Set A

SRI PADMAVATHI COLLEGE OF COMPUTER SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES
III SEMESTER INTERNAL EXAMINATION- 2016
314 ADVERTISING AND SALES PROMOTION MANAGEMENT
Time: 3 Hrs
Max.Marks: 70
PART A
Answer ALL the questions

(5*10=50M)

1. (a) What is advertising? How does it differ from publicity, propaganda and personal
selling? Discuss the benefits of advertising.
Or
(b) Explain the various steps involved in advertising campaign.
2. (a) Explain the need and importance of media planning
Or
(b) Describe the Youngs and Graham Wallas model of creative process.
3. (a) What are the different aspects an advertiser should consider while selecting an
advertising agency?
Or
(b) What are specific objectives of advertising?
4. (a) What is sales promotion? How do you evaluate the effectiveness of sales promotions?
Or
(b) Discuss about the incentives to middlemen and customers.
5. (a) List out different consumer promotion tools. Explain with examples.
Or
(b) Suppose that you own ABC travel agency and your competitor is one of the leading
agents Thomas Cook. How can you withstand in the market and what are the different
kinds of promotions you will implement
PART- B
CASE STUDY (COMPULSORY)
(20M)
The equation among soft drink competitors was almost balanced. Coke competed against Pepsi, Tab
against Diet Pepsi, Sprite against Mountain Dew, and so on. But when Coca-Cola introduced Diet Coke in
1982, its aspirations were high. It aimed not being content with just outselling Diet Pepsi; the company

wanted Diet Coke to number two soft drink of any kind. The company executives, by 1989, were
predicting that their dream would soon come true.
In its ads Coca-Cola did not invite people to drink Diet Coke for the benefit of losing weight or keep a
slim-trim figure. Coca-Cola told people to drink it Just for the taste of it. The emphasis on taste by
Coca-Cola was particularly effective because Diet Coke was a new entry in the market rather than a
reformulation. Diet Pepsi has been in the market for decades and has undergone a number of
reformulations. If Diet Pepsi has launched a taste-based campaign, sceptical viewers might have
responded, Thats not what you said last year. The taste plank also provided the groundwork for Diet
Cokes assault on Pepsi. As Diet Coke was being promoted and sold on taste and not on its lack of
calories, it made sense for it to compete against every other drink that consumers bought primarily for
taste.
Diet Coke quickly overtook Diet Pepsi and was favoured over Pepsi by the women consumers who
traditionally bought the majority of diet drinks. The major thrust of the Diet Coke and campaign has been
to convince consumers that they dont have to weight conscious to drink Diet Coke. Already, men buy
more than a third of all diet drinks, and that percentage has been growing rapidly. Coca Cola has recruited
macho heroes and it has been advertising Diet Coke in sports magazines especially aimed at men such as
Sports Illustrated, Sport, and Inside Sport.
Coca-Colas attack on Pepsi has often been direct and aggressive. It ran ads claiming that one-quarter of
the 2 million families that had spotted drinking Pepsi had switched to Diet Coke. Pepsi responded with
ads claiming that 90% of those consumers eventually switched back to Pepsi, and Coke ended up revising
its ads. Pepsi also used its commercials to make fun of how Coke came up with its numbers. Diet Pepsi
issued its own taste challenge in 1989, using Mike Tyson to claim that Diet Pepsis taste was better than
Diet Cokes. Coca-Cola counterattacked by citing research that proved Pepsi wrong, and Pepsi eventually
stopped running the ads. To make up for damage done to its image, Coke used some imaginative
promotions such as giving a coupon for Diet Coke to everyone buying Pepsi at certain supermarkets.
Again, Coke seems to have gained by defining the battle as Diet Coke against Pepsi, rather than Diet
Coke against Diet Pepsi.
Coca-Cola promoted Diet Coke heavily, so much so that during some quarters is spent more on Diet Coke
advertising than on its flagship Coke Classic. It has used innovative techniques such as roadblocks,
running the same commercial at the same time on different channels. It has also shown Diet Coke spots
on cable TV such as MTV, ESPN, and TBS.
QUESTIONS
1. What role did advertising play in introducing Diet Coke?
2. Why did Coke offer coupons to consumers who bought Pepsi at certain supermarkets?
3. What functions did Diet Cokes advertising campaign aim at performing? Based on the Lavidge
and Steiners model, analysis how consumers responded to Diet Cokes ads.

Set B

SRI PADMAVATHI COLLEGE OF COMPUTER SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES
III SEMESTER INTERNAL EXAMINATION- 2016
314 ADVERTISING AND SALES PROMOTION MANAGEMENT
Time: 3 Hrs
Max.Marks: 70
PART A
Answer ALL the questions

(5*10=50M)

1. (a) Explain in detail how advertising works. What are the different types of advertising?
Or
(b) Advertising process is planning, executing and evaluating the advertising program.
Discuss
2. (a) What is the role of media in advertising?
Or
(b) Describe the Youngs and Graham Wallas model of creative process.
3. (a) Why did advertising agencies emerge and what is their essential role?
Or
(b) Discuss the steps in framing advertising budget.
4. (a) How are sales promotions different from advertisements?
Or
(b) Discuss about the incentives to middlemen and customers.
5. (a) Suppose that you own ABC travel agency and your competitor is one of the leading
agents Thomas Cook. How can you withstand in the market and what are the different
kinds of promotions you will implement
Or
(b) Explain the terms below with suitable examples
i.

Tie-in promotions

iv.

Priceoffs

ii. Tradeshows
v. Demonstrations

iii. Conventions
vi. Sweeepstakes

PART- B
CASE STUDY (COMPULSORY)
(20M)
The office of RXL Ltd. wore a deserted look. The marketing manager, all six regional managers and
product managers were busy in a brainstorming session at a faraway location in Kerala. The main reason
behind this session was t identify the future course of action for their products-mattresses and pillowsmarketed under the brand name Dreams. The issue was to decide the approach for the six month long
promotion drive to be launched next month.
The company is one of the largest manufactures operating at a national level in the market of mattresses.
The retail market of branded products s estimated to be Rs.100 crores, and the unbranded market is in the
tune of Rs.400 crores. The market is growing at the rate of around 10% per annum in urban areas and
18% in rural areas. At present there are six branded products in the market and Cure is the market leader
with 25% market share. Dreams is the middle of the rung with around 14% market share. Besides these
two brands, several local and regional brands operate in the market and the market is quite competitive.
The company, RXL Ltd. is based in Chennai and its product range includes mattresses, pillows, carpetinlays, wall panels, foot mats, and other products. The manufacturing facility is located 30kilometers from
Chennai and boasts of an ultramodern factory and storage set up. The head office is in Chennai and six
regional offices are located in all major cities, i.e, Bangalore, Calcutta, Delhi, Chandigarh, Jaipur and
Mumbai. The company sells about 20% of its products to institutions such as hospitals, hotels and resorts,
and government bodies. Large sales volume comes from the southern and western parts and some comes
from the rest of the country. Besides this, the mattresses, pillows, and carpet-inlays are sold in retail
through dealers in around sixty cities all over the country. Presently the company has around 100 dealers
who are looked after by the regional offices.
The company began to advertise in print and radio in 1987. The advertising theme highlighted features of
the products, both in print and radio. About five years back, the company had offered a unique feature, i.e,
a guarantee card, which ensured protection against duplicate products. The company also used sales
promotion to augment the efforts of advertising, and dealer efforts. Some promotional schemes offered
gifts such as, towel, bed-sheet, or pillow with mattresses. All these promotion schemes affected the
companys bottom-line and did not find very enthusiastic response from dealers.
The company thus needed a new platform to highlight its new campaign. A six-month promotional
campaign is to be launched, with equal mix of print advertising, consumer sales promotion, and a dealer
promotion scheme. The marketing manager wishes to select a theme to portray the ads. In the light of
common theme, the various options available to the company include the lifestyle product theme, the
superior quality theme, and the most healthy product theme. The entire advertising campaign is to be
based on this theme selected and hence it is very important to pick the most appropriate theme.
QUESTIONS
1. Analyse the case and identify significant problems.
2. Plan an advertising strategy for the product. Justify your choice of media, and the campaign
theme.
3. Write three appeals you propose should be used in the campaign.