Selecting a Strategy

• Sales Seasonality:
  Companies with seasonal products are more likely to choose flight scheduling to concentrate their advertising for the peak sales season. Some foods such as milk and toothpaste lack a seasonal pattern. Everyday products may be best served using the continuity approach. Use monthly sales to identify (brand) seasonal fluctuations, which can serve as a guideline for allocating more money to high-sales months and less to low-sales months.
  
  
• Product Purchase Cycle:
  Fast-moving consumer goods such as bread, soft drinks and toilet paper probably require continuous weekly advertising in a competitive market to constantly reinforce brand awareness and influence frequently-made purchase decisions. Less frequently purchased products such as carpet cleaner or floor polisher may only need advertising a few times a year.
  
  Family vacations may require early planning so purchase decisions are made in advance. Travel industry advertisers will schedule their ads months before the summer. Destination ads have to be in sync with the decision making timing, versus actual consumption time.
  
  New product launches normally require initial heavy advertising to create brand awareness and interest. The launch period may last from a few months to a year. Note that personal influence in the form of word-of-mouth or brand visbility in life and media coverage will play a role in accelerating the adoption of a new brand. Personal influence and market force are "unplanned" messages, which may play an important role in new product launches.

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