Planning Strategic Advertisement Campaigns Targeting the Albanian Consumer

The advertising sector in Albania has grown to millions and millions of Euros spent by advertisers yearly, but how efficiently are these huge budgets being spent remains still unknown to many experts in the field, and most important of all, to advertisers themselves as well. The thesis aimed to understand in depth the advertising planning of Albanian advertisers, whether they plan taking in consideration the Albanian consumer, their positioning of the campaigns in various communication mediums and the reasons behind the media selection. The thesis as well explains in details the advertising scene in Albania, the main communication mediums, their importance to successful campaigns and their future potential. Both qualitative and quantitative research methodology was utilized in this study. The purpose of the research covered in this thesis is to answer the following question: Do Albanian advertisers/agencies plan strategically for the advertising campaigns targeting the Albanian Consumer? The first, quantitative, survey was directed to Albanian advertisers and advertising agencies and was composed of 32 questions. The second, qualitative, survey was directed to Albanian research companies and was composed of 13 interview questions. Both surveys give important insight regarding the strategic planning of Albanian advertisers. Both surveys conducted gave very detailed insight on the way Albanian advertisers/agencies are planning for their campaigns. The main key findings have been categorized into three main groups listed below. 1- Using Market Research to Plan Strategically the Advertising Campaigns 2-Target Audience Information -- "Would Use It All the Time" 3-Strategically Planning? -- Only Intuition The results of the questionnaire revealed that Albanian advertisers/agencies are planning for their campaigns intuitively as opposed to strategically planning for them. Yet they have started to understand the importance of professional information on target audience and the success that it can aid to their campaigns. Xxx% of the informants admitted that if professional information was available to them prior to every campaign, they would use it. The author recommends that Albanian advertisers should work closely with market research agencies and get up to date information on their target consumer which in turn will serve as the basis for their advertising strategies.