision by companies such as AB InBev to dismiss their ad agency and hire a new one even though th
> Why might a company choose to use a creative boutique rather than a larger, full-service agency?
> Digital and Social Media Perspective 8–1 discusses some of the advertising campaigns that were selected as the best of the 21st century. Choose one of these campaigns and analyze it from a creative perspective giving attention to the strategy used for th
> Discuss the role and importance of creativity in advertising. Do you think advertising agencies often emphasize creativity at the expense of developing ads that can help generate sales for a product or service? What can clients do to avoid this problem?
> Find an example of an ad or campaign that you think reflects one of the approaches used to develop a major selling idea such as unique selling proposition, brand image, inherent drama, or positioning. Discuss how the major selling idea is used in this a
> Discuss the role an advertising slogan plays in the development of an advertising campaign as well as some of the factors that should be considered in developing an effective tagline. Find an example of a good tagline as well as one that does not communi
> Assume that you have been hired as an account planner by an advertising agency and assigned to work on the development of an advertising campaign for a new brand of bottled water. Describe the various types of general and product-specific preplanning inp
> Discuss the creative challenges Intuit and the Wieden+Kennedy agency face in developing advertising campaigns for a tax preparation software product such as TurboTax. Evaluate the creative strategy W+K used for the “It doesn't take a genius to do your t
> Explain some of the reasons marketers are shifting their budget allocations from traditional to digital and social media. What are some of the advantages and disadvantages with this reallocation?
> Explain why it is so difficult to directly measure the impact of advertising on sales. What factors may inhibit this determination?
> Some marketers feel that the hierarchy of effects models may no longer reflect the characteristics of the consumer decision-making process. Discuss the pros and cons of these arguments.
> Companies like P&G and Kraft Foods have found success by increasing their IMC budgets while other companies reduce theirs during a recession. Explain why they have likely achieved this success.
> The text describes a number of different positioning strategies. Give examples of products and/or brands that utilize each of these different strategies.
> Explain the S-shaped response curve and the concave-downward curve as they relate to budget setting. What are the differences in these two curves? Give examples of how each might be more appropriate for different products.
> Explain why communications measures may be better to use than sales or market share objectives when developing the IMC plan.
> Why are the affordable and arbitrary allocation budgeting methods considered to be very poor budgeting methods?
> Discuss why the allocation of media dollars to digital and social media at the expense of traditional media is considered by some marketers to be a “knee-jerk reaction.”
> Why is it important for marketers to set specific objectives for advertising and promotion? What criteria must these objectives meet to be valid?
> Visit the website for the Montana Meth Project (www.montanameth.org)and choose three ads that use various levels of fear in the message. Discuss why each ad may or may not be effective.
> One of the problems slowing the rate of adoption of the Internet as an advertising medium is the fact that this medium has been slow to adopt traditional advertising metrics. Discuss why this has been the case, and what must be done to overcome the probl
> The chapter discusses a variety of new Internet advertising forms including Podcasting, RSS and blogs. Explain what each of these are. What are some of the potential advantages and disadvantages associated with the use of each?
> Explain how the Internet has changed the practice of public relations. Pick a Web site as an example of this change.
> In recent years a very good example of a successful IMC strategy is GEICO’s successful market approach. What factors have led to the success of this company?
> One of the fastest growing mediums in regard to advertising expenditures is mobile. Explain why mobile has become so attractive to advertisers.
> The chapter opener discusses the DEWmocracy social media campaign used by PepsiCo to select a new flavor to add to the Mountain Dew product line. Discuss the pros and cons of using social media and consumer generated content to select an addition to the
> What are the characteristics of the infomercial watcher? In viewing this profile, does it surprise you? Explain why or why not.
> What is the difference between direct marketing and direct selling? Describe the various forms of direct selling and some of the characteristics of the industry that make it unique.
> Direct marketers are some of the most successful when it comes to measuring the effectiveness of their programs. Give reasons why this may be true.
> Describe the various forms of direct response advertising. Discuss some of the reasons for the success of direct response advertising.
> The number of telemarketing centers in the United States has decreased in the past few years. Why has this occurred?
> Describe what is meant by “guerilla marketing.” Give examples of products and/or services that you know have employed this strategy. Then describe some of the characteristics of companies that might most benefit from stealth marketing.
> Transit advertising takes a variety of forms, and many advertisers may be reluctant to use these media. Discuss some of the various forms of transit advertising and their relative advantages and disadvantages. Give examples of which products and/or servi
> Discuss some of the various means of measuring effectiveness in branded entertainment, and their advantages and disadvantages. Given the emphasis by marketers on ROI, discuss how these measures fit in with this attempt to determine return on investment.
> What is meant by primary versus selective demand advertising? Provide examples of each. Discuss when a marketer might focus on primary demand stimulation versus selective demand stimulation.
> Advertising in video games is becoming more popular. Discuss some of the reasons this medium is attractive. Do you see any downside to advertising through video games?
> Discuss how circulation figures are used in evaluating magazines and newspapers as part of a media plan and setting advertising rates.
> Choose a specific target market that an advertiser might want to reach. Discuss how magazines and/or newspapers could be used to reach this particular market segment in a cost-effective manner.
> Why are young males such a difficult market to reach through magazines? What types of magazines might be effective in reaching the young male market?
> Discuss how advertisers deal with the clutter problem in both magazines and newspapers. Explain why advertisers of products such as cosmetics or women’s clothing would choose to advertise in a publication such as Vogue or Elle, which devote most of their
> Discuss some of the factors that media buyers should take into consideration when buying advertising time on radio.
> Discuss how the concept of imagery transfer can be used in radio advertising. Find an example of a radio campaign that is using this concept and evaluate it.
> The text discusses the Extended Home study conducted by Nielsen Market Research to measure the television viewing patterns of college students living away from home. Discuss why the results of this study are of value to televisions networks (including ca
> Discuss how the growth of Spanish-language television networks in the United States such as Univision and Telemundo affects the media strategy of marketers targeting the Hispanic market.
> Television is often described as a mass medium that offers little selectivity to advertisers. Do you agree with this statement? What are some of the ways selectivity can be achieved through TV advertising?
> Discuss the difference between a push and a pull strategy. What kinds of firms would be more likely to employ each strategy? Give examples.
> Describe the three methods of promotional scheduling. Give examples of products and/or services that might employ each method.
> As noted in the chapter, there is a trade-off between reach and frequency for advertisers with a limited budget. Explain what this means. Under which circumstances would a planner wish to emphasize reach? Frequency?
> Explain the differences between CPM and TCPM. Give examples of a company or product that might select one of the methods versus the other.
> Some business to business advertisers (for example, copy machine companies) advertise on NFL Sunday and/or Monday Night football games. As might be expected, such a buy would lead to a high level of waste coverage. Explain what is meant by waste coverag
> The chapter discuses how the campaign featuring the Aflac duck has been very successful in increasing awareness as well as sales for the supplemental insurance company. Why do you think this campaign has been so successful? What challenges does Aflac fac
> Why do many advertisers pay large sums of money to celebrities to do the voiceovers for their commercials? Do you think consumers recognize the voices of the celebrities doing the commercials? Is it necessary that they recognize them for the commercials
> Discuss how teaser advertising might be used to introduce a new product or brand or to reposition an existing brand. What factors should marketers take into consideration when using a teaser campaign?
> Discuss the difference between an advertising appeal and a creative execution style.
> Discuss the key characteristics of a unique selling proposition. What are some of the factors an advertiser must consider in developing an advertising campaign that uses a USP as the basis for the major selling idea?
> As noted, packages are now becoming communications tools, serving as advertising vehicles. At the same time, packages are changing the other marketing mix elements as well. Discuss how packages are being used to impact price and distribution strategies a
> Briefly describe the five major communication interfaces and decision points in the model of marketing information flow shown in Figure 8-3. Discuss how breakdowns in communication can occur at each interface and how this might negatively impact the crea
> Evaluate the debate over creative versus hard-sell advertising. Discuss the arguments for and against each perspective. Who should be responsible for judging the creativity of an ad—clients or agency creative personnel?
> Television commercials are often developed that rely on unusual creative tactics and have very little relevance to the product or service being advertised. Creative personnel in agencies defend the use of the strange messages by noting that they ar
> Explain what is meant by creative strategy and creative tactics in advertising.
> Different companies believe that various media are more important than others for their marketing purposes. Discuss the various perspectives taken by these companies, and explain why everyone may not agree on the same level of importance for media.
> The chapter discusses the results of a study conducted by Yoo and Mandhachitara that shows that advertising spending and effects may differ in different competitive environments. Explain each of the four scenarios presented in Figure 7-16 and give exampl
> The AAAA contends that advertisers should not cut their budgets during a time of recession. Explain why advertisers usually do make cuts in marketing communications budgets during a recession. Is this likely to be an effective or ineffective strategy? Ex
> To many consumers, shopping through direct channels offers a number of distinct advantages over traditional shopping methods. At the same time, there are distinct disadvantages to this form of shopping. Give examples of the advantages and disadvantages o
> Chapter 7 differentiates between communications objectives and sales objectives. Explain the difference. What are examples of communications objectives? From where are these objectives derived?
> Evaluate Domino’s decision to run an advertising campaign acknowledging the problems with the taste of its pizza as a way to promote its new recipe. Do you think this strategy was an effective way to promote its reformulated product?
> Discuss the rise in popularity of YouTube stars such as Smosh, The Fine Brothers and PewDiePie among young people. Do you think these YouTube personalities can replace more traditional celebrities such as athletes, actors/actresses, and entertainers as a
> Find a celebrity who is currently appearing in an advertising campaign for a particular company or brand and use McCracken’s meaning transfer model (shown in Figure 6-4) to analyze the use of this individual as a spokesperson.
> IMC Perspective 6-1 discusses the series of problems Nike has had with some of its endorsers because of controversies that have arisen in their personal lives. Discuss how the problems surrounding these endorsers might impact the image and reputation of
> Find examples of an advertising message or campaign that uses the company CEO, president or founder as the spokesperson. Do you think this individual is an effective spokesperson for the company? Why or why not?
