WRITTEN BY CHINEDU THE IMPACT OF ADVERTISING ON MARKETING PERFORMANCE OF SOFT DRINK (A CASE STUDY OF NIGERIAN BOTTLING COMPANY IN OWERRI)

THE IMPACT OF ADVERTISING ON MARKETING PERFORMANCE OF SOFT DRINK (A CASE STUDY OF NIGERIAN BOTTLING COMPANY IN OWERRI) TABLE OF CONTENT Preliminary page Title page Approval page Dedication Acknowledgement Abstract Table of content CHAPTER ONE 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Background of the study 1.2 Statement of the problem 1.3 Objective of the study 1.4 Research Question 1.5 Statement of hypothesis 1.6 Significance of the study 1.7 Scope of the study 1.8 Limitation of the study 1.9 Definition of terms CHAPTER TWO 2.0 Literature review 2.1 Introduction 2.1. Importance of Advertising 2.3. MARKETING PERFORMANCE 2.4 SALES TURNOVER 2.5 MARKET SHARE 2.6 PROFITABILITY CHAPTER THREE 3.0 Research design and methodology 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Research design 3.3 Source/methodology of data collection 3.4 Population and sample size 3.5 Sample technique 3.6 Validity and reliability of measuring instrument33 3.7 Method of data analysis CHAPTER FOUR 4.0 Presentation and analysis of datA 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Presentation of data 4.3 Analysis of data 4.4 Test of hypothesis 4.5 Interpretation of result CHAPTER FIVE 5.0 Summary, conclusion and Recommendation 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Summary of findings 5.3 Conclusion 5.4 Recommendations References Appendix CHAPTER ONE 1.0 INTRODUCTION Advertising is a prominent feature of modern economic life. Consumers encounter advertising messages as they watch TV, read magazines, listen to the radio, surf the internet, or simply walk down the street. And the associated advertising ex-penditures can be huge. What, then, do economists have to say about advertising? Up until the late 19th century, this question had a simple answer: nothing. But over the 20th century, research on advertising has proceeded at a vigorous space, and a vast literature has now emerged. This volume collects some of the central contributions. These contributions, which evaluate the economic effects of advertising from theoretical and empirical perspectives, reveal a number of important lessons. At the same time, advertising is a subtle and difficult subject, with important effects that remain poorly understood. In short, economists now have quite a lot to say about advertising, but there is also much that remains to be said. This introduction begins with an historical overview of the development of the economic analysis of advertising. 1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Etymologically the word Advertising is derived from the Latin word advert ere which means to draw attention. It‟s all about drawing a person‟s attention to buy a product or seek for services. This is why scholars like Hark and O‟ Connor in Eluwa, (1999), define advertising as the action of calling something to the attention of the public especially by paid announcement. This definition is similar to Frank Jefkin‟s definition cited in Eluwa, (1999), as the means by which we make known what we want to sell or buy. But it is limited from the angle of the media of communication. However, advertising has always been defined by other different scholars in their own perspectives. According to Bovee and Arens (1992, p.7), advertising is a “non personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products (goods and services) or ideas by identified sponsor through various media. Wikipedia, sees advertising as “a form of communication used to encourage or persuade an audience (viewers, readers, or listeners, sometimes a specific group of people) to continue or take new actions.” The American Marketing Association defines advertising as “any paid form of non personal communication about an organization, product, service or idea by an identified sponsor. “Answer.com sees advertising as the activity of attracting public attention to the product or business as by paid announcements in the print, broadcast], or electronic media. Aliede in Okunna, (2002), is of the opinion that advertising is “a form of communication through the media about products services, ideas, personalities or organizations paid for by an identified sponsor.” Although advertising has been limited to communicating the product with the aim of selling the products by urging and convincing the targeted audience to do something through the use of traditional communication, which covers the communication process by the media which include the radio, television, cinema, newspaper, magazines, bill boards, posters and the internet which of course is the recent advertising media. Every advert message performs and creates brand awareness about the product. Since the internet became commercialized, large and small businessmen saw it as a great opportunity to increase the awareness of their business and, at the same time to increase sales. Advertising may also be to reassure employees or shareholders that a company is viable or successful. It also seeks to generate increase consumption of their product or services through „‟branding‟‟ which involves the repetition of an image or product name in an effort to associate certain qualities with the brand in the minds of consumers. Advertising provides numerous benefits to the society. These include making media less expensive and contributing to a large and diverse economy. While advertising has existed in the United State since colonial times, it was industrialization, urbanization and the growth of national transportation network in the 19thcentury that allowed it to become a major industry. Advertising uses a variety of strategy to reach their audience; they may attempt to understand their needs, wants and motivations of audience members through psychographic research. They also target products to specific demographic groups. Advertising has being traced to have started since through the word of mouth which is the basic (and still the most powerful) form of advertising. Advertising has been ever since humans started providing each other with goods and services. Also advertising as a discrete form is generally agreed to have begin alongside newspaper in the seventeenth century. (Wilson, 2000, p.12). Hussain (2012} in his own view stated that the exact beginning of modern advertising can be traced to weekly newspapers in London that began running adverts in the 17th century. He further explained that the prolific businessman, inventor and statesman Benjamin Franklin published notices of “new advertisements” of products and services as early as 1729 in his Pennsylvania Gazette and the fact that it was still a revolutionary concept is evidenced by the fact that many papers refuse to run adverts. Highlighting its existence in Nigeria advertising has been part of commercial activities even before the arrival of white men remarks Abayomi in Okunna (2002, p.86}. Quoting Ogbodo (1990}, Abayomi in Okunna pointed out the common practices in our localities like what the town criers do, hawking and displaying of available wares were the earliest method of advertising in Nigeria. This is still obtainable in the free market as sellers cry above their voices to draw the attention of buyers wares. The introduction of modern advertising in Nigeria was made possible in 1859 by a newspaper called “IweIrohin.” It was an eight page newspaper with four pages English version and four pages “Yoruba version” owned by an English reverend gentleman known as Henry Townsend. The newspaper attracted a lot of readership, this created space for advertisements on births, weddings and obituaries, vacancies for houseboys, and maids, church activities, ship schedules and other social events. Abayomi in Okunna (2002, p.86} records that other newspapers such as Lagos observer, The Eagle, The Lagos critic and others joined the activity. The business of advertising experienced a great boost in the 1920s as notable companies such as Raleigh Bicycle, Pz Lever Brothers, Cadbury, Oval tine and others sprang up to patronize the services of the west African Publicity (WAP} which provided advertising services like radio and television. There was considerably advancement in radio/tv establishment for over four decades. These began with the establishment of western Nigerian Broadcasting Services (WWBS} and Western Nigerian Television (WNTN} by the defunct western region. (Okunna, 2002). The legalization of advertising in Nigeria was masterminded by Advertising Practitioner‟s Council of Nigeria (APCON) which was established by decree no. 55 of 1988 and amended by decree no. 93 of 1992. APCON as produced by the code of advertising practice is charged among other things with the responsibility of; 1. Determining who advertisers are. 2. Conducting examination in the profession and 3. Regulating and controlling advertising in all this aspects and ramifications. The strict adherence to the provision of this code has really made advertising an interesting, fascinating and fantastic profession Inrecent years, the practice of advertising no longer enjoyed its good essence. Following the introduction of fraudulent and unethical practice in the business of advertising, the profession is fast loosing credibility and interest. The code of advertising practice catalogued the essence of good advertising as follows, that all advertisement in Nigeria should; 1. Be legal, decent, honest, truthful and respectful of Nigeria‟s culture. 2. Be prepared with a high sense of social responsibility and should not show disregard for the interest of consumer and the wider Nigeria society. 3. Conform to the principles of fair competition generally accepted in business and fair comment expected in human communication. 4. Enhance public confidence in advertising. Performance-based marketing is a method of interactive advertising paid for not with a set price, but with a variable price that depends on the performance of the ad. For example, the cost of an ad might be based upon how often it’s viewed on a webpage, how often it’s actually clicked, how often it actually generates a lead, or how often it results in a sale. While this form of advertising has been created for and developed on the Internet, and lately expanded to mobile marketing, versions of it can also work in other media. For instance, CPM advertising (see Performance-based Marketing Payment) has been implemented by directory-assistance providers. A subset of performance-based marketing is affiliate marketing, which pays Internet publishers (affiliates) to promote a particular product or service, paying a commission for each lead or sale generated by the affiliate website. 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM In order for business to yield profit, so many entrepreneurs indulge in illegal advertising so as to get what they want in business. By so doing, they introduce fraudulent and unethical practices that mislead the public, customers, or consumers into leaving the better brand to the worse brand and also into buying the wrong products known as imitations. This practice makes advertising profession loose its good essence, credibility and interest. It also discourages consumers from paying attention to advertising messages. Bearing in mind the problem mentioned above, this study seeks to answer the question; how has advertising on marketing performance influenced the patronage of consumers in their purchase of soft drink products? 1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The study had the following objectives 1. To find out the type of media soft drink companies uses in advertising their product. 2. To determine the influence of advertising on the patronage of Nigeria bottling company by consumers. 3. To communicate with consumers. 4. To retain the loyalty of present and former consumers. Advertising may be used to reassure buyers that they have made the best purchase, thus building loyalty to the brand name or the firm. 5. To increase support. Advertising impliedly boost the morale of the sales force and of distributors, wholesalers, and retailers, it thus contributes to enthusiasts and confidence attitude in the organizational. : 6. To project an image. Advertising is used to promote an overall image of respect and trust for an organization. This message is aimed not only at consumers, but also at the government, shareholders, and the general public. 7. Valuate the extent to which trade contest affects marketing performance. 8. Examine the extent to which the size of the firm affects the influence of sales strategies on marketing performance. 9. Assess the extent to which the age of the firm affects the influence of trade sales promotion strategies on marketing performance. 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS The study formulated the following research questions. 1. What type of media do soft drink companies use in advertising their product? 2. What influence does advertising on the patronage of Nigeria bottling company by consumers? To what extent does the way soft drink firms in Nigeria, carry out trade contest affect marketing performance? 3. To what extent does the way these firms organize/participate in advertising affect marketing performance? 4. To what extent does the way they offer a trade allowance affect marketing performance? 5. To what extent does the size of the firm affect the influence of sales promotion strategies on marketing performance? 6. To what extent does the age of the firm affect the influence of trade sales promotion strategies on marketing performance? 1.5 STATEMENT OF HYPOTHESIS Ho1: There is no significant relationship between advertising and marketing performance. Ho2: There is no significant relationship between advertising and market share. 1.6 THE SCOPE OF THE STUDY This study is focused on the influence of advertising marketing performance/messages on customers/consumers‟ patronage of soft drink, a product. The researcher has chosen to limit the study because not only that it is within the reach of the target population but also to the reach of the researcher to enable him do thorough work without much hindrance. 1.7 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY This study hopefully will help to enlighten the students on how to make judicious use of advertising messages. Secondly the findings would help to encourage the students to stick to their choice of brand and never allow themselves to be deceived by unethical advertisements. The study would be useful to intending researchers, scholars, potential and prospective users, students, consumers of goods and services, policy makers, advertisers, advertising agencies and every other person that needs it because, it would serve as a reference material to all. 1.8 OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS OF SIGNIFICANT TERMS 1. Advertising: It is the activity of attracting the public‟s attention to a product or business by a sponsor through the use of mass media. 2. Messages: It is an information which is sent from the media (source or sender} to a target audience to keep them aware of a product or service. 3. soft drinks: Is any non alcoholic drinks that nourishes the body. 5 Influence: The degree of impact that advertising message have on Caritas University undergraduates patronage of Good morning cornflakes. 6 Patronage: It means the support or encouragement that consumer/customers give to soft drink companies 1.9 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY Some problems were encountered during this research\ project work such as: 1. TIME CONTRAINT; The researcher has no sufficient time to frequent the area of study due to compiled academic works facing him. He also has limited time in fixing the facts collected during the research work. 2. INFORMATION CONSTRAINTS The research encountered high compliance from the case study (a case study of Nigerian bottling company in Owerri) due to secrecy of some information. 3. FINANCIAL CONSTRAINT The researcher has problem financing this work. This was due to the fact that during this work, there was drastic increase in the cost of living, transport, printing and binding of project. However, I thank God for making me (researcher) to finish the work and present it fairly. Another problem the researcher has was getting the recent three –five financial statements (annual report) of the company to aid this work. CHAPTER TWO 2.0 Literature review 2.1 Introduction The warm climate in Nigeria is compatible with cool drink consumption, but with soft drinks per capita consumption of just a little under thirty five liters there is considerable untapped potentials. Soft drinks also make up the bulk of commercial beverage in the country and now account for around 6.5 of every 10 liters of beverages traded up from 5.5 liters ten years ago (Corbett, 2009). Also, some investments are helping to facilitate future carbonate expansions in the country (www.prosharen.com) accessed 20 June, 2011. This has led to competition between major industry actors like Nigerian Bottling and 7-Up Bottling Companies and other local players. Therefore in such a competitive business environment, organizations need to constantly stimulate sales through adoption of incentive marketing techniques (Chevron, 1998); particularly those directed at channel members (Narasimhan, 1990). These include trade contests, Trade fairs and Trade allowances; which when properly applied can lead to marketing performance in terms of sales turnover, market share and profitability; and other marketing objectives (Buyline Report, 2008; Jackson, et al., 1995; Narasimhan, 1989) however, to achieve this, firms must operate within the boundaries of core competences of its strategies (Prahad and Hamel, 1990); and within an understanding of the firm’s environment which can change over time (Uzor, 2011) Therefore, rapid changes in technology, shortened product life cycles, increased competitions owing to reduced barriers to international trade and globalization (Ohmae, 1985) have all contributed to the need for a firm to have distinctive capabilities or core-competences; which when successfully applied to firms markets become competitive advantages (Kay, 1983). In this study, we are inclined to believe that “competent and well-articulated trade promotion strategies” constitute a competitive advantage to soft drink firms in particular and firms in general. This is hinged on the premise that firms which have built up knowledge and expertise in different promotion strategies are likely to adapt to the dynamics of the marketing environment and exhibit superior marketing performance. However, many a time, most organizations do not achieve the level of marketing performance that will yield rents for them, hence some organizations experience sub-optimal or even out-right poor marketing performance. As a result, firms get worried about the contributions of their promotion strategies to marketing performance not with-standing the large budgets used to maintain it sometimes. Thus with the notion that trade sales promotion strategies positively correlates with marketing performance, organizations view incompetent trade promotion strategies with serious concerns. Besides, the aggregate business performance of a country’s economic units made by the firms shapes its entire economy since a nation’s wealth is measured mostly in terms of its GDP. Therefore, if the society depends on the marketing performance of business organizations for its living standards as defined by GDP, and these organizations, in turn, depend on the competence of its trade promotion strategies to achieve competitive advantage, it stands to reason then that incompetent or sub-standard trade promotion strategies will affect the organization’s marketing performance in particular and the human society’s economic well being in general. It becomes apparent that the effect of poor trade promotion strategies is not limited to firms alone but also to the economy by extension. This equally explains why several studies have been conducted in these areas (Ayatunji, et al., 2009; Keon and Raju, 1991; Adebisi and Bayode, 2011). In-spite of these and other works, fresh concerns regarding the efficacy of trade sales promotion strategies remain sparsely researched. And scholars and experts have been wondering whether sales promotion and indeed trade sales promotion still serves its purpose (Ikem, 2011). This is symptomatic of poor marketing performance and a threat that should attract enquiry. In view of this we propose an empirical investigation in to what we refer to as “Trade sales promotion strategies and marketing Performance in the soft drink industries in Nigeria. 2.1. Importance of Advertising Generally, advertising is a relatively low-cost method of conveying selling messages to numerous prospective customers. It can secure leads for salesmen and middlemen by convincing readers to request more information and by identifying outlets handling the product. It can force middlemen to stock the product by building consumer interest. It can help train dealers salesmen in product uses and applications. It can build dealer and consumer confidence in the company and its products by building familiarity. Advertising is to stimulate market demand. While sometimes advertising alone may succeed in achieving buyer acceptance, preference, or even demand for the product, it is seldom solely relied upon. Advertising is efficiently used with at least one other sales method, such as personal selling or point-of-purchase display, to directly move customers to buying action. Advertising has become increasingly important to business enterprises –both large and small. Outlay on advertising certainly is the voucher. Non-business enterprises have also recognized the importance of advertising. The attempt by army recruitment is bases on a substantial advertising campaign, stressing the advantages of a military career. The health department popularizes family planning through advertising Labor organizations have also used advertising to make their viewpoints known to the public at large. Advertising assumes real economic importance too. Advertising strategies that increase the number of units sold stimulate economies in the production process. The production cost per unit of output is lowered. It in turn leads to lower prices. Lower consumer prices then allow these products to become available to more people. Similarly, the price of newspapers, professional sports, radio and TV programmed, and the like might be prohibitive without advertising. In short, advertising pays for many of the enjoyable entertainment and educational aspects of contemporary life. Advertising has become an important factor in the campaigns to achieve such societal-oriented objectives such as the discontinuance of smoking, family planning, physical fitness, and the elimination of drug abuse. Though in Nigeria, advertising was accepted as a potent and recognized means of promotion only 25 years ago, its growing productive capacity and output necessitates the finding of consumers and advertising plays an important role in this process. Advertising helps to increase mass marketing while helping the consumer to choose from amongst the variety of products offered for his selection. In Nigeria, advertising as a profession is in its infancy. Because of this fact, there is a tremendous scope for development so that it may be productively used for the benefit of producers, traders, consumers, and the country’s economy. Everyday consumers are exposed to thousands of voices and images in magazines, newspapers, and on billboards, websites, radio and television. Every brand attempts to steal at least a fraction of a person’s time to inform him or her of the amazing and different attributes of the product at hand. The challenge of the marketer is to find a hook that will hold the subject’s attention. In helping to achieve this, use of celebrity endorsers is a widely used marketing strategy. 2.3 STUDY OF GROWTH OF SOFT DRINK MARKET SOFT DRINKS Carbonated drinks are dominated by artificial flavors based on cola, orange and lime with Pepsi and coca-cola dominating the market. The entire part of the drink is based on its artificial flavors and sweetening agents as no natural juice is used. MARKET Cola products account for nearly 61-62% of the total soft drinks market. 1. Two global majors’ Pepsi and Coke dominate the soft drink market. 2. NCAER survey says 91% of soft drink in the country is in the lower, lower middle and upper middle class people. 3. The market is worth around Rs.5000 crores with growth rate of around 10-15%. 4. The production as soft drinks has increased from 5670 million bottles in 1998-99 to 9783 million bottles in 2000-2008 industry source. 5. Growth market this year is expected to be 10-15% in value terms and 20-22% in volume terms. However, the market for carbonated drinks is stagnating and not growing as expected. The total soft drink (carbonated beverages and juices) market is estimated at 284 million crates a year or $1 billion. The market is highly seasonal in nature with consumption varying from 25 million crates per month during peak season to 15 million during off-season. The market is predominantly urban with 25 per cent contribution from rural areas. Coca cola and Pepsi dominate the Indian soft drinks market. Mineral water market in India is a 65 million crates ($50 million). On an average, the monthly consumption is estimated at 4.9 million crates, which increases to 5.2 million during peak season. 2.3. MARKETING PERFORMANCE Organizations measure the effectiveness of its trades sales promotion strategies in order to be able to ascertain the activities that are successful through performance evaluations- product market performance, market share, sales turnover etc (Richard, 2009); accomplishment of a given task (Robson, 2005); optimal goals of the organization (Bell, 2000); contribution to goals and objectives (Johnston and Marshall, 2003; Dalrymple, et al., 2004; Churchill and Peters, 1998; Fenwick and Amine, 1979) and specifically through marketing performance (Jackson, et al., 1995); return on equities and return on investments (Jain, 1997); profit, sales, market share and cash flows (Bonoma, 1989); financial measures such as sales metrics (Clark, 2000; Kokkinaki and Ambler, 1999). However, this study will rely on the financial measures of sales turnover, market share and profitability: 2.4 SALES TURNOVER Also described as sales volume by many authors, it is said to be increased almost always during the period of a coupon offering or price-off deal; and consumers are highly responsive to deals, especially when they are advertised (Bemmaor and Mouchoux, 1991). It is also viewed as a marketing performance measure which shows the rapidity with which sales are procured through trade sales promotion strategies (Nwielaghi, 2003). Sales turnover is guided by the generalization that a promotion will result in temporary price reductions that can substantially increase sales 2.5 MARKET SHARE Is an indicator of market competitiveness showing how well a firm is doing against its competitors (Armstrong and Gerene, 2007; Rumelt, et al., 1981); or the breaking up of market size in percentage terms, to help identify the top players, the middle and ‘minnows’ of the market place based on the volume of business conducted (Mahajan, and Muller, 1997); or the ability of business performance management in assessing the extent to which consumers patronize a given product in the market environment, (Nwielaghi, 2013). However, a major assumption regarding market share as a measure of marketing performance is that higher market share brands are less deal elastic. 2.6 PROFITABILITY Is defined by the economist as total revenue less all cost (implicit and explicit); the latter including normal profit to the management (Mcconnel, and Bruce, 1990; Armstrong and Callopy, 1996) And without profitability, the business cannot survive at least in the long run (Hofstrand, 2007). This is why measuring past, present and future profitability is important to the firm. Also, for a particular trade sales promotion strategy to be profitable, the increase in profits due to the promotion must exceed the profits that would have occurred had the promotional offer not been made. Here we are not considering whether the promotion will make money at all; we are considering whether the promotion will make more money than not having the promotion. The simple logic regarding profitability and trade sales promotion is that putting a brand on deal is unprofitable if the market is composed of either promotion-insensitive consumers or stock-piling loyalists. CHAPTER THREE 3.0 RESAERCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY This chapter focused on the procedures adopted by the researcher in carrying out the study. it includes; research design, source/methodology of data collection, population and sample size, sample techniques, validity and reliability of measuring instruments and method of data analysis. 3.1 INTRODUCTION The study examines the effect of computer applications in banking industry and its operation. The research is centralized on Nigeria bottling company Owerri. Owerri plant NBC operates Owerri Plant since 1982 and is located in the capital city of Owerri in Imo State in South-East Nigeria. The Owerri Plant is responsible for the production of Coca-Cola, Fanta, Sprite and Schweppes and distribution of all product categories. It has up to 150 staffs and many departments as in marketing, transportation, accounting, security, purchasing and supply, personnel, etc. 3.2 RESEACH DESIGN A description survey types is used in this research work because it is descriptive in nature and attempt to describe, interpret, and explain the impact of advertising on marketing performance of soft drink and its application in Nigerian bottling company in Owerri. 3.3 SOURCE /METHODOLOGY OF DATA COLLECTION 4. 1. Primary data: It is the first hand information collected through questionnaire. 5. 2. Secondary data: Secondary data was collected from the following sources: 6. . Books 7. . Newspapers 8. . Journals 9. . Magazines. 10. . Research Papers The questionnaires were distributed by hand and collected immediately from the respondents 3.4 POPULATION AND SAMPLE SIZE The population of this study was made up of all staff selected in the four (4) Departments. Sample size of 70 staff was used during this research. S/N Branches Population 1 Marketing 40 2 Transport 20 3 Accounting 30 4 Purchasing& supply Total 19 109 3.5 SAMPLE TECHNIQUES A sample of four (4) Departments of Nigerian bottling company in owerri was used, Marketing department, Transport department, Accounting department, Purchasing& supply department, with total population of 109 staff. ) Departments from Nigerian bottling company in owerri are represented in this number. S/n Name of branch Population Sample 1 Marketing 40 25 2 Transport 20 14 3 Accounting 30 21 4 Purchasing& supply 19 10 Total Total 109 70 3.6 SAMPLE SIZE: For this study, a sample of 150 has been taken. 3.7 VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF MEASURING INSTRUMENT. The information was vetted by the research supervisor and one other lecturer in measurement and evaluation for content validity and reliability. 3.8 METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS The method of data analysis that was used will be presented in tabular form and analyzised in percentage using F÷N×100÷1 F= means frequency /or number of response N= is the total number of response. CHAPTER FOUR 1.0 PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA 1.1 INTRODUCTION In chapter three, we explained the method of by which the data collected would be analyzed to produce the results on this statement, we collected the required data and with the use of sample percentage as were analyzed based on their subject to the research question. 1.3 DATA ANALYSIS The data collected was carried out with instrument which is the questionnaire. The analysis on the questionnaire was one part in line with the research question they intend to answer. The questionnaire contains 10 items for clear understanding of the result the data are presented in table. Research Question One: What is Advertising? Advertising (or advertizing) is a form of marketing communication used to persuade an audience to take or continue some action, usually with respect to a commercial offering, or political or ideological support. In Latin, ad vertere means "to turn toward". The purpose of advertising may also be to reassure employees or shareholders that a company is viable or successful. Advertising messages are usually paid for by sponsors and viewed via various old media; including mass media such as newspaper, magazines, television advertisement, radio advertisement, outdoor advertising or direct mail; or new media such as blogs, websites or text messages Research Question Two: Does Advertising give accurate information? Table 4.1 Analyzing the response to test the hypothesis Option No. of response Percentage Agreed 90 83% Disagreed 10 9% Both 5 5% No answer 4 3% Total 109 100% From the above analysis, 83% agreed, 9% disagreed, 5% said both, while 3% said no answer. RESEARCH QUESTION 3 TABLE 4.2 Is advertising a negative influence on the soft drink company? Option No of response Response in % Agreed 60 55% Disagreed 40 37% Both 9 8% No answer - - Total 109 100% From the above response 55% agreed that Advertising is a negative influence, which 37% disagreed and 8% said Advertising is both. RESEARCH QUESTION 4 Does Advertising add value to the soft drink companies? Table 4.3 Option No of respondent Percentage Agreed 60 55% Disagreed 30 28% Both 10 9% No answer 9 8% Total 109 100% Table 4.3 shows that 55% agreed, that Advertising adds value to the soft drink companies, while 28% disagreed, 9% said both while 8% said no idea. QUESTION 5 Can advertising be used in advertising statement? Table 4.4 Option No of respondent Percentage Agreed 90 83% Disagreed 5 4% Both 2 2% No ideal 12 11% Total 109 100% QUESTION 6 Can Advertising be used in promoting a company’s product? Option No of respondent Percentage Agreed 85 78% Disagreed 10 9% Both 5 5% No ideal 9 8% Total 109 100% Table 4.5 shows that 75% agreed that Advertising can be used in promoting company’s product, while 9% disagreed, 5% said both while 8% said no idea.\ QUESTION 7 Manual Advertising is it more fraudulent than the use of modern advertising? Option No of respondent Percentage Agreed 30 28% Disagreed 70 64% Both 9 8% No idea - - Total 109 100% From the above table 4.6 28% of the staff said that manual Advertising is less fraudulent than the computer age Advertising, when 64% said it is more safe to make us of the manual Advertising than computer age modern which 8% said both. QUESTION 8 Can the use of Advertising lead to unemployment in banks? Table 4.8 Option No of respondent Percentage Agreed 60 55% Disagreed 40 37% Both 9 8% No idea - - Total 109 100% 4.4 TESTING OF HYPOTHESIS In the section the hypothesis earlier formulated in chapter one will be tested. Each test enables the research to make inf about the unknown population. HYPOTHESIS ONE H0: Improper maintainers of their Advertising performance H1: Proper maintainers of Advertising performance HYPOTHESIS TWO H0: Poor managerial decision H1: Adequate and good managerial decision HYPOTHESIS THREE H0: Staff lacks interpersonal communication skill H1: Good interpersonal communication skill. 5. CONCLUSIONS The soft drink manufacturing firms and channel members constitute the bedrock of the nation’s economic growth and derive enormous contributions from optimal utilization of trade sales promotion strategies to market their products. As there is cut throat competition in the soft drink industry mainly between the two big giants i.e. Coca Cola and Pepsi and both are striving very hard for their market share. Therefore it becomes very hard for the companies to retain their customers. It is also evident that 34 % of the total costs, these companies spend on Advertisements. Therefore Advertisements are the back bone for this Industry, they act as a glue to retain their consumers and target the prospectus. Also the consumer’s preferences and the attitudes change with the passage of the time and age, Mediums of Advertisements also play an important role in promoting the products among the masses. Advertisements play a pivotal role in changing the consumer’s perception. Television is an important and effective medium used for communication with the consumers, and Internet has emerged one of the strongest medium that youngsters use to gather the information. Also celebrities affect the consumer perception and buying behavior, and celebrities are one of the most remembered aspects of the advertisement. Companies should use those celebrities that have the greater credibility and fan following. At last we can say that there is a direct relation between Advertisements and the consumer buying behavior which has been proved. In view of this, the following conclusions are drawn from the study: 3) The soft drinks firm in Nigeria should consider the trade promotion strategies that must be analyzed and evaluated from time to time, such that they can respond to the ever increasing demands of the industry. 4) Management of the soft drinks manufacturing firm should use their size structure to optimize the effect of trade sales promotion strategies on marketing performance. 5) Steps should be taken to improve the sub-optimal contribution of trade fair in order to achieve superior marketing performance contribution in this area. 6) The soft drinks firm should partner to organize and participate in trade shows from time to time, and not to wait for government to plan for them. 7. Implications for Marketing Managers The soft drink firms in Nigeria like other fast moving consumer goods industries (FMCGs) are constantly striving to achieve superior marketing performance. And the Nigerian business environment offers viable untapped opportunities due to its tropical climate, large population for better patronage, and opportunities for superior marketing performance, which only firms with sound trade promotion strategies can take advantage of. Therefore, the study serves as a guide to better understanding of the relationships between advertising and marketing performance of the soft drink companies in Nigeria. Practitioners can derive the appropriate mix of strategies by examining their industry context and their firm’s organizational processes in tandem. The major determinants of marketing performance are trade contest and advertising. In other words, marketing performance targeting sales turnover, market share and profitability, could be substantially enhanced through trade allowances and trade contests. Therefore emphasis on the activities that make up trade allowance and trade contest, all things being equal, would most likely lead a firm to achieving superior marketing performance in the soft drinks firm in Nigeria. Also rewarding is the firm’s size structure and not necessarily age that moderates the influence of trade sales promotion strategies on ma RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Companies should aggressively go for Internet marketing as there is a great scope for it because youngsters are in close contact round the clock with Internet 2. Companies should come up with new and affective advertisement companies. 3. Companies should focus on creative advertisements, because people want something different, something new that will attract their attention. 4. Companies should make use different mediums of Advertisements. 5. Advertisements should be made according to the taste of people. 6. Companies should go for Sponsorships of different events. 7. 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