1.3.3 Advertising objectives

The objectives pursued within advertisement can be derived from the marketing objectives. We here differ between strategic and tactical objectives. While strategic advertising objectives give the basic communicative approach and are established on long term, tactical aims only affect the application of advertising measures on short and medium term (Kroeber-Riel, Esch 2000, p43).
Positioning to be made with the market launch of a new automobile is a strategic advertising objective. When formulating positioning, it is reasonable to first determine its basic orientation and to later substantiate it linguistically and visually (Esch 1998, p366 ff.).

It depends on the long-term involvement of a target audience which basic orientation of positioning is reasonable. In case of a high cognitive involvement an informative positioning is appropriate while in case of a high emotional involvement an emotional positioning is indicated. In case of a high emotional and a high cognitive involvement a mixed positioning which corresponds to the classical approach is recommended: appeal to a need and inform that the product is suited to satisfy this need. However, if the emotional and cognitive involvement is low building brand awareness is indicated (Kroeber-Riel, Esch 2000, p34 ff.).

The market and communication conditions on the European automotive market suggest that the cognitive involvement is low and the emotional involvement high. This argues for an emotional positioning. Whether emotional positioning is appropriate for all countries depends on local market and communication conditions, especially on the combination of needs of the target audience as well as the situation of a company and its competitors. It should thus be clarified,

• which are the needs of the target group in the host country and
• whether image and awareness of a model or the brand have country-specific strengths or weaknesses compared to competitors.

The comparison of the initial situation should be carried out companywide according to the same criteria. In this context, SWOT-analyses (Bed-narczuk 1990, p137 ff.) and score evaluation models (Clifton 1997, p141 ff.) are helpful because they show the differences between the countries and systematise the decision regarding the level of standardisation of positioning (Kreutzer 1986, p26 f.).

Figure 11: Example of a SWOT analysis for the Škoda Octavia

Because of the usually diverging market and communication conditions an internationally uniform positioning is difficult. In that case, the objective in terms of an internationally consistent positioning has to be graduated (Schwarz-Musch 2003, p123):

If there is only a partial accordance in the initial situation, it is imaginable to focus on country-specific aspects. If the model is, for example, positioned emotionally on an international basis, a mixed positioning might be suggestive in some countries; if objective automotive features are preferred there, too. Besides the accordance in content regarding the emotional core of positioning, a common Corporate Design creates a formal integration, which increases the awareness. However, the effect increasing awareness of a Corporate Design, which is Europe-wide standardised, is unfortunately still neglected in most cases.

If in extreme cases the initial situation diverges totally, separate brands have to be developed (Schwarz-Musch 2003, p226 ff.).

In view of the potential to standardise, the definition of as well the target audience as well as of the advertising objective have to be classified as repetitive objectives, which always occur in case of market launches. These are planned several years in advance and take place almost simultaneously on an international basis. Moreover, the information is basically ascertainable and procedures are observable. Therefore we can assume that these tasks can be standardised.
The determination of the target audience should take place centrally because lifestyle studies and clinics overburden the budget and knowhow of many national sales companies. However, the derivation of advertising objectives can happen commonly.