Chapter 6 - Belch & Belch - A summary

Source, Message and Channel Factors

This chapter explains those variables which are controllable in the communication process. Companies tend to use controversial athletes to inject the attitude of rebel in the minds of the consumers.This is to break conventions and make people take notice. Promotional planning should understand the complexity of the content, the type of media employed, source of attention grabbing and the expected message yield and companies spend a lot in ensuring the right source to be associated with the spread of the message. Also, the source should be made credible, attractive and must be rightly employed to deliver the right message It becomes more effective if the source is a person with whom the viewers can associate themselves. Sometimes celebrities are roped in for the same but caution to be taken to not over shadow the product. Receptivity based on the target profile would also help in choosing the right kind of celebrity and importantly, a celebrity's activity should be carefully monitored so that the brand doesn't get tarnished due to their bad conduct. The McCracken's model can be used for the meaning movement and the endorsement process. Depending on the product category, risk and investment involved, information can be one sided (only positives) or two sided. This discretion has its pros and cons and is situation based. For effective campaigns or developing a required habit, companies can venture into fear and humor as the pod of communication Psychologically, these have majorly been effective. Lastly, the channel used for communication is important. Personnel or non personnel media depend on the target and the customization level of each communication. With respect to mass media, the context and the reception environment make a huge impact of effectiveness. The biggest challenge here is the clutter in the ad space. Ads are increasingly becoming shorter and more in number making mind share capture a formidable challenge.