Models of Advertising

AIDA Model is a selling concept presented by Elmo Lewis to explain how personal selling works. AIDA Model outlines the processes for achieving promotional goals in terms of stages of consumer involvement with the message. The Stages are Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action.

Attention

In this media filled world, advertisers need to be quick and direct to grab audience attention. Ads are required to be eye catchy which can make audience stop and read or watch what advertiser have to say next. Powerful words and pictures are used in ads to make them attractive.

Interest

After getting attention of a chunk of the targeted audience, it is required to keep them engaged with the ad to make them understand the message in more detail. Gaining the reader's or audience interest is more difficult process than grabbing their attention. To gain audience interest the advertisers must stay focused on audience needs.

Desire

The Interest and Desire parts of AIDA goes hand-in-hand. As advertiser builds the audience interest, he also need to help them understand how what he is offering can help them in a real way. The way of doing this is by appealing to their personal needs and wants.

A good way of building the reader's desire for advertiser offering is to link features and benefits. Hopefully, the significant features of the offering have been designed to give a specific benefit to members of the target market.

Action

Finally,  advertiser need to be very clear about what action he want the audience to take- trial, purchase, repurchase, or other.

AIDA and the Promotional Mix

	Attention	Interest	Desire	Action
Advertising	Very Effective	Very Effective	Somewhat Effective	Not Effective
Public Relations	Very Effective	Very Effective	Very Effective	Not Effective
Sales Promotion	Somewhat Effective	Somewhat Effective	Very Effective	Somewhat Effective
Personal Selling	Somewhat Effective	Very Effective	Very Effective	Very Effective

DAGMAR

DAGMAR  stands for Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results. DAGMAR Model was developed by Russell Colley in 1961 for setting advertising objectives and measuring advertising results.

According to DAGMAR Model the ultimate objective of advertising involves a communication task, intended to create awareness, impart information, develop attitude and induce action.

Advertising objective is to carry a consumer through four levels of understanding :-

1. From unawareness to awareness - consumer must be aware of product or company,
2. Comprehension - what the product is and its benefits,
3. Conviction - mental conviction to buy the product, and
4. Action - finally buy the product.

Communication Process in DAGMAR  Approach

1. Awareness

Before the purchase behaviour is expected from target audience it is necessary to make the audience aware with the product or company.The initial communication task of the advertising activity is to increase the consumer awareness of the product or offer.

2. Comprehension

Only Awareness is not be sufficient to stimulate a purchase, sufficient knowledge and information about product or organisation is necessary. This step involves the target audience to learn something about product, organisation, or offer. Here communication task of advertising activity is to make consumer learn about product - product characteristics, benefits, or uses.

3. Attitude or Conviction

At this step a sense of conviction is established. By creating interest and preference, buyers are moved to a position where they are convinced that a particular product in the class should be tried at the next opportunity. At this step communication task of advertising activity is to mould the audience’s beliefs about the product and this is often done through messages that demonstrate the product’s superiority over a rival or by talking about the rewards as a result of using the product.

4. Action

Finally, communication must encourage buyer to engage in purchase activity.

NEED HIERARCHY

Abraham Maslow is well renowned for proposing the Hierarchy of Needs Theory in 1943. This theory is a classical depiction of human motivation. This theory is based on the assumption that there is a hierarchy of five needs within each individual. The urgency of these needs varies. These five needs are as follows-

1.     Physiological needs- These are the basic needs of air, water, food, clothing and shelter. In other words, physiological needs are the needs for basic amenities of life.

2.     Safety needs- Safety needs include physical, environmental and emotional safety and protection. For instance- Job security, financial security, protection from animals, family security, health security, etc.

3.     Social needs- Social needs include the need for love, affection, care, belongingness, and friendship.

4.     Esteem needs- Esteem needs are of two types: internal esteem needs (self- respect, confidence, competence, achievement and freedom) and external esteem needs (recognition, power, status, attention and admiration).

5.     Self-actualization need- This include the urge to become what you are capable of becoming / what you have the potential to become. It includes the need for growth and self-contentment. It also includes desire for gaining more knowledge, social- service, creativity and being aesthetic. The self- actualization needs are never fully satiable. As an individual grows psychologically, opportunities keep cropping up to continue growing.

According to Maslow, individuals are motivated by unsatisfied needs. As each of these needs is significantly satisfied, it drives and forces the next need to emerge. Maslow grouped the five needs into two categories -Higher-order needs and Lower-order needs. The physiological and the safety needs constituted the lower-order needs. These lower-order needs are mainly satisfied externally. The social, esteem, and self-actualization needs constituted the higher-order needs. These higher-order needs are generally satisfied internally, i.e., within an individual. Thus, we can conclude that during boom period, the employees lower-order needs are significantly met.

This ad demonstrates the physiological need of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.  The strategy of this need is expressing that water is very important and it is impossible to survive without it.  This ad fits the physiological need because water is something that people will always need and thirst is something that people will always have.

This ad is an example of the Safety need of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.  The strategy of this ad is conveying that if you rent a home or an apartment and do not have insurance it is equivalent to doing the most dangerous activities in your home.  This ad fits the safety need because people feel secure and safe when they have insurance.

This ad is an example of the love and belongingness need of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.  The strategy of this ad is expressing that the Salvation Army is always looking out to help people in need.  This ad conveys the love and belongingness need because it is expressing that there are people who will help anybody in need and those people will feel like they belong.

This ad demonstrates the esteem need of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.  The strategy of this ad is suggesting that the design of this car is so much like a plane and it is hard to differentiate between the two.  This ad expresses the esteem need because people will feel very prestigious.  They will also feel as if they have a very high status because their car is compared to a plane.

This ad expresses the self-actualization need of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.  The strategy of this ad is conveying that the U.S. Marines only wants people who are able to live up to their highest potential and push others to do the same.  This ad fits the self-actualization ad because it is expressing people to be the best they can be and then they will feel self-fulfillment.