Reference no: EM132317346

Marketing Communication, Branding, and Customer Loyalty

One of the many problems facing most marketers who primarily promote their product online today is how to get enough reach from their advertising. This has always been a challenge for marketers ... getting the most bang for the buck, so to speak (it's always a challenge to justify the areas where you plan to spend marketing dollars). The enormous numbers of users who utilize the major search engines make some popular websites attractive for advertisers.

Web users, however, surf millions of other Web pages each day, many of which are potential sites for effective ads. Contacting all these sites and negotiating advertising contracts on each is a nearly impossible task for most marketers. For this reason, most advertisers work through ad networks. The ad networks, in turn, which act as brokers for advertisers and Web sites.

Ad networks pool hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of Web pages together and facilitate advertising across these pages. The advantage is that this allows advertisers to gain maximum exposure by covering even the smaller sites.

1. Do you see any drawbacks with ad network advertising?

2. What benefits do you anticipate?

Costco vs. Sam's

In retail, consumers have a lot of choices. For a store to be successful, it often needs to have a unique pull. Large retailers like Walmart and Target use low prices to draw in customers, but this is not a model that works for everyone.

Other retailers are forced to find various ways to drive consumers to their businesses. We see some that focus on healthy foods, locally grown or made products, specialty niche stores, those that only carry high-end brands, etc.

In the case of Costco and Sam's Club, those that only sell in bulk.

3. How do these last two compare and how does Costco more than double Sam's Club revenue (The company generated $138 billion in FY2018, Sam's generated $59 billion)?

4. How much advertising do you suppose is targeted directly at children? Marketers of course know most kids do not have the permission or money to buy anything, but they can most certainly influence mom and dad.

5. Have you ever taken the time to watch some of these ads? Why are they so effective, and what can parents do to ensure their children are not requesting something that could result in negative consequences?