| dc.description.abstract | The survey for this study was done between 10th May, 1986 and
10th June, 1986. Two populations of interest we re employed to achieve
the objectives of the study, namely, advertisers and advertising agencies. A
sample size of 30 advertisers was drawn by systematic sampling from a
complete list of advertisers in Kenya in the year 1985. 60 percent
response rate was achieved on this sample since 12 advertisers did not
respond. A list obtained from Nation Newspapers (Kenya) Limited identified
all the advertising agencies in operation in Nairobi at the time of the
study. According to that list there were a total of 14 advertising
agencies. 10 of the agencies were surveyed since four of them proved
uncooperative.
The study was an exploratory one with two major objectives, viz.
(1) To identify the approaches used by advertisers in Kenya in
advertising timing,
(2) To identify the problems encountered by advertisers in Kenya
in advertising timing.
To achieve these objectives the study sought to answer the
following questions:-
(a) What factors are considered in determining the seasons, months,
weeks, days and hours in which to advertise?
(b) What factors influence the choice of a timing pattern?
(c) What media environment considerations go into the choice of
media ?
(d) Row does reach, frequency and impact considerations affect
advertising timing decisions.
(e) What problems are' faced by advertisers in drawing up advertising
schedules ?
(f) What problems arise when advertisers try to ensure favourable media
environment ?
Personal interviews using structural questionnaires (see Appendices B and c) were used to collect data,
The findings were as follows: The factors considered in determining
when to advertise were both general and specific.
Regarding the season for advertising, it was found that the
purchase season, competitors advertising, the sales pattern, the
consumption nature of the product (service) and the stage in the
product life cycle were the most important factors in determining the
right advertising season.
The expected economic development and the availability of
advertising ,budget were the other factors. It was found that advertising
should coincide with expected economic development and should either
precede or coincide with peak sales periods.
On the best months for advertising, findings indicated that April
October, November and December were the best months for advertising .
These months coincided with festivities. January, February and June were
found to have the least values in terms of advertising returns.
The factors determining the quality of each week for advertising
were product purchasing and consumption characteristics and the
availability of the target audience. The quality of each day for advertising
was determined by the possibility of attaining maximum reach on
the specific day and the availability of the target audience. It was
also found that the choice of the hour of the day within which to
advertise was influenced by such factors as ,the time of the day
the target audience was exposed to the advertising medium since there
were high reach segments like A time in broadcast media.
The factors most frequently cited as major influences on the
choice of a timing pattern were advertising budget constraints cited
by the largest proportion of the advertising people,the buyer turnover
(rate at which new buyers appear in the market), the purchase
frequency (number of times in a given period buyers buy the product) ,
impact of previous advertising, the industry type and the basis on which
the advertising budget was determined. It was found that the best
media scheduling patterns were continuous and concentrated advertising
although intermittent advertising and, to some extent, concentrated
advertising were more commonly used in Kenya.
Reach, frequency and impact considerations were considered very
important in advertising timing since, by tradition, they formed the
basis for determining the scheduling pattern.
Advertising people ii! Kenya were found to be generally aware of
the media environment effect on advertisements. They tried to ensure
favourable media environment by placing advertisements within special
programs and also placed advertisements mainly 'in newspapers.
Among the most common problems experienced by advertising people
in scheduling were advertising budget constraints, sub-optimal
scheduling patterns and mismatching of reach frequency goals with timing
goals.
goals. The most popular solution cited for countering these problems
were negotiating for a bigger advertising budget and planning the best
pattern on the basis of whatever budget was available. It was generally
observed that advertising budget constraints caused most of the other
scheduling problems.
In their endeavour to achieve favourable media environment for their
advertisements, it was found that advertising people experienced problems
emanating from broadcast media monopoly and media limitations. These
included programs being re-scheduled without notice, violations of
exposure contracts, magazine issues coming late, programs coming to an
end and programs losing popularity , These problems interfered with the
reach and the media environment desired. Findings indicated that the
most common approach to solving these media environment problems was by
negotiation with media owners. Media owners, nevertheless, also, sometimes
affected the timing strategy planning positively by circulating
program schedules, supplement schedules and advised advertisers on when
best to reach the target audience . | en |
