Younger Advertisers and Older Consumers

            Communication has been variously defined as the passing of information. Belch’s Advertising and Promotion mentioned that here must be some common thinking between two parties (consumers and marketers) and information must be passed from one person to another or from one group to another (pp.145, 2012). However, many of the younger people who work in the creative departments of advertising agencies cannot develop ads that connect with older consumers. The reason I think is advertisers ignore older consumers.

            Older consumers are not attracted by advertisings (baidu.com, 2014). According to a survey for older people about advertising from baidu.com, many older respondents states that advertisings are too noisy, and advertisings much focus on younger people. They have a negative view of advertisings (meihua.info, 2013). 75% respondents claim that they will not make the shopping decisions based on advertisings (meihua.info, 2013). Therefore, advertisings ignore older consumers.

            On the other hand, it is hard for older consumers to understand the advertisings. The report found that older consumers are not satisfied with the market shopping, because market cannot fully meet their needs (meihua.info, 2013). They had some unhappy shopping experiences in markets. For example, the shelves either too high or too low that led they could not reach the products easily. They often didn’t’ know how to open the product package, the store labels, and the price tag, and they didn’t pay attention to the advertisings (meihua.info, 2013). Therefore, in my opinion, advertisings ignore older consumers, and older consumers also ignore advertisings.

广告对于老年消费者来说没有什么吸引力。调查中，很多受访者对广告持消极看法，认为现在的广告太嘈杂，太过注重年轻人和摇滚乐。英国老年慈善组织“英国老年问题”（现已改名“老年英国”）的调查也有类似的发现：2/3的受访老年消费者称他们在广告里的形象是负面的，3/4的受访者则称他们不会将广告作为购物决定的参考。对于一些与年纪相关的产品，通常是医疗保健方面或个人护理方面的产品，传播正确的信息是件极具挑战性的事情。

　　广告是年轻人的游戏。尽管50岁的人财力更大，消费能力也更高，但是要在市场营销中做到对年龄的表现不偏不倚，从而打动老年消费者，对于广告商来说着实困难。18到34岁的消费群体以及已身为人母的女性仍是广告营销的主战场。但报告指出，人口老龄化震荡的影响很容易被错过，但是若企业熟视无睹，那么后果将非常危险。

报告发现，老年消费者认为市场、零售商和制造商不能完全满足他们的需求。大部分不满来自于他们面临的困难：大商场里商品琳琅满目，但却让他们晕头转向；货架不是太高就是太低，他们很难够到所需商品。他们经常不知道如何拆开产品外包装，商店里标签、价签和指示语对于他们来说都难以理解。

           

References:

Belch, E. George & Belch, A. Michael. (2012). Advertising And Promotion: an integrated marketing communications perspective -9^th ed. Published by McGraw-Hill/Irwin, a business unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Meihua (2013). How to trade with Older People. Knowledge Article Center. Meihua.info. Retrieved from: http://www.meihua.info/knowledge/article/6142

Agencies are losing accounts

           While many agencies have had very long-lasting relationship with their clients, there are a number of reasons clients switch agencies. George E. Belch mentioned an example that PepsiCo moved its Diet Pepsi account from BBDO to DDB Worldwide citing concerns over the creative work. Diet Pepsi’s ad has been handled by BBDO since the brand was introduced in the 1960s. Although BBDO still handle some advertising for other PepsiCo soft drink brands, the move is an example of how clients are willing to change their agencies for underperforming brands (Belch, 2012).

            One of the reasons why agencies lose clients is clients are dissatisfied with the quality of the advertising or service, which provide by the agency. Also, the poor communication, and personality conflicts can cause clients switch agencies. Clients and agencies cannot work well together, and fail to develop the communication necessary to sustain a favorable working relationship sometimes.

            There are amount of changes also can cause agencies lose clients. A change in personnel at the agency can create problems. Also, the changes in the size of the client or agency can cause clients lose (Belch, 2012). Some consumers may decide that they need a larger agency to handle its business. On the other hand, if the agency grows too large, some consumers may want to move to a smaller agency. Moreover, a client may change its marketing strategy and decide to move to a new agency to carry out the new program.

            Moreover, lack of integrated marketing capabilities is a reason why agencies lose clients. Consumers always look for more integrated marketing services, and the competitive market gives more agencies opportunities to provide greater expertise in a particular area, such as digital marketing.

            However, agencies should recognizes why they lose clients that is can help them try to adapt their programs to make sure the clients is satisfied.

细节的疏忽使客户离去：客户与厂家是利益关系纽带牵在一起的，但情感也是一条很重要的纽带，一些细节部门的疏忽，往往也会导致客户的流失。企业忽视的一个问题是，消费者是"上帝"，但是忘记了一个原则经销商是企业的衣食父母。一些民营企业老板比较吝啬，一些区域代理商大老远的来到企业参观，最终连顿饭都不给吃，当人家已经定好票反程的时候才说，应该请你去吃饭，当然这是长理，也是个小的细节，但是有没有想过这样一个问题，经销商只是为了你的一顿饭来的吗？这不是荒唐的问题吗？其实往往大事有的并不怎么计较，往往细节的忽略会造成一个非常不良的印象。

诚信问题让客户失去：厂家的诚信出现问题，有些业务经理喜欢向客户随意承诺条件，结果又不能兑现，或者返利、奖励等不能及时兑现给客户，客户最担心和没有诚信的企业合作。一旦有诚信问题出现，客户往往会选择离开。例如：我参加服务的山东一家企业，他们给经销商的承诺很多，进货30万就给一台微型车，但是半年过去了，企业又在互相的推脱，这样以来客户的心理就有一种感觉，感觉企业不够诚信。

店大欺客，客户不堪承受压力：店大欺客是营销中的普遍现象，一些着名厂家的苛刻的市场政策常常会使一些中小客户不堪重负而离去。或者是心在曹营心在汉，抱着一定抵触情绪来推广产品。一遇到合适时机，就会甩手而去。

竞争对手夺走客户: 任何一个行业，客户毕竟是有限的，特别是优秀的客户，更是弥足珍稀的，20％的优质客户能够给一个企业带来80％的销售业绩，这是个恒定的法则。所以往往优秀的客户自然会成为各大厂家争夺的对象。小心，也许你的主要竞争对手现在正在对你的大客户动之以情，晓之以理、诱之以利，以引诱他放弃你而另栖高枝。任何一个品牌或者产品肯定都有软肋，而商战中的竞争对手往往最容易抓到你的软肋，一有机会，就会乘虚而入，所以也警示企业一个问题，那就是加强员工团队的建设问题。

References:

Belch, E. George & Belch, A. Michael. (2012). Advertising And Promotion: an integrated marketing communications perspective-9^th ed. Published by McGraw-Hill/Irwin, a business unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Losing Clients. (2012). Consumer Losing. Baidu.com. Retrieved from: http://baike.baidu.com/link?url=ful5-0jBBUlYbztSC9-tuhgUlxyRtymRoueU2HBuo0Et2OVo-UavqTkuZTf0eOvUS53Fga-4WqMlx4XlXuCsoa

How IMC differs from traditional advertising and promotion

Integrated Marketing Communication is different from traditional advertising and promotion. IMC uses a variety of communication tools to recognize the value, which involves coordinating the various promotional elements and other marketing activities that communicate with a firm’s customers. Moreover, IMC is recognized as a business process that helps companies identify the most appropriate and effective methods for communicating and building relationship with customers and other stakeholders. However, the traditional advertising relies primarily on using the mass media to communicate with the target audience, but mass media can lose people’s viewers, listeners, and readers.

There are number of reasons why more marketers are taking an IMC perspective to their advertising and promotional programs. The IMC approach to marketing communications planning and strategy is being adopted by both large and small companies and has become popular among firms marketing consumer products and services as well as business-to-business marketers. By coordinating their marketing communications efforts, companies can avoid duplication, take advantages of synergy among promotional tools, and develop more efficient and effective marketing communication programs. Marketers recognize the value of strategically integrating the various communication functions rather than having the operated autonomously. As marketers become more sophisticated and develop a better understanding of IMC, they are recognizing that it involves more than just coordinating the various elements of their marketing and communication programs into a “one look, one voice” approach.