Types of Direct Marketing Activities

All direct marketers face two basic strategy decisions: the extent to which they will use direct sales and the extent to which they will use direct-response advertising. They can use either or both.

Taking an ad campaign online requires thinking about the strengths and weaknesses of digital interactive as a medium. Show your understanding of how to do it right in this case. Review the text material about out-of-home advertising before starting this activity.

Read the case below, then answer the questions that follow.

Surf City is a giant shop located in Florida that sells beach and surf clothing and gear. Located in a popular Florida beach resort, it is just a few miles from a well-traveled interstate highway. Surf City hopes to use out-of-home (OOH) ads to bring tourist traffic from the interstate to its retail location. Advertisers can take advantage of many kinds of out-of-home media, such as billboards, street furniture, transit, and alternative. In this case you will make decisions about what and how to buy in the realm of outdoor.

1. Surf City's ad Manager, Dan, calls the billboard company to buy the billboard. He speaks with Jim, a salesperson. Jim asks how long Dan intends to run the campaign. Dan replies he expects to keep an outdoor message up along the interstate for 10 years or more. Jim responds that while a 30-sheet poster is a good choice, more permanence and impact can be achieved with a(n)

a. inflatable panel.

b. junior poster.

c. painted bulletin.

d. inside bus.

e. spectacular.

2. Dan agrees to Jim’s recommendation, but wants another buy as well. To lure traffic at the exit nearest Surf City, Dan would like to use a standard poster that would target cars heading southbound. On a monthly basis, the board would cost $3,000 and have the potential to be seen by 1.5 million drivers. In Chapter 9, you learned about CPM, or cost per thousand. This is calculated as [AD COST x 1000 / AUDIENCE SIZE]. Use this formula to answer this question. On that basis, the campaign would result in a monthly CPM of

a. $2,000.00.

b. $200.00.

c. 2 cents.

d. $20.00.

e. $2.

3. Jim decides to buy the bulletin that Dave describes, and also decides he would like to purchase several standard posters to put along the interstate many miles further north and south. The idea is to build frequency and to create awareness of the store long before travelers get near the Surf City exit. Dave explains where these will be placed, and then notes that they will be moved monthly to increase reach. When Jim asks how he can always know where the boards are located, Dave explains his company uses ______ to give the exact latitude and longitude of the boards.

a. best guess estimates

b. global positioning systems (GPS)

c. Google Earth

d. Google apps

e. Apple apps

4. Jim’s ads will appear along a road that is part of the U.S. interstate highway system. If Jim is smart, he will ensure that his billboard meets requirements specified by

a. the AAAA guide to effective billboards.

b. the Billboard Association Recommendation Guide.

c. the American Academy of Advertising.

d. his own company.

e. the Highway Beautification Act of 1965.

5. If the ads are successful, Jim expects tourists to leave the interstate at the Surf City exit and head east toward the store. He would like to use an outdoor structure to guide traffic through the downtown area to the store location. Unfortunately, full-sized billboards are not permitted within the downtown area. A potentially good option for Jim might be

a. direct-response print advertising.

b. a junior poster.

c. telemarketing.

d. a small kiosk.

e. a spectacular