The effectiveness of local television advertising in terms of message strategy & executional frameworks

Abstract

As our exposure to a multitude of advertising messages increases daily, so to will the need to ensure that advertisers are at the forefront of their communications in an attempt to differentiate themselves from competition and ultimately produce more effective advertising. Focusing on television as an advertising medium, the aim of this exploratory research project is to acquire insights pertaining to the types of message strategies and executional frameworks that are being used within local productions, and, how these advertising elements are being absorbed by our local audience. As local television viewership statistics continue to display positive results, so to has the medium continued to hold a reputation for being a highly sought for advertising medium. In order to analyse the logic behind the production of various television adverts, in-depth semi-structured interviews were held with five advertisers that each represented a specific industry. These individuals were directly involved in the production of the specific advert, allowing for a more precise categorisation of each advert in relation to the literature pertaining to message strategies and executional frameworks. Further to this, structured focus groups were then organised in order to analyse the effects of the categorised television adverts on the participants, allowing for an interpretation based on advertiser intent versus viewer feedback. Qualitatively, the results have shown that on most occasions the advertisers intent fails to tally with what was being reported by the focus group participants, which inadvertently hinders the effectiveness of the overall advertising process. This further highlights the growing need to reduce the gap between advertiser intent and audience feedback, based on a more effective use of message strategies and executional frameworks that are devised around consumer feedback prior to the production of television adverts.