Advertising campaigns

The essentials

An advertising campaign is a planned series of related advertisements, sharing a common theme and message, run across chosen media over a fixed period to achieve specific objectives. A single ad rarely changes behaviour; a well-planned campaign repeats and reinforces one central idea.

Key points

• Research: study the product, market, competitors and consumers.
• Setting objectives: clear and measurable goals, such as increasing awareness or sales by a certain percentage.
• Defining the target audience: who exactly the campaign must reach.
• Budget: how much money is available, which shapes media choices.
• Creative strategy: the central theme, message, slogan and visual style.
• Media planning: choosing the mix of media (TV, radio, print, outdoor, digital), timing, frequency and reach (how many people see the ad).
• Execution: producing and releasing the ads as scheduled.
• Evaluation: measuring results through surveys, sales data or online analytics, and correcting the plan.
• Pre-testing checks ads on a small group before release; post-testing checks impact after release.

Exam tips

Remember that objectives and target audience are set before creating the ads. Sequence questions often test this order: research, objectives, audience, budget, creative, media, execution, evaluation.

Common mistakes

Reach and frequency differ: reach is how many different people see the ad; frequency is how many times each person sees it on average.