THE IMPACT OF BILLBOARD ADVERTISING ON PRODUCT PROMOTION

THE IMPACT OF BILLBOARD ADVERTISING ON PRODUCT PROMOTION

(A CASE STUDY OF FIVE SELECTED PRODUCT)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study
Communication can play an important role in the process by which an economic systems guided by moral norms and responsive to the common good contributes to human development. It is a necessary part of the functioning of modern market economies, which today either exist or are emerging in many parts of the world and which provided them comfort to moral standards based upon integral human development and the common good currently seem to the most efficient instrument for utilizing resources and effectively responding to needs of a socio-economic kind (Pinker, 1997).

Advertising has grown increasingly popular as an object of academic inquiry, a field of professional practice and an index of modern business. It has come to assume the centre of modern marketing and it is one of the major forms of promotion in product and service marketing. Billboard advertising has assumed a wider and prominent position in product promotion in recent times in Nigeria. Despite electronic media, billboard advertising got product promotion on the increase.
Billboards are defined broadly as any large outdoor printed (or projected) sign. Artists billboard have been a key medium or vehicle to explore and express the ideas and strategies behind the most important art movement over the years for products, goods and services advertising / promotion.
The evidence increase in billboard advertising under sources the effectiveness of billboard in project promotion. Billboards ensure frequent and repeated exposure to the advertisement. Billboards are usually located at points with higher vehicular and human traffic. Consequently, users of such points are regularly exposed to the advertisement in the board. Secondly, billboard, also offer a high degree of locational flexibility. In other words, the boards can be placed where the advertisers actually intended them to be. In addition, they tend it has lower cost per thousand that most of the other media. They are usually more cost efficient, especially for the advertiser with a small budget. Billboard offers the advantage of very good colour reproduction and at the same time it is an effective reminder medium offer servicing as a catalyst for buyer who buy io impulse. The greatest problems encountered by advertisers and their agencies with regard to billboard are site monitoring. Monitoring is usually difficult and so when posters get torn or washed out, it takes a while to discover and repost. This is because the sites are usually scattered around very far geographical locations.
Effective billboard advertising must have a clear, concise message and attractive illustrations and visual appearance. They need to be as clutter-free as possible and easy to read. The only receive about 2-4 seconds of customer’s attention so the message needs to be easily digested. Assessing the value of effectiveness of billboard advertising is challenging. There are many methods of advertising which produce results that are easier to evaluate such as newspaper ads and direct mail campaigns. The difference with billboard advertising is that it is exposed to the masses but there is no real way to evaluate who really absorbs the message.

The advantages of using billboard advertising are many and among them is the potential placement of the advertisement close to the point of sale. This ensures high frequency of exposure to regular commuters. The aspect of 24-hour presence for billboards underpins their utility as a high reach tool of advertising. Geographic flexibility for local advertisers ensure economic efficiency in terms of low production costs and low cost per thousand exposures. Visual impact from advertisement size and message creativity are very important in advertising and create high brand awareness. Billboards however have their disadvantages that range from the need to limited the number of words in the message to short exposure to the advertisement. Low demographic selectivity and measurement problem are also critical.

Advertising generally is an important element of the promotional mix and is a paid and non-personal form of presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor. Most product advertisement messages are either informative, persuasive or meant to remind consumers of the need for them to sustain the consumption of the advertised product. Producers adopt several advertising media to reach both existing and prospective customers by influencing their perception, awareness, attitudes and ultimately their purchasing behaviour in order to maintain and expand their market and sales volume for their products. But for firms to succeed, they must have an understanding of why prospective consumers behave under certain conditions, and to know product attributes that consumers consider in influencing their purchase behaviour.

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS
Communicaion is one of the basic functions of management in any organization. It is a process of transmitting information in and out of an organization. Good and effective for good and successful business operation. Effective communication is required at various level and for various aspect in an organization such as advertising. Advertising is a necessary part of the modern market economies. In such a system, advertising is instrumental in informing people about the availability of rationally desirable new products and services and impprovements in existing one. This helps them to make informed, prudent consumer decisions, contributing to effeciency and expansion of business. Advertising on a billboard can be an effective and money saving way for many people and business to advertise their services or products compared to other means of advertising, billboards are cost efficient (Trethowan 2016).

Billboards are typically found in high traffic araes such as alongside busy roads. Billboards presents large advertisements to passing predestrians and motorist. Typically showing large, ostensibly witty slogans, and distinctive visuals, billboards are highly visible in the top designated market areas.

Previous research on advertising or billboards has not been concentrated on the impact or effectiveness of billboard advertising on product promotion especially in marketing of consumer products with special interest in some selected products. For example Abdallah (2011) researched on an empirical investigation of the strategic marketing practices of the soft drink in Nigeria.
Mburu (2012) the impact of perceived quality on brand choise, the case study of some selected consumables in Nigeria. Several reseach have been conducted on advertising but not with particular reference to the impact of billboard advertising on product promotion, it is against this background that this research seek to examine the impact of billboard advertising on product promotion (A case study of five selected product).

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The general objective of the study is to examine the impact of billboard advertising on product promotion (A case study of five selected product).
The study has the following specific objectives:
To determine the extent to which consumer products are promoted using billboard advertisement
To determine the impact of billboards advertising in marketing of consumer goods
To determine the consumer interests in the use of billboards

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
To what extent is consumer products promoted using billboard advertisement?
What are the impacts of billboards advertising in marketing of consumer goods?
Are consumer interested in the use of billboards advertisement?

1.5 Significance of the study
The result of this study will be of great significance to business organizations, academics and the researcher.
The need for prudent management of financial resources in an organization is of great concern. It’s amazing however; that at anytime an organization is going through some hard times financially, first thing that runs into the mind of the management staff is a cut-down on advertisement and promotion budget or eliminate them entirely as a step to ameliorate their predicament. This study therefore, has been designed in such a way as to aid organizational managers realize that measurement is very important in advertising. Therefore, before decisions are taken on whether to eliminate advertisement or cut-down the budgets, efforts must be made towards ascertaining the impact of such advertisement, hence; a call for checks and balances.
The researcher in advertising field will field and students will find the result of this study very relevant as it will serves as research material for literature reviews.
1.6 SCOPE / LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
The scope of this study will be limited to the impact of billboard advertising on product promotion. This research is limited due to the following limitations:
Most company documents are kept in top secret and as such very vital portion of information may not be disclosed. There agree information may only prove inadequate for a project of this kind.
Finance: due to non-availability of funds to undertake research to the fullest satisfaction the questionnaire administered are few for the respondent.
Time: the time allocated for this research work was not enough as a result of that the researcher could not covers as much as expected due to time constraint.
1.7 Definition of Terms
BILLBOARD: Billboards are defined broadly as any large outdoor printed (or projected) sign.
ADVERTISING: it is any paid form of non – personal presentation and promotion of ideals goods and services by an identified sponsor.
PROMOTION: Promotions refer to the entire set of activities, which communicate the product, brand or service to the user.
MARKETING: It is a social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they want through creating, offering and exchanging product of value with others.
MARKET: Refers to the group of customers or consumers organizations that is interested in the product, has the resources to purchase the product, and is permitted by law and other regulations to acquire the product.
CONSUMERS: is an individual who buys products or services for personal use and not for manufacture or resale.
CONSUMERS BEHAVIOR: It is the study of how individuals, consumers, groups or organization select buy, use and dispose ideas, good and services to satisfy their needs and wants.

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