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Creative
ads rejected by target audiences The research conducted continuously since 1995 upto last year by the students of the Department of Industrial Management of the University of Kelaniya has shown that a fair number of brands, including international brands have failed due to bad advertisements. According to
Professor Sunanda Degamboda who headed the research study, some
of the 'award winning' creative advertisements which have been rated
by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) Awards over the years
have failed in the market. Some parts of the research were not available as they are brand specific proprietary information that have been submitted to clients. However, Prof. Degamboda shared some of the general findings of his research. One of the findings was that as a general rule, advertisements with higher denotations were more effective. Denotations refer to the direct messages given to the viewer as opposed to connotations. Other general findings of the research study suggest that food products projected through humour using comedians from teledramas and films have failed. Yet another finding was that advertisements not in line with local culture have also failed in the long-term. When asked the reason for these failures, Professor Degamboda who now lectures marketing communication and international marketing at the Informatics Institute of Technology said, "The primary reason for failure is that most organisations do not value advertising research. Research is not being done in Sri Lanka". He also observed that advertising is not seen as a component of promotion where all other elements should be blended to create an integrated marketing communication and that promotional objectives are not in line with corporate objectives of organisations. However, some of the negative trends are changing according to him. Most local advertisements are now visually more powerful due to the use of advanced technology. Yet another positive trend is the focus towards a single message in an advertisement which otherwise had as much 11 messages in the earlier years. Asked for some of the negative trends, he observed that advertising values in terms of ethics and social responsibility are on the decline and that the local advertisements are unnecessarily raising consumer expectation beyond the capability of the product, annoying consumers. Asked for his opinion on the recently concluded SLIM Awards, Prof. Degamboda said that the evaluation criteria needs to be looked at and suggested the inclusion of ratings by a selected sample as a way forward. He also observed that some advertisements that have been running for many years without any improvement in the market share of the product had won awards this year. Letters People who are retiring would have paid a lifetime of taxes. They have contributed to society and the majority of them would not have obtained loans against the sums lying to the credit of their EPF and ETF accounts during their working lives. Successive governments, however, have used these monies for various purposes. Moreover, when
they retire their income would come to an end. It would be very
difficult for them to get even casual employment. It is at this
time that they are weak - physically, mentally and financially.
The government's revenue from this tax would be quite negligible,
but is would be a big slice off the final dues of a retiring person. We appeal to
the Finance Minister and to the government to kindly abolish all
taxation on terminal benefits. Customers
taken for a ride This is welcome concern and I too agree with theses views because I have also noticed the names of winners being repeated in the advertisements with surprising regularity. Another common concern is that the first prize is generally won by a valuable customer, canvassed from another competing bank. There was the amusing case of car displayed for nearly six months in front of the head office of a state bank running a lottery suddenly disappearing. I assumed someone had won it but after making inquiries at the counter as to the winner, it was revealed that the car had been taken to the Kandy office of the bank to be displayed and no one in the bank was aware when the draw would take place. So all credit
to A.A.H. for having had the courage to take this matter up in the
media. Those like A.A.H. surely deserves the sympathy of all including
Central Bank officers who monitor these lotteries. But customers
have only themselves to blame because bank depositors of Sri Lanka
with a high level of learning and literacy ought to know that a
bank should be selected for capital strengths, financial performance
and convenience and not because of lottery draws.
He holds a diploma in marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK and is also a Certified Professional Marketer of Asia-Pacific Marketing. Rahaman is currently reading for his MBA at the post-Graduate Institute of Management affiliated to the University of Sri Jayawardenapura. His long marketing career commenced in 1979 at Metropolitan Office (Pvt) Ltd. where he is currently serving in the Board of Directors. In his early years he served in the Colombo Jaycees and was also a former president of the Rotary Club of Maharagama. He joined the SLIM Executive Committee in 1996 and since then has served in different capacities. Emerald
sponsors Mahela Under the agreement, Jayawardene will appear in advertising and promotional activities for Emerald International to promote its well known menswear brands. The sponsorship agreement was handed over to Jayawardene by A.F.M. Ikram, Chairman/Managing Director of Emerald International. MTN
Networks signs up syndicated loan The other banks involved were National Development Bank, National Savings Bank and DFCC. The loan is secured by MTN Network's holding company, Telekom Malaysia, a Citibank press release said. This investment will be utilised to spearhead MTN Network's innovative product development efforts such as GPRS and other features, which is part of Dialog GSM's strategy of persistent market diversification and aggressive consumer-led growth. "The company is committed to maintain its standing as Sri Lanka's flagship technology company, offering many mobile communication solutions to enrich the lives of the end user," said Dr. Hans Wijesuriya, Director/Chief Executive of Dialog GSM. Kapila Jayawardena, Country Head and Chief Executive Officer, Citibank Sri Lanka, said they were pleased to work together with Commercial Bank and other syndicate banks to provide this service for Dialog GSM. Citibank and Commercial Bank being the joint lead arrangers and underwriters for this loan have contributed US$ 2.1 million each and further sums of Rs. 304 million and Rs. 311 million respectively. National Development Bank, National Savings Bank and DFCC have all contributed Rs. 300 million each towards this loan. The transaction was completed despite stiff competition from many other leading international banks within the country. Recalls Romesh Elapata of Citibank, "We faced stiff competition from other global banks. The entire transaction was done through a competitive bidding process and the mandate was awarded to our partnership. Our success was due to the commitment and professionalism displayed by our team."
Pizzas in a pouch "The pouches have been bought down at a cost of Rs. 400,000 to help deliveries in Colombo and suburbs from all Pizza Hut outlets," Gunasekere said. Speaking at the launch he said that this is the first time in Sri Lanka and in the sub- continent that such a system has been introduced. This was first launched in the US in September last year. The heated pouches have been developed by the R&D arm of Tricon Restaurants International, the owning company of Pizza Hut Worldwide. K.T.R. Bandara, Operations Manager of Keells Restaurants explaining the workings of the Heated Pouch, said that the pouches are plugged and pre-heated 20 minutes prior to delivery. Once heated, the pouch reaches a temperature of 90 degrees centigrade which is then retained for around 40 minutes. "The usual temperature of a pizza once out of the oven is around 70 degrees centigrade and the heated pouch has the ability to retain this inner core heat until the time of delivery to the customer," Bandara added.
Shippers complain of war risk rip-off "We believe that there are interested parties who would like to continue with the war risk surcharge to gain short-term profits at the expense of the image of the country," Ravi Ratnapala, the council's chairman said in a statement. It has asked shipping agents to join hands with shippers to lobby for the removal of war risk surcharges, he said. "Due to the continuous lobbying done by the Sri Lanka Shippers' Council the war risk surcharge has been withdrawn by some shipping lines on certain trade routes while DSR-Senator and Zim Lines have totally withdrawn the surcharge on all trade routes," he said. Members of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Ceylon Conference (IPBCC) have withdrawn the war risk surcharge on the Colombo/Europe route and vice versa, he said. "However, some members of the IPBCC continue to charge the war risk surcharge on other trade routes, which are serviced by the same vessel that serves the Colombo - Europe sector," he said. There have been some instances where unscrupulous freight forwarders have charged the war risk surcharge from importers in an unfair manner in an endeavour to make quick profits, Ratnapala said. |
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