Практический курс английского языка = Practical Course of English for Students of Economics. Учебное пособие для студентов экономических специальносте

a company often uses advertising to make buyers aware of a product and receptive to a detailed face-to-face presentation of it. Even in the case of many convenience goods, advertising must be supplemented by point of sale displays and other sales promotion devices.

1.Speak on commercial messages given in the text. If you can add some of yours.

2.Why is advertising very important for society?

3.Why does the author say that advertising is controversial?

4.What is the role of advertising according to the text?

5.Is advertising a significant pert of the total promotional mix?

Text 3

Read the text and speak on different ways of advertising.

Advertising Media

The different outlets that present advertisements are called advertising media. The most commonly used are newspapers, television, direct mail radio, magazines, and outdoor displays.

Newspapers. Newspapers make up the largest category of the advertising media. Firms can advertise in newspapers distributed locally, regionally, nationally, or internationally. Newspapers offer good coverage for firms of any size, because there is at least one newspaper in every local market and many people read the newspapers every day. Newspapers are well suited for immediate needs since they can run advertisements with little lead time. Advertisers can choose ads of any size, from a few lines in the classified section to full pages or separate supplements. Because they reach diverse audiences, newspapers do not always allow advertisers to target their audience precisely. The life span of newspapers is very short since readers usually discard them quickly, although readers can clip or refer back to ads if they wish. Also, the quality of the paper is generally low, and the use of color is limited.

Television. Another large medium, television accounts for almost 22 per cent of advertising expenditure. Perhaps television’s greatest advantage is that it allows creative use of action, color, and sound to an extent not possible in any other medium. Television advertising also offers the capability of reaching vast audience. Firms can advertise nationally on a major network, regionally through cable networks, or locally through local stations. The major drawback of network television advertising is the high cost. To keep costs down, many advertisers now use 15-second ads, with networks running more of these shorter ads during a commercial break. At any rate, TV ads have an extremely short life,

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which prompts creators to use special effects, unusual sounds, music, humor, and distinctive characters to encourage viewers to remember advertisements and products. Television advertisers face difficulty in determining the audience that actually sees the commercials. Viewers in public places such as hotels, airports, restaurants, or stores are not counted. In homes, commercials play to empty rooms when viewers take breaks. Many viewers change channels when commercials begin, a habit called “zapping” that is made easier by today’s remote controls and cable systems. Some rating systems estimate that zapping cuts a primetime commercial’s audience by 10 per cent or more.

Direct mail. Thousands of organizations send catalogs, advertisements, flyers, brochures, and fund-raising materials to homes, offices, or stores of target individuals. Nearly 18 per cent of all advertising expenditure goes for direct mail. For direct mail to be effective, the material must reach the target group through up-to-date mailing lists. Advertisers can develop or purchase mailing lists that will reach nearly any target market imaginable, although selective mailing lists are expensive to buy. Direct mail’s effectiveness is easily determined by the response: customers’ orders or donations to fund-raising organizations. Even banks use direct mail. Direct mail, traditionally considered one of the less expensive forms of advertising, is becoming more costly as postal rates rise. Many firms are trimming mailing lists to include only their best customers or prospects.

Radio. About 7 percent of all money spent on advertising goes for radio ads. Radio serves a large and various audience. Because of the wide variety of programming that caters to numerous interests – such as talk shows, all news, hard rock, classical music, jazz, oldies, easy listening – advertisers can easily pinpoint target audiences. Spending on radio advertising has grown significantly because of its low cost and its ability to reach precisely defined target audiences. Radio advertisements have the disadvantage of an extremely short life. Messages are limited because radio relies only on the sense of hearing. Listeners may keep radios turned on for background music or mere noise and ignore the advertisements.

Magazines. The last decade of the 20-th century saw a dramatic increase in the number of magazines being published. Expenditure for magazine advertising also have grown in the last several years. They now account for about 6 percent of total advertising volume. Magazines have a number of advantages over newspapers as an advertising medium. They are usually read in leisurely manner and often kept for weeks or months before being discarded. Another advantage of magazines is that they offer better printing and color reproduction than newspapers do. Advertisers can choose from a wide variety of magazines. Some magazines,

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such as newsmagazines, appeal to a mass audience. Others are designed for specific groups of people, such as teenagers, homemakers, or amateur photographers. Certain companies advertise in trade publications, which are devoted to particular businesses, industries, or professions.

Outdoor displays. Most of the advertising on outdoor signs is placed by national advertisers. One of the main advantages of outdoor signs is that people pass by the signs repeatedly. In addition, large, colorful signs easily attract attention. However, the ads on outdoor signs must be short and simple because most passers-by see a sign for only a few seconds. The main kinds of outdoor signs are: posters, painted bulletins, electric spectaculars. Posters, commonly called billboards, consist of printed sheets of paper, which are pasted on large billboards. Painted bulletins are signs painted on buildings or billboards. Electric spectaculars consist of large illuminated displays, many feature changing messages and moving pictures. Electric spectaculars are the most expensive kind of outdoor signs.

Other ways of advertising include the use of transit signs, window displays, point-of-purchase displays, telephone directories and novelties.

Scan the text again and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each.

Text 4

Read the following text and say which statements are false and which are true. Correct the false ones.

Sales Promotion

Sales promotion refers to promotion activities – other than advertising, publicity, and personal selling – that stimulate interest, trial, or purchase by final customers or others in the channel. Sales promotion may be aimed at customers, at middlemen, or even at firm’s own employees.

The different promotion methods can all be viewed as different forms of communication. But good marketers are not interested in just “communicating”. They want to communicate information that will encourage customers to choose their product. They know if they have a better offering, informed customers are more likely to buy. Therefore they are interested in 1) reinforcing present attitude that might lead to favourable behaviour or 2) actually charging the attitudes and behaviour of the firm’s target market.

For a firm’s promotion to be effective, its promotion objectives must be clearly defined – because the right promotion blend depends on what the firm wants to accomplish. It’s helpful to think of three basic promotion objectives – informing, persuading, and reminding target market

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customers about the company and its marketing mix. All are concerned with affecting behaviour by providing more information. Even more useful is a more specific set of promotion objectives that states exactly who you want to inform, persuade, or remind, and why.

Potential customers must know something about a product if they are to buy at all. Therefore, informing may be the most important objective. For example, a cable TV company found that whenever it offered service to a new neighbourhood, most of the families subscribed. The cable company’s main job was informing prospects that cable was available. A firm with a really new product may not have to do anything but inform consumers about it – and show that it meets consumer needs better than other products.

When competitors offer similar products, the firm must not only inform customers that its product is available, but also persuade them to buy it. A persuading objective means the firm will try to develop or reinforce a favourable set of attitudes in the hope of affecting buying behaviour. Promotion with a persuading objective often focuses on reasons why one brand is better than competiting brands. Ads for Johnson & Johnson’s Tylenol tout it as the pain relief medicine most often used in hospitals to help consumers to buy Tylenol rather than some other firm’s brand.

If target customers already have positive attitudes about the firm’s product, then a reminding objective might be suitable. The objective can be extremely important in some cases. Even though customers have been attracted and sold once, they are still targets to competitors’ appeals. Reminding them of their past satisfaction may keep them from shifting to a competitor. Campbell’s realizes that most people know about its soup – so much of its advertising is intended to remind.

1.Sales promotion may be aimed only at consumers.

2.It’s hard to generalize about sales promotion because it includes such a wide variety of activities.

3.Marketers want to communicate information that will encourage customers to choose their product.

4.The right promotion blend depends on how the firm wants to accomplish its objectives.

5.Informing may be the most important objective.

6.When competitors are offering similar products, the firm must only inform customers that its product is available.

7.Promotion with a persuading objective often focuses on reasons why one brand is better than competing brands.

8.If target customers already have positive attitudes about a firm’s product, then a reminding objective might be suitable.

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9. Even though customers have been attracted and sold once, they are not any more targets for competitors’ appeals.

And now speak on each basic promotion objectives.

Text 5

Read the following text and answer the questions that follow it.

Public Relations (PR)

Effective public relations requires believability and to be continuously believed we must constantly exhibit a high level of integrity.

This area of communication represents one of the oldest methods of seeking to obtain a favourable response from a selected group of people. It should not be related to business organizations alone; all of us indulge in some form of PR on a social or professional basis. How many times during a crisis or a problem period, have you resorted to a box of chocolates, a bunch of flowers, taking somebody out for lunch or dinner or giving a gift in order to obtain a favourable response? Thus, words, actions or gifts are used when you want people to think of you in a certain way, do something for you or sustain your relationship through an apology when you have offended.

A definition of public relations in the business context will give you an idea of the width and breadth of its applications:

The planned actions designed to gain and keep the goodwill of every section of the public with which the company comes into contact.

The term “public” has enormous significance because it can include:

a)the company customers

b)shareholders, financiers or bankers

c)employees or potential employees

d)suppliers and distributors

e)other companies on the same industry

f)members of the community within which the company operates

g)members of the general public.

The scope of PR in the business world is far greater than when used by an individual but the ultimate objective remains the same: improve the relationships of an organization or individual with relevant members of the public. Like all other elements of marketing PR has had its time as a luxury or a novelty marketing tool and must be taken seriously, recognized as a distinct are of expertise, and treated with the same caution with which we treat advertising, pricing or selling. It must also be considered as a vital management function within the organization. The Institute of Public Relations presents PR as being:

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The deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organisation and its public. The words “planned and sustained” effort should encourage all people involved in PR to proceed with caution, plan carefully, select the most appropriate techniques and use PR as a means of achieving well-defined objectives.

1.What is the definition of PR in the business context? (give your own comment)

2.What is the definition of PR of the Institute of Public Relations?

3.Is this area of communication related only to business organization?

4.Can you give your own examples when we indulge in some form of PR?

5.Whom does the term “public” include and why?

6.What do you know about PR as a novelty marketing tool?

7.According to the text PR must be treated with the same caution with which we treat advertising, pricing and selling”. Why? Give your arguments.

Text 6

Read the following text, find the key words and use them while speaking on the issues touched up.

Publicity

Publicity must not be confused with public relations: publicity usually represents a reward for effective PR. Publicity can be defined as news carried in the mass media about an organization – its products, policies, personnel, or actions – at no charge to the organization for media time and space. Of course, the marketer must bear the costs of preparing such items as news releases and inducing media editors to print or broadcast them. In other words, publicity is not “free advertising”.

Publicity offers several advantages as a promotion tool. First, it may reach people who ordinarily do not pay attention to advertising, sales promotion, and salespeople. Second, it has greater credibility than advertising. Third, it is relatively inexpensive and provides coverage that would cost many advertising dollars.

On the other hand, marketers have to recognize publicity’s limitations. The marketer has very little control over what media editors do with the publicity materials that marketers prepare. Media people routinely disregard materials that they do not consider newsworthy – subject matter that is untimely, uninteresting, and inaccurate. Even if the materials are judged newsworthy, the marketer has no control over how

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media people edit the content, schedule its appearance in the media, and so on.

Publicity tools. Marketers try to influence the media by providing publicity materials for submission, but media personnel reject a considerable amount of this publicity material. Great care is needed in preparing publicity materials to help ensure that they will be used by the media.

A news release, usually one typewritten page, contains information that the organization wants disseminated, along with the name, address, and phone number of the person whom media personnel should contact. Feature articles are longer and are prepared for specific publications. Media representatives are invited to the press conferences to hear about an upcoming major event that marketer hopes will be considered newsworthy. Letters to the editor are sent to newspapers and magazines in response to articles that appeared in those media. Radio and TV stations are given tapes and films for broadcasting.

;Language

1.Practise reading the following word combinations. If necessary, use a dictionary.

To persuade; town crier; events; commercial; advertisement; to permeate; facets of life; society; controversial; prospective customer; ultimate consumer; convenience goods; medium/media; coverage; target audience; expenditure; viewer; catalogue; brochure; to ignore; per cent; outdoor sign; bulletin; publicity; corporate image; frequency; spontaneous; to publicize; to succeed; merchandising orientation; promotion; entertainment; behavioural orientation.

2.Complete the sentences below with a suitable word from the list below.

Ad, advert, advertise, advertiser, advertisement, advertising, advertorials

1.Some people don’t like …, because they think the deceptive.

2.There’s no harm in applying for other jobs, but if I were you, I wouldn’t … the fact at work. 3. She scanned the job … in the paper. 4. I always make a cup of coffee during the …s. 5. I don’t have much respect for the … industry. 6. While claiming to promote positive images of women, … are in fact doing the very opposite. 7. I’m afraid, I’m not a very good …for the diet since I’ve actually put on weight. 8. If a firm has a really new message, publicity may be more effective than … . 9. Trade magazines, for example, may carry articles featuring the newsworthy products of regular … – in part because they are regular … . 10. Much … tries to persuade and influence consumers rather than inform them. 11. Has an … ever led you to do something that you would not have done had you

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not seen the …? 12. … often attempt to associate their product with desirable imagery to make it seem equally desirable.

3.Find in the texts the sentences containing synonyms or synonymous expressions for the following.

Text 1: all aspects; the extent; shopping mall; disputable; aim/purpose; general attempt; widely/greatly; considerable volume; requirements personal; whole; personnel; tools.

Text 3: various; on international level; merit; disadvantage; influence; to encounter hardship; to evaluate; modern; considerably; to increase; the majority of; again and again.

Text 4: promotion techniques; to stimulate; efficient; principal objectives; influencing rivals; to attract to; ground; proper; very; to realize.

4.Match a negative prefix with the word to make a new word. Give their Russian equivalents.

a) adjectives: attractive, bearable, certain, countable, expressive, favourable, natural, pleasant, reasonable, successful, accurate, adequate, capable, decent, distinct, efficient, significant, moral, perfect, proper, graceful, interested;

b) verbs: interpret, read, approve, like, obey, please, trust lock.

5.Match the halves.

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6. Match the words below with the definitions that follow.

Junk mail, advertising campaign, hoarding, advertising agency, pretesting advertising, publicity, promotion, advertising, logo, post-testing advertising, media, non-profit advertising

1. Nonpersonal communication through media for which payment is made. 2. An independent company organized to supply specialized services in advertising and marketing. 3. Print and broadcast organizations used by advertisers to reach their customers. 4. Advertising by organizations such as governments, colleges, churches, labour unions, political parties. 5. Research designed to determine the effectiveness of an advertisement or advertising campaign after its general appearance in the media. 6. Research designed to determine the effectiveness of an advertisement or advertising campaign prior to its general appearance in the media. 7. An attempt to make a product or event popular or successful, especially by advertising. 8. Advertisements and publicity materials that you receive through the post, which you have not asked for and which you don’t want. 9. A planned series of advertisements. 10. A company symbol, badge or name style. 11. A site for poster advertising. 12. The art of claiming attention.

7. Put these four media types into the correct place in the table. Explain your choice.

Junk mail, TV, newspapers, billboards, spam

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8. Read the following advertisements and say which advertisement the following statements refer to.

A.This dynamic and pioneering company, a member of a well-es- tablished group, continues to expand significantly its market share, both through emphasis on technical excellence and a professional business approach. This new appointment is the corner-stone in the company’s future diversification program.

B.If you’ve got an eye for detail, coupled with secretarial skills, then Bejam the freezer people have just the job for you at their busy, lively offices in Stanmore. You’ll be responsible for checking that the prices and spelling are correct on our display material, liaising with the display company and store managers. This involves a lot of telephone work and keeping to deadlines, so you must be capable of working efficiently under pressure.

C.The company is a successful independent operator. It provides a range of services from a number of locations in the UK and on the Continent. Reporting to the General Manager, responsibility is to manage the finance and accounting functions. Developing controls and advising on financial policy and planning will be major tasks. Success in the role should lead to a Board appointment.

D.May-fair based public company is looking for the best sales people in Britain. You must be money motivated, aggressive, hardworking and above all, a good sales person. We sell ad space. If you can as well, you can move to any of our offices, all expenses are paid.

1. This advertisement emphasizes the importance of the position in the company’s planned development.

A B C D

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