Curso de Inglés Comercial y de Negocios

Before you read a short article on outdoor advertising, match the following words with their definitions and translations. Follow the example.

Listen and repeat.

Read the article and answer the questions that follow.

The goal of an effective marketing campaign is to surround the customer with your messages. With the right mix, your target audience reads your ad in the morning paper, sees your billboard while driving to work, and hears your radio ad on the way home. Outdoor or ‘out-of-home’ media provide all the options necessary to help complete a successful advertising campaign.

Advertising hoardings (called billboards in North America), taxis, buses, trains and stations, newspaper kiosks, airports, aerial advertising and ‘street furniture’ (bus shelters, public toilets etc.) are just some examples of outdoor advertising which is now worth almost $20 billion a year. Although it accounts for only 8% of total spending, outdoor advertising is one of the fastest growing segments of the advertising market, as more and more companies are ‘taking it outside’.

TV and newspaper/magazine advertising is dropping in popularity due to high costs. In Spain, a 30-second prime time TV ad screened in the evening can cost as much as 100,000 euros. An advertisement displayed on a bus shelter in the city centre would probably be around 150 euros for two weeks.

There has also been incredible technological advancements in outdoor advertisements. Digital hoardings that behave like electronic screens offer companies the possibility of moving images and even sound. Smartboards using LED displays can change the message easily and frequently. The advertising industry also plan to use GPS as ‘people trackers’ to let companies know how many viewers, or potential customers, are exposed to the screens.

Outdoor advertising works best when it's used to communicate a single message, so it's the perfect medium for building awareness for your store, product, service or brand. Brief customer exposure and limited text space dictate the use of a single compelling visual along with a headline, slogan or logo. The outdoor ads for Absolut Vodka and Calvin Klein underwear, for example, are effective, yet use hardly any text. While it's best to keep outdoor advertising simple, some bus shelters and poster ads in restaurant toilets, have a "captive" audience that's more likely to spend time with longer texts.

With a 25% increase in Europe and nearly 8% in the US last year, the fastest growing segment of the outdoor advertising market is street furniture. With innovative ideas, such as barking dogs to advertise Disney’s 101 Dalmatians film, and Smirnoff vodka’s ‘moving spider’, many people in the advertising industry are waiting to see which direction the outdoor advertising will take.

Complete the following table with words from the article.

OUTDOOR ADVERTISING		TRANSPORT

What do the following numbers refer to in the text?

	$20 billion
	8%
	100,000
	150
	25%
	8%

Brands provide multiple sensory stimuli to enhance customer recognition. For example, a brand can be visually recognizable from its packaging, logo, shape, etc.
Customers who are frequent and enthusiastic buyers of a particular brand often become brand loyal. Developing brand loyalty among customers is the ultimate reward for successful marketers because these customers are far less likely to be persuaded to change to other brands compared to non-loyal customers.
Well-developed and promoted brands make product positioning efforts more effective.
Firms that establish a successful brand can extend the brand by adding new products under the same “family” brand. Such branding may allow companies to introduce new products more easily because the brand is already recognized in the market.

Newspapers: Are one of the traditional advertising mediums used by businesses. Newspapers allow you to reach a large number of people in a particular geographic area. You have the flexibility in deciding the ad size and placement within the newspaper

Magazines: Are a more focused, although more expensive, alternative to newspaper advertising. Magazines allow for better targeting of audience, as you can choose magazine publications that are aimed to your specific audience or whose editorial content specializes in topics of interest to your audience.

Radio: Is a universal medium enjoyed by many people during the day, at home, at work, and even in the car.

Television: Permits you to reach large numbers of people on a national or regional level in a short period of time. Television offers the ability to deliver your message with sight, sound and motion.

Direct Mail: Is a marketing technique in which the seller sends marketing messages directly to the buyer. Your advertising message is targeted to those most likely to buy your product or service. Marketing messages can be personalized which helps to increase the possibilities of a positive response.

Specialty Advertising: This kind of advertising uses imprinted, useful, or decorative products such as key chains, computer mouse mats, mugs, hats, T-shirts etc. These articles are distributed for free.