Corporate Advertising

Product advertising is a well-known phenomenon in marketing. A brand is a promise to the customer that goes beyond the generic product, the technical and physical attributes. When selling a branded product the company promises that the consumer will achieve special qualities by using the product, different qualities than when using a similar non branded or different branded product. A typical message from the company is “when using this product you will be more attracted, become better looking and signal a higher social class“. By using the branded product the consumer can communicate his/her lifestyle or wanted lifestyle.

On the other side corporate advertising refers to the practice of using a company’s name as a product brand name. It is an attempt to leverage corporate brand equity to create product brand recognition. It is a type of family branding or umbrella brand.

Among the advantages of a corporate advertising strategy we can count:

1.The corporate brand is the face of the business strategy, portraying what the corporation aims at doing and what it wants to be known for in the market place, is the overall umbrella for the corporations’ activities and encapsulates its vision, values, personality, positioning and image among many other dimensions.

2.It creates simplicity; it stands on top of the brand portfolio as the ultimate identifier of the corporation.

3.A corporate branding strategy can drive some cost efficiencies that can often be achieved as opposed to a large multi-brand architecture where the corporate brand plays a smaller or insignificant role.

On the other side among main disadvantages of this strategy is that products may not be treated individually, which reduces the focus on the products’ unique characteristics or that the corporate name can become synonymous with a product category.

Three different strategies can be approached for corporate advertising:

Branded identity is when a company uses different brands for their products that function independent from each other and the company’s brand. The strength of this strategy is the flexibility. The company can build different brands in different marked segments and for different products. If a brand is involved in a scandal it will only damage that brand, and will not hurt the other brands of the company.

Endorsed brand identity is when an organization has a group of products or companies that it endorses with a group name and a common identity. The strength of this approach lies in the relationship of the products/companies, they can benefit from the goodwill given to others with the same common identity.

Monolithic brand identity is when a company uses only one name and one visual style for all it products. The strength is the simplicity and the potential for growth. The weakness is that one happening; one scandal can cause severe damage even to big strong brands.

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If companies want to attract investments, they advertise in order to stimulate interest in a company's stock investor - or somebody who could become an investor in the future. These advertisements can even increase stock prices! Advertisements are also done in order to influence opinions about the company and increase its reputation. Increased reputation is often followed by higher sales and more profit.Probably the most companies, however, use corporate advertising to increase their sales, clients, or patients. Recruiting employees can also be the reason why companies create advertisements. Such advertising can help to attract the best people at the entry level and at management levels.Product advertisements are not focused on the company, but on one special product. The advertisements are done to increase sales of a special product, to introduce a new product or to compete against competitor's products.

Advocacy advertising is used by companies to respond to external threats from with government or special interest groups. Issue adverting typically deals with controversial subjects. If a company decides to pursue an advocacy campaign, senior management must have the courage to argue forcefully to its ideas and must not be afraid to alienate certain constancies. Corporate advertising is widely used by companies to publicize their philanthropic actives, which can least to enhanced reputation.

While corporate advertising brands a company and its image, product advertising brands a certain product. The goal of product advertising is to target a special focus group by advertising a special product and increase the sales volume of that product. For example, see this product ad which clearly focuses only on Coke Zero and not on the whole Coca Cola Corporation (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1VxrT1vDwU).

Advertising may have many purposes, so identify a specific objective for a specific campaign. A campaign may be designed to do the following:
Raise awareness of your company, product, or service within a clearly identified target market
communicate the benefits of your product or service generate leads for the sales force solicit customers through a direct response campaign persuade prospective customers to switch brands support a marketing event, such as a sale or an exhibition inform customers where to obtain the product build confidence in your organization.

For example, to raise awareness of its new range, one company advertised in special interest consumer magazines designed for its target audience. Advertisements included the telephone number of an information line. Editorial articles in the same group of publications backed up the advertising by providing more detailed information for consumers.

Product advertising should focus on solving the needs of your customers; consequently, your advertising should stress the product’s benefits. This type of advertising is important when research shows low awareness of product benefits, if your products have recently been improved, or if you need to counter competitors who have introduced products with similar or better benefits.

For example, if research shows that your company’s products are perceived as old-fashioned or poor value for the money, you need to take action to communicate the real benefits of your products. The phrase “perception is reality” definitely applies in advertising.

For Microsoft advertising expenses are: