CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND TO STUDY

Considering the dynamism and complexity of the world,t he business environment is becoming sophisticated day by day and as such, decision-making is becoming more and more challenging and risky. Business organizations are failing due to poor decisions. Investors are losing their money and are unhappy. They are being discouraged and this is quite unhealthy to the economy. In some other instances, organizations are springing up in great numbers; some are successful in the marketing of their products and services, while others are still akin to the barber’s chair syndrome where all is motion but no movement; struggling to reach their target audience. Consumers are also faced with the challenge of choice making due to indecisiveness, skepticism, indifference and confusion which are among the key sales killers in business world.

However, the consumer perception challenge is the first and greatest hurdle that advertisers must cross. Perception guides all activities of the consumer from the people he associates with to the product he buys. In the business world, it has always been what people say about a product or service and not what the marketer says. How a consumer perceives each of the different brands in a category, determines which brand he chooses. So many companies spend so much money on advertising, sales promotion, point of purchase displays and other marketing communications only to discover that many people don’t even remember the product or the promotion. On the other hand, whether consumers ultimately purchase the marketer’s brand also depends on whether the promotion and marketing communication variables facilitate purchasing

Advertising is an instrument of information and persuasion. As per one definition “Advertising is the non-personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media” (Bovee, 1992).The informative role of advertising consists in provision of information about products, features, functions, specifications and prices to prospective buyers. Due to ignorance of advertising, they may purchase an inferior product, pay higher prices, or worse still, may not even know the variety of products that exist. This increases the short-run propensity to consume by informing buyers of the various bargains available. Besides, it is also true that consumer spending declines when the normal advertising flow is cut-off. By advertising the goods, a manufacturer comes in direct touch with the consumers.

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