Introduction

Advertising is a form of communication used to encourage or persuade an audience (viewers, readers or listeners; sometimes a specific group of people) to continue or take some new action. It is a powerful communication force, highly visible, and one of the most important tools of marketing communication that helps to sell products, services, ideas and images, etc. Many believe that advertising reflects the need of time. One may like it or not, but advertisements are played everywhere. They are seen on walls, at the back of buses, in grounds during sports event, on roadsides, in store and even in airplanes. Advertisements are seen in newspapers, magazines, on television and internet and are heard on radio. The fact is that we are being bombarded with advertisements day in and day out.

Structure of the Advertising Agency

Ad agencies are very much a part of our lives, given the fact that we are exposed to so much advertising on a daily basis, and on virtually every medium that we see TV, newspapers, Websites, hoardings, bus shelters and bus panels, among others. As Part of our project, we visited Contract Advertising Agency and our choice of brand study is Cadbury Celebrations. Let us take a quick look at how it works: Traditionally, an advertising agency has four main functions client servicing, media planning and buying, creative, and account planning. We further were told that Contract Advertising dealt only with the client servicing, account planning and the creative part of the advertising campaigns while the media planning of Cadbury Celebrations was outsourced by another company. The Creative Department is the one that really drives this agency they basically are the people who think up the brilliant (and sometimes not-so-brilliant) ads that we end up seeing. These people are good at thinking of unusual and interesting ways of conveying to consumers the message about the product. This includes thinking of the words, visuals, and choice of models, music and the decision on whether to have humour or not. The Client Servicing Department does much of the interaction with the client. Senior client servicing people pretty much serve as marketing consultants to the client. They sit in on strategy meetings and give inputs as to how the brand's positioning can be taken forward. It is also their role to act as an interface between the client and the creative, in the sense that they translate the marketing objectives into a brief that tells the creative the kind of output being sought, the message to be conveyed, and so on. Management graduates tend to join this function; the skills required here include excellent people skills, good project management skills, and a sound knowledge of marketing strategy. The Media Function has undergone a sea change in the last decade. Essentially, it is the media planning department's role to evaluate the various options available and decide where the ad campaign is to be placed. This is a job that calls for a high degree of comfort with numbers and skill in reading research reports, such as readership and TV audience studies. Account planning is a relatively more recent function. The role here is to essentially think on behalf of the client, and to prepare the agency itself for pitching to a new client. The skills called for include knowledge of market research techniques and consumer behaviour. In recent times, media planning buying has become an independent function and is done by quite a few large, specialised companies. Some clients have set up their own media buying units to ensure that they get the best rates. This Is the Reason Why Contract Advertising does not deal with media planning and buying.

Contract Advertising Agency

Setting a scorching pace since its inception in 1986, Contract Advertising has built a reputation for igniting the flames of passion that have created trailblazing brands across industries. A passion for insights, an obsession with out-of-the-box ideas, strategic thinking that breaks the traditional mould, a fanatical pursuit of creativity and a commitment to driving business results; these resolves sum up the Contract difference and have made them India's firebrand agency. Besides mass media advertising, Contract offers truly integrated marketing and communication solutions through its specialist divisions. Contract Advertising is one of India's leading integrated 360 degree advertising agencies. With offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai, they deliver end-to-end communications solutions for their clients, including traditional advertising and speciality solutions through Core, the brand and marketing consulting group. Design Sutra, their design and branding solutions. And iContract the data-driven 1 to 1 marketing Solutions Company that specialises in CRM, loyalty, digital and new media solutions. Categories: Advertising Services Business & marketing consulting Design & identity solutions One-to-one & CRM solutions OTC & ethical pharmaceutical communications.

Contract cherishes its value system of being an open, transparent and ethical company that puts its value system ahead of business issues. Over the years Contract has won a slew of Indian and international advertising awards, at the Abby, AAAI, Cannes, One Show, Clio, Effies, DMA and other award shows. It has tie ups with brands such as: Halls NIIT Whirlpool TEN Sports HSBC Dominos Pizza Shoppers Stop Glucose-D and many more other brands.

Contract Advertising in the News

I. March 27, -2011

As Contract Advertising enters its 25th year, its founding members feel as feisty as they did on the day they started and are brimming with fresh ideas for the future. Together with them, Impact magazine discovers the Grow Young mantra that has made brands like HSBC, Shoppers Stop, Dominos and Asian Paints stick around and grow steadily young. II. November 30, -2010

Contract Advertising has got the creative mandate to work with Ashok Leyland. The agency's Mumbai branch will handle the account. It aims to create a new position and campaign for the company's medium and heavy commercial vehicles. Mudra was the incumbent on the account. Contract Advertising EVP Kumar Subramaniam said, "Ashok Leyland is an established name with a strong positive equity and we will aim to build on that equity as we develop new ideas for the brand." Ashok Leyland head branding and marketing communications Alok Saraogi stated, "Contract, besides creative, projected their smart understanding of our business, which really pursued us to get into a relationship with them." Mindshare handles the media duties of Ashok Leyland, the flagship of the Hinduja Group. III. November 30, -2010

The search giant, Google, has added Contract Advertising to its roster of agencies in India. The company works with a cluster of agencies in India, including Propaganda India (Bengaluru), BBH and others, both in the space of creative and activation. Industry sources close to the development confirmed the news to afaqs! on ground of anonymity. Currently, Google has seven products in India, including Chrome, AdSense, AdWord, Gmail and Google Earth, amongst others. The company follows its international pattern in India, wherein it awards various projects to different agencies from the roster. Furthermore, at times, it also works with two agencies on one project. In September 2010, the search giant, in an effort to increase Chrome's market share in India, had launched its first print campaign - a full back-page advertisement, across the country. The company used all major newspapers including The Times of India, Economic Times, Mint, Hindu and other leading papers. Once again, earlier this year, Google had launched a series of television commercials for Chrome, based on the concept, 'The Web is What You Make of it'. Conceptualised by BBH India, the commercial showcased how the web changed the lives of millions. One of the ads, titled Archana's Kitchen, tells the story of Archana Doshi from Tamil Nadu, who used the web to take forward her passion for cooking through Blooking (blog-cooking). The company also launched various digital activities, giving a further push to the television campaign. According to several media reports, Google has predicted that India will add 200 million internet users in the next two years. Furthermore, the search giant expects India to reach at least 300 million internet users by 2014, from the 100 million users now, with telecom service providers investing in high speed wireless infrastructure and smartphones becoming cheaper.

Procedure of Creating an Advertisement

Advertisement Making Process Example: After Cadbury Celebrations selects Contract Advertising for its product or brand the marketer gives an ad brief to the account executive, the person in charge of handling that particular account. This ad brief generally includes information such as: 1. Why does the marketer think there is need for advertising the brand or product? 2. The target audience 3. What do they think about the brand and other such products? 4. What is type of feedback the marketer wants form the consumer after they see the ad? 5. The Unique Selling Proposition of the product 6. Any suggestions as to how the ad should look The next step is where the account executive analysis the ad brief and goes back to the client in case if any clarifications are required. Then this ad brief is broken up into a creative brief and a media brief. These are given to the creative and the media department respectively. The media and the creative department then conduct research if required for the characteristics of the target audience, their likes, their dislikes, their living conditions, their behaviour in general, their exposure to the different types of media and so on. The creative department after the research comes out with various alternative campaigns for the product. In the same way the media department also makes alternative media plans. The creative and the media department then make presentations to the account executive who in turn after discarding various ideas selects 2 or 3 ideas which according to him matches the ad brief and the requirements of the client the best. If none of the ideas appeal the account executive then the creative and/or media department have to work from scratch all over again. Once this is done, the account executive or someone from the account planning department assisting the account service department makes presentations to the client of the ideas that were approved by the account executive. There are three possibilities at this stage: 1. The client does not like any of the ideas presented and again the creative and media department have to work towards another idea. 2. The client approves of an idea which is sent for further processing. 3. The client is confused between two very good concepts. Here there is Pre- testing undertaken. Both the ideas are shown to a specific audience that is assumed to be the representative sample of the target audience as suggested by the client. Depending upon their response for the two ideas the best is chosen and sent for further processing.

After one concept is finally approved of, the creative copy is sent to the printer for the print ad. For the commercial, the concept is sent to the production department where the ad is shot. The decision about model selection is either of the client, account executive or the film director or a combined effort of all three. As the print ad is being made and the commercial being shot the media department at the same time starts buying media slots as per the approved media plan. The next step is the launch of the ad in the specified media. Then the next step of billing. An ad agency generally charges the client on the basis of a fee structure or on a cost-plus system basis. Under the fee structure, the client and the ad agency negotiate a flat sum to be paid to the agency for all work done. The agency estimates the cost (including out of pocket expenses) of servicing the client who either accepts or negotiates for a lesser amount. Negotiations continue until an agreement is reached. The cost-plus system is generally used when the media billings are relatively low and a great deal of agency service is required by the client. This happens most often with industrial products, new product introductions etc. that require disproportionate amount of agency help in preparing brochures, catalogues and other non- commissionable marketing activities. The final step is Post- evaluation. In this stage the success of the advertisement is judged through research conducted wherein the target audience as such is questioned on the visibility of the ad, whether the ad is top of mind or not, if the product is existing has the new campaign helped in increase in the sales or not and so on. The person whom we spoke to at the agency provided us with the following information: ***** He said that the client usually approaches the ad agency with the particular brand. This usually happens when the brand is new. In some cases the agency approaches the client too, which is known as pitching. This happens when the client already has previous ads made with the same agency. The type of advertisement; thematic, tactical or impulse, is obviously designed with the product type as well as its demand at a particular time period. He defined the process with terms in steps, such as the Pre-Production meet where factors such as deciding the budget of the advertisements, appointing art directors, copywriters, photographers, costume designers and stylists, allocation of locations, payments etc. are decided. He also mentioned that after the ad has been made it is usually never rejected as an expensive cost is involved as decisions are already made beforehand. Fifty percent of the advertisement cost is usually paid before the production phase while the latter is paid after. A retention fee is paid to the agency which is usually quarterly or every half-yearly. *****

Advertising Model for Cadbury Celebrations

The company in its initial stages till today has used the ATR model in marketing this category of its product. It consists of 3 stages, namely: 1. Attention 2. Trial and 3. Reinforcement This model helps in a way because the brand Cadbury had already existed in the market. Known for its products such as Dairy Milk and Eclairs, it would be comparatively easier to extend its line with Cadbury Celebrations as its new entrant. So all it had to do was to get the attention of the consumers about this new product line by creating an effective advertisement to gain attention of the customers.

Media Planning of Cadbury Celebrations

A festival is not a festival unless it is celebrated, and a celebration is not a celebration unless you open a box of Cadbury Celebrations! If there was one challenge that Cadbury faced, then it was in converting the quintessential Mithai loving Indian into a chocolate fan. With Celebrations, we not only succeeded in positioning chocolates as the modern variant over the traditional Mithai, but also managed to connect to the average Indian for whom festivals hold a special significance. Media vehicles include all major national tv channels, radio channels, newspapers as well as hoardings on buses as well as highways.

Advertising (Raksha Bandhan) Television Ad

If Raksha Bandhan is special to an average Indian, so is Diwali (festival of light). The Cadbury Celebrations journey began in 1997 with Cadbury attempting to introduce the Celebrations range as a typical gift for a festive occasion. In 2000, Cadbury positioned Celebrations as the new `Rakhi Par Ek Meetha Sa Uphar and slowly, people started waking up to the idea of gifting their near and dear ones delicious chocolates in place of traditional sweets. In 2002, Cadbury further strengthened and nurtured the closeness of the brother sister relationship. With Gulzars heart-warming lyrics `Rishtey Pakne Do, `Aankhon Se Chakne Do, the age-old custom of tying a Rakhi was followed by gifting a box of Celebrations. Between 2003 and 2006, Celebrations became the perfect addition to the traditional Shagun. With the tagline `Kyunki Sirf Shagun Hi Kaafi Nahin yet one more time, Cadbury made Raksha Bandhan even more special In 2008, Celebrations went beyond a simple Rakhi gift, and commemorated the true core of the relationship the love that siblings share. In 2010, the Rich Dry Fruit and Assorted Favourites range of Celebrations were unleashed, which were aptly supported by the `Shararat commercial. Now, Celebrations became the new fun starter for the older siblings; a delicious treat that they could enjoy on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan.

Our Advertising (Diwali): Television Ad

Recognizing the market potential, Cadbury decided to add the Diwali twist to Celebrations. With the 1999 campaign that surprised families with `Diwali Ki Meethi Shubhkaamnaaye and the `Har Pal Bane Ek Utsav campaign in 2000, people were now revealing in the Diwali festivities with a box of Cadbury Celebrations. In 2002, with the tagline `Rishtey Pakne Do the Rich Dry Fruit Collection was introduced in the market that got families together in festive times. Delving beyond families, the 2004 Celebrations commercials starring Amitabh Bachchan cemented the spirit of friendship with the tagline ` Aisi Mithaas Jo Dosti Banaye Khaas. In 2006, another Amitabh Bachchan starrer with the tagline `Ek Aisi Mithaas, Jo Dosti Ko Banaye Aur Bhi Khaas celebrated the warmth of re-unions and friendships that went beyond time. In 2009, Celebrations took the brand thought deeper into the meaning of Diwali; it was now a symbol of new friendship, spreading happiness, and taking a moment to thank all those who remain unappreciated for most part of the year. Tapping into the festive mood of togetherness, Celebrations started asking people `Iss Diwali Aap Kisse Khush Karenge?

Social Media:
Cadbury Celebrations brings Raksha Bandhan celebrations on to Facebook with a wonderful app and a chance for siblings to feature on hoardings across the country. This Raksha Bandhan tells your brother or sister how special they are by sending them a special wish anywhere in India. You can see their face and city they live in light-up on the virtual map of India. But that is not all you and your sibling may win a chance to appear on hoardings across the city. If this sounds exciting, then head over to the Cadbury Celebrations Facebook page at once and click on the India celebrates Raksha Bandhan Facebook app. About India celebrates Facebook app You are greeted by an amazing animated app with a glowing map of India against a black background, after you click on Send your wish. Also, the cities and towns through which wishes have been sent through, are lit up on the map. At the left bottom, you can see the city with the highest number of wishes by clicking on City of the day. As you can see in the screenshot, the colourful ribbons are extending from Mumbai to other places in India.

Besides this, you can see a continuous flow of wishes updated live at the bottom right. You can participate by clicking on Send your wish. A window displays the list of friends from the opposite gender. Select your sibling, write your wish and click send to see your entry in the live updates. You can also search for your wish at the search option above. Either enter your Facebook name, Twitter handle or phone number and click search. Presently, I see 6,429 wishes made by India, which I guess is only going to grow. How cool is the app? Cadbury Celebrations, a brand that is positioned to cater to the many festivals that are celebrated in India, seems to have taken up this Raksha Bandhan festival with a vengeance. For starters, I loved the concept! Celebrating a relationship that signifies the quintessential Indian bond with a touch of technology, might just prove to be the USP for this campaign. As apps are meant to be used by laypersons, the first point to be taken care of is simplicity. India celebrates app is a perfect blend of simplicity and a fun experience for the fan. Execution is excellent save for the names that do not appear when you hover over the litup cities at times. I think the app designed for the contest almost qualifies to be a micro site in itself besides being informative, intuitive, simple, well tested and providing a good user experience.

How cool are the celebrations?

The Facebook wall is a celebration in itself. Fans have been given ample ways to celebrate Raksha Bandhan with the brand. Apart from the app, siblings can also send wishes through SMS. Also, the brand has built Sister Streets in Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmadabad and Lucknow. Fans living in any of these cities can upload a picture of the Sister street and win a surprise gift.

Twitter hasnt been left behind. Sisters were invited to share what makes their brother special and vice versa, with the sweetest messages winning a Cadbury Celebrations pack every hour. The specially created hashtag #MySpecialBro trended on the day of the contest.

Outdoor Advertising:
The on-ground activation will take place at Caf Coffee Day outlets across Delhi and Mumbai. Also on ground, one winner each day from 28 July to 2 August was picked to take his sister to watch a movie. During the interval, a customised message from the brother was displayed on the cinema screen and a personalised Cadbury Celebrations gift box was handed over to the sister. The campaign saw streets being branded Cadbury Celebrations Sisters Street for Raksha Bandhan on 28 and 29 July. In Ahmedabad and Lucknow, Cadbury Celebrations 'dedicated' the street for sisters in Maninagar and Jopling Road respectively. Banners with personalised messages from brothers to their sisters were put up on every building. In Mumbai and Delhi, this was done via hoardings on one street each in Bandra and Defence Colony respectively.