CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
With the shifting of civilization into a
more encompassing culture and an all embracing development the rules
and factors affecting business changes drastically. Business now goes
beyond a recognition of a demand and the fulfillment of it. The factors
that go into this process are more specific and more demanding.
Again, businesses and ideas now see the
need to focus more on customer behavioural studies in order to guide
them in pushing their products and services and more time and resources
is invested more in branding than in the products and services seeing
that customers respond more to products and services they are more
familiar with.
Another fact apropos to the present
study is that the producers of a singular product and service no longer
are content in bringing their finished products to only one set of
cultural base. With the advent of the different mass media, it is easy
now to push one’s products and services to different zones with only a
little modification and a study of the target market. This brings us a
step towards the object of our present study. Businesses study any new
market before going into it. After this they embark on a campaign to
familiarize the people with their products and services. The success or
failure of these advertising campaigns always sees to the success or the
campaigns of that product or services in that new market.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The idea behind every advertising
campaigns is to develop the product and services into a brand so that it
becomes a household name and reduce chances of a challenging
competition. The end result is that if the campaign is successful the
market begins, almost before the end period of the campaign, to accept
the product along with it’s themes. Advertising campaigns always aim at
building the themes of the campaign into the daily life and culture of
the customers. This is what has given birth to the present research- to
study the effects of advertising campaigns on the Nigerian market using
Nokia’s entry into the Nigerian market.
1.3 Research Questions
1.3.1 How is advertising campaigns different from the regular campaigns.
1.3.2 What are the themes and advertising media used in the Nokia penetration of the Nigerian market.
1.3.3 What were the processes of the Nigerian market responding to their products and services.
1.4 Objectives of the Study
The research aims at, through the study
of Nokia’s emergence into the Nigerian market, to identify the effects
of their campaign on the Nigerian customers. Another is to establish the
how the campaigns bore upon their entire relation which the Nigerian
market all through their stay in the country and their general sales.
This way we can establish too the way their brand identity was formed
and how deep rooted it was founded.
The research work further describes the
processes of internalizing the effects of these campaigns in the
Nigerian psyche generally and other brands existing before it. It also
compares it with other brands like Samsung and Motorola who came around
the same time as Nokia and attempts to determine the life span of the
brand in the light of recent trends in the telecommunications sector of
the Nigerian market.
1.5 Significance of the Study
The findings of this research work will
redound deeply on the Nigerian market in driving home the importance of
advertising campaigns in building brand identity for startups and their
products and services. Partly it will serve as a motivation for the
development of a course in marketing and mass communication which will
focus on the importance of advertising campaigns and how to adapt them
for any form of business.
1.6 Research Hypothesis
The assumption upon which this research
work is built is that the media and themes of advertising campaigns
employed for a particular product in a particular market shapes the
minds of the customers and potential customers.
1.7 Scope of the Study
The research will feature the process by
process advertising campaigns and themes employed by Nokia in their
entrance into the telephone market in Nigeria. With this we were able to
properly delineate the mode of reception of a new product t or service
into the Nigerian market. The study focuses on Nokia’s entrance into the
Nigerian telephone market so that what is treated here is the first set
of campaigns conducted by Nokia during the time of their entrance and
the factors considered here centre around telecommunications and market
behaviour.
1.8 Limitations of the Study
The major limiting factor for this
research work is that of time and resources to conduct a thorough study
of both the immediate and remote effects of Nokia's entry advertising
campaigns on the Nigerian market and psyche.
1.9 Definition of Terms
Advertising Campaigns
This are well planned and coordinated
strings of advertisements across many different media with a singular
idea or theme behind them usually run over a specific period of time
with the aim of creating a product or service brand in a particular
unique market.