ASSESSMENT OF THE INFLUENCE OF GRAPHICS ON TV ADVERTISING MESSAGE APPEAL OF MTN ON LAGOS STATE RESIDENTS

CHAPTER ONE

1.1    Introduction

Telecommunications service providers in Nigeria have developed a way of reaching out to their customers and potential subscribers with information about their services and product. This method of reaching out is through advertising, using the conventional media of radio, television, newspapers and outdoor advertisement. The use of television to pass across information about telecommunications service providers and their products however proves to be very potent due to its ability to project both audio and visuals and its rich usage of various graphic element that could enable the advertising message to create a reasonable appeal and to achieve the advertising objectives.This current study is geared towards the assessment of the influence of graphics on television adverting message appeal of MTN on Lagos State residents. Hence, this chapter gives a background to the study, outlining the statement of problem,research questions and objectives, significance of the study, the scope of the study as well as operational definition of terms employed in the study.

1.2    Background to the Study

Advertising is a well-known ingredient for marketing and promotional activities, channeled towards bringing informative and persuasive messages to customers of a brand as well as new customers. It is a traditioncommunication and marketing mix which Ulanoff (1977, p.17) sees as “a tool of marketing for communication of ideas and information or time on the media or uses another communication vehicle to carry its messages and its openly identifies the advertiser and his relationship to sales effort.” Advertising carry messages. This messages are put together by experts, with the target in consideration as well as the social milieu of the society for which the message is meant.

Advertising messages are born out of creativity in the use of graphic elements to pass across what the advertiser intends for the target audience in order to bring about a realization of the advertising objectives. This was pointed out in the postulation of Kadry (2015, p. 1085)that “creativity is the soul of advertising, It is what gives life to messages about products and services that may otherwise be boring or insignificant in the hearts and minds of target customers. Advertisements are created with the purpose of getting people's attention”. This perhaps is the reason why television advertisements are creatively alluring and enticing to effectively get the attention of the target audience and to bring about impulsive patronage from the target or to support an idea.

In order to carry out a successful television advertisement of any kind, especially that of information and telecommunications products, graphics becomes relevant in the advertising message creation, dissemination and the message appeal to the target audience as it encompasses allphases of the advertising message idea ranging from design, layout, and typography to reproduction, finishing and distribution or transmission to the target. The role of graphic designs in visual communication as is seen on television finds expression in people’s propensity to meet their needs and in the context of advertising, it finds expression to meet the expected of the audience for which the advertisement is packaged for.The content of all television advertisement are composed of graphics which according to Oladumiye & Ogunlade (2014, p.29):

Is communication  through visual aid. It is the conveyance of ideas and information that can be read or looked upon. Primarily associated with two dimensional images, it includes signs, typography, drawing, graphic design, illustration, colour and electronic resources. It relies solely on vision. It is a form of communication with visual effect and it explores the idea that a visual message with text has a greater power to inform,educate or persuade a person. It is classified as by presenting information through visual forms.

This highlights the fact that graphics is essential in advertising, especially television advertisement due to its considerable power of visual effect which is necessarily what television advertisement hangs on.

Graphics is a process of creating, producing, anddistributing material incorporating words and images toconvey data, concepts, and emotions. This invariably creates an appeal in advertising messages. In other words, advertising contents relay heavily on the use of graphic materials in order to be effective in reaching the audience and inducing the intended response which could spur the audience to patronize a particular product or subscribe to an idea as this is the aim of most advertisements; to sell a product.

Contemporary advertising and marketing strategy of most companies which deals on telecommunications product is hinged on a creative use of advertising design which are all embedded in graphics. Today, the modern marketing strategies of most business firms rely heavily on creative advertising to promote their products to their target audiences especially on television. Alsmadi(2006, p. 17) explains that “television audiences are exposed to substantial amounts of advertising stimuli that influence their cognitive processing on a daily basis. Understanding television ad structure and the ad’s potential to receive full attentional resources is important to the ad design process”.  That is the ability of advertising on television to get the attention of the audience and drive home the point in the message is hinged greatly on the advertising design and directly on graphic elements.

Elements of the message impact the way the human brain processes information, and the state of the human brain impacts the message information that is processed, the nature of communication is a continuous and interactive process. In other words, elements of the message influence cognitive and motivational systems, and elements of the cognitive and motivational systems influence how the message is perceived, encoded, stored, and retrieved ( Lang, 2006).

The realization of this position is perhaps the reason most advertising messages on television are packaged to appeal to the sight of the audience with various attention getting materials such as bright and catchy colours, movable texts, and other effects, alongside human characters or models in television advertisement

All this are born out of a strong and skillful use of graphic and it invariably mirrors the fact that graphics is a key point in television advertising campaign and design and for the message to favourably appeal to the target, graphics cannot be taken out of it.Hoban (1974, p. 7) explains this point with the cultivation hypothesis for graphic designand communication. He “states that messages and message systems cultivate priorities, values and pattern of perception and, expectations in establishing reality visually”. For instance, graphic design visuals are relatively more stable information content that can be subjected to varied perception or interpretations partly due to experience and ability level of individuals listening and watching in learning system. It is against this background that this study seeks to assess theinfluence of graphics on televisionadvertising message appeal of MTN on LagosState residents.

1.2.1 History of MTN Nigeria

MTN was founded in Nigeria on November 8,2000 as a private company. It secured license to operate digital on August 23, 2001. MTN emerged as the first to make a successful call on its GSM network in the new dispensation. Thereafter, the country launched full commercial operations beginning in Lagos, Abuja, and Port-Harcourt. MTN advertising activities commenced before its operation. They virtually painted the streets of Lagos and Abuja Yellow its brand color of advertising, billboards and tee-shirts exhibited the advert. MTN Nigeria advertising programme captured the mood in August (2001) with its first television advertising “rising sun”. The advert shows a nation waking up to a new day with the sun rising brightly into a beautiful sky. They indeed connected Nigerians to themselves in a new day. Since launched in August 2001, MTN has steadily deployed its services across Nigeria. And a growing number of high ways across Nigeria and the federal capital territory Abuja. Many of these villages and communities are being connected to the world of telecommunication for the first time ever.   

The company's digital microwave transmission backbone, the 3,400 KilometreY'elloBand was commissioned by President OlusegunObasanjo in January 2003 and is reputed to be the most extensive digital microwave transmission infrastructure in all of Africa. The Y'elloBand has significantly helped to enhance call quality on MTN network. The company subsists on the core brand values of leadership, relationship, integrity, innovation and can- do. It prides itself on its ability to make the impossible possible, connecting people with friends, family and opportunities.

MTN Nigeria also recently expanded its network capacity to include a new numbering range with the prefix 0806, making MTN the first GSM network in Nigeria to have adopted an additional numbering system, having exhausted its initial subscriber numbering range - 0803.

In its resolve to enhance quality customer service, MTN Nigeria has also introduced a self-help toll-free 181 customer-care line through which subscribers can resolve their frequently asked questions free of charge. MTN's overriding mission is to be a catalyst for Nigeria's economic growth and development, helping to unleash Nigeria's strong developmental potential not only through the provision of world class communications but also through innovative and sustainable corporate social responsibility initiatives (http://www.mtnonline.com/about-mtn ).

1.3    Statement of Problem

It is a known fact that media messages especially on television are composed of graphics and advertising which is an outlet of the media of mass communication pays great attention to its usage in the creation of advertising copy for either television or outdoor advertisement (Odupute, 2015). Graphic communication is mostly employed in television advertisement to disseminate information that is geared towards achieving the objectives of the advertisers.

Although there are other media through which MTN advertises its products, television advertising proves to be of more importance in MTN advertising and the use of television for MTN advertising purposes carries several graphic contents which are put in place alongside the models in the advertising messages. However,this graphic contents in MTN’s television advertisements could led to acceptance of the message being passed or a total rejection of it as some graphic content in the message might be contrary to the social milieu of the target audience

Advertising messages are created to appeal to the target audiences to either make purchase or support an idea. It is however noticed that not much has been done to assess message appeal on telecommunications customers in connection with the use of graphics in television advertisingmessage of MTN despite the large amount of graphic content in the message.It is against this backdrop that this study intends to assess the influence of graphics on televisionadvertising message appeal of MTN with Lagos State in focus.

1.4    Research Questions

1. To what extent are Lagos State residence exposed to the use of graphics in MTN television advertisement?

2. What are the perception of Lagos State residence of the use of graphics in MTN television advertisement?

3. To what extent does the use of graphics in MTN television advertisement influence advertising message acceptance by Lagos State residence?

1.5    Objectives of the Study

1. To discover the extent at which Lagos State residents are exposed to the use of graphics in MTN television advertisement.

2. To ascertain the perception of Lagos State residents to the use of graphics in MTN television advertisement.

3. To find out the extent at which the use of graphics in MTN television advertisement has influenced its acceptance by Lagos State residents.

1.6 Significance of the Study

This study contributes to existing academic research on advertising message content especially on graphics in relation to telecommunications service providers in Nigeria by giving an insight into how graphics in advertising message influencessubscriber’sloyalty and patronage.The study will also assists telecommunications service providers in Nigeria to understand the place of graphics in advertising message creation and how to plan an advertising campaign on television using the proper graphic elements that will best convey the message and achieve the aim of the advertisement.

It will also help telecommunications service providers in Nigeria especially MTN to know if their target audience are actually influenced towards positive disposition to MTN’s brands based on their current series of television advertisement and to ascertain if such advertisement takes into cognizance, the laws regulating advertising in Nigeria.

This study is relevant to policy makers and government regulatory bodies in the telecommunication, advertising and communication industry. These group will find the outcome of this research useful for operative and implementation of policies that will protect the rights, privacy and personal data of the consumers and mobile phone users especially in Nigeria, where marketing activities via the mobile phone device is an emerging platform. The results of this study will be valuable for the government and policy makers in developing policy about unsolicited messages in order to improve the business environment for advertisers and marketers.

1.7 Scope of the Study

The scope of this study will cover the graphic elementsin MTN’s television advertisement in Lagos State. It will also cover residents of Lagos State, drawn from the major residential areas in the three senatorial district of Lagos state, which is; Lagos West, Lagos Central and Lagos East. This category of people were specifically selected for this study due to the assumed level of the utilization of MTN television advertisement which is made up of graphics and which is the variables this study intends to look into,within the State and the assumed exposure of residents of Lagos State to this variables.

1.8 Operational Definition of Terms

For the purpose of this study and to reduce the likely occurrence of ambiguity of meaning of words, the following words have been given workable definitions:

Graphic: Graphics are presentations on surfaces such as computer screen, television screen, wall, or paper with intent to messages that content text, colour, illustrations graphs, photographs and others which meant to pass across information.

Advertising message: This is the content of the advertisement about a product or service.

Message Appeal: This involves the ability of an advertising message to effectively touch on the target audience’s emotion and get them to follow the content of the advertisement.

Television advertisement: This refers to information about products and services carried through the aid of audio-visual signals on television and targeted at a particular set of people.

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