Effective Advertising Development of Mobile Operators in Bulgaria

The subject of this report is the advertising messages of the mobile operators in Bulgaria, whose influence is directed at the youth groups. Organizations with an established presence on the market are no longer in a position to be recognizable, but to position themselves in the minds of young people in the most favorable way, to emphasize and build individuality of their products and services to the target, and to maintain a positive image. The reason is that young people are the new generations who will identify the interests of mobile consumer goods and services, as mobile operators achieve their goals not only through advertising but not without its contribution.
The report distinguishes the following fields for exploring communication activity against user behavior:
1. determining the main functions of mobile advertisements.
2. reasons for greater attention to the impact of ads.
3. changing the behavior under the influence of advertising.

Multiple operator’s administration elements

The main communication element - the advertisement, presented in all media, has not lost the leading aspects of persuasive impact and some functions on youth groups that are thought to have insufficient life experience and can be more easily influenced by it. In order to realize the advertising goals and above all to study and predict the behavior of young people, the main elements of the impact of advertising and some of its functions are defined which in turn can create more trust in the mobile companies.
This study aims to determine the impact of the mobile operators’ advertising in Bulgaria and whether they are related to the basic demographic characteristics of young respondents. Is the perception of alien beliefs related to certain fashion trends influencing the final purchasing decision? Is there a mass behavior and what is it due to?

Effect of advertising on mobile operators

The effectiveness of advertising communication with mobile operators is achieved when a community or a common understanding of the message is received from both sender and advertiser. This communication process is always up to date and is essential to the organization’s corporate goals. In this communication, it is important to know the audience, which is the main target group. In this case, this is the young generation aged 18 to 25 years old.
In order to achieve high results, advertisers use multiple advertising agents simultaneously, subject to the same ad design. For example, the different advertisement’s impact features can be applied through separate messages.
When considering the advertising performance of mobile operators, different factors have to be taken into account. Different types of advertisements have different disadvantages. For example, a TV advertisement is broadcast at a specific time, and if it does not have the necessary impact, it loses its effectiveness. It will not be monitored again, for this purpose it has to be repeated and remind users about certain products and services. It is undeniable that consumers do not see pen and pencil ads in hand because television is a weakly binding media as well as radio. A print ad, although there is no television performance, due to lack of picture, can produce another effect. This is the lasting effect of repetitive impact.
Apart from all these deficiencies, we can also point out the wear and tear of the message [1] for which research has given a more accurate view only in recent years. Studies show that messages and broadcasts are worn out faster than print advertising, because the sense of fatigue in the viewer makes him lose contact.
Researchers are unanimous about ad performance. It is difficult to measure and even more difficult to achieve. The advertiser, who sets the communication process, examines all the specific features of the target group to assess what tools and methods he will use to influence. In connection with this, leading functions are determined to measure its effectiveness.

Main advertising functions

Advertising plays an important role in marketing by implementing various functions. The proposed classification cannot deplete all the opportunities of advertising, but it aims at identifying the main factors that are used in the advertising impact [1]. Informative- is very successful with mobile operators and involves creating a user’s understanding of the properties of a product that is best suited to meet a particular need. This process of transmission of information is a prerequisite for the realization of the market act of purchase and sale.
A. Educational-affirms certain norms of behavior, giving rise to a higher standard of living.
B. Motivational-creates new needs, resulting in an expanding variety of products, thereby giving a new impetus to the use of mobile products and services.
The created classification is complemented by other researchers in order to deplete the main features of advertising. Doganov reports on the impact process in advertising and formulates the following functions [2].
A. Effective and persuasive-forms preference for certain products and services, convincing the consumer to buy them. B. Reminding-maintains a higher level of consumer awareness of the product by encouraging its search.
C. Social-influencing public opinion, advertising can be used to solve some social tasks. A similar feature was played by some Global Green advertisements in connection with the recycling of old phones and accessories to them.
D. Economic-by informing and influencing advertising improves the financial performance of companies.
E. Manipulative-is expressed by applying amoral or unethical purposes. This leads to a violation of moral principles in society to promote various commercial products and services.
The functions of advertising are numerous as the reports of the most famous corporations in the world come to different conclusions. Some of them point out that the main function of the advertisement is to sell; or create new markets; to reduce consumer costs; last but not least, to stimulate continuous improvement of the product. Practice and theory therefore differ significantly in this regard, but no one questions the informative and influential feature of advertising [3]. It should not be forgotten that for the realization of these functions it is necessary to create an advertisement based on basic principles. Absence of principles leads to the construction of inappropriate advertising products through which the targeted advertising effect cannot be achieved.
The following hypothesis may be formulated on the basis of the presented theoretical material:
A. Hypothesis 1: There is a connection between the different impacts of advertising and the demographic characteristics of young people in Bulgaria.
B. Hypothesis 2: Respondents’ gender can affect the choice of a mobile operator.
This hypothesis is about to be tested through a survey among youth at the ages of 18 to 25 who are using products and services of mobile operators in Bulgaria [4].

Survey on the demographic characteristics of youth and advertisement’s functions

In order to establish the effect of advertising functions on demographic data of young people of 18 to 25 years of age in South-eastern region, T-tests for independent samples of individual demographic characteristics were made, and the relation with the emerging factors was explored. Statistically significant differences between the average values for the two genders for six of the factors extracted through analysis.

The T-test formula for independent samples is the following:

Where sp equals:

The parameters in the formula correspond to:
x̄1–mean value of the first sample
x̄2-mean value of the second sample
n1–size of the first sample (number of observations),
n2– ize of the second sample (number of observations),
s1–standard deviation of the first sample,
s2-standard deviation of the second sample,
sp-common standard deviation

Main dependences between gender and emerging factors

The subjects of the present report are 300 young people between the ages of 18 and 25, employed or students in Bulgarian universities- Sofia University, Plovdiv University and Trakia University. The selection is realized randomly, whereas the only requirement for inclusion is whether they have used or are still using products or services of Bulgarian mobile operators [5].
The results from the first significant T-test for independent samples show that gender as an independent variable differentiates significantly the responses of the participants for the factor “Features of the advertisement”. On this question the respondents have to indicate how they perceive advertisements from an operator of their choice [6]. It is clear that the group of men has significantly higher mean values for this factor, namely (x̄=1.78) compared to the group of women, where (x̄=1.66). The factor includes the following statements:
I. “The ads are meaningless”,
II. “I have never understood them”,
III. “I don’t trust them”, and
IV. “They depress and limit me”.
where the higher values for the factor correspond to a higher degree of agreement with the statements. Thus, the male group in the present study demonstrates a more expressed inclination to reject advertisements as meaningless because they prefer the response items which are negative. This, therefore, confirms that men show greater mistrust for them [7]. According to the presented functions, women have a higher incentive than men. The main function that is being applied is motivational. Later, you will see if there is a change in behavior. t(298)=-1.97; p<0.05.
Factor-Features of the advertisement,
where t= -1.973 p<0.05, men-1.779-mean values, women- 1.658-mean values.
According to the results from the second significant T-test for independent samples it has been found that gender has a significant effect on the responses of the participants for the factor “Effective components of advertising”. This test shows that the female group has higher mean values for the factor (x̄=2.397) compared to the male group (x̄=2.226). There are eight items for this factor:
I. To provoke pleasure/ satisfaction.
II. To have pleasant music.
III. To show attractive actors.
IV. To make me watch it again.
V. To create a feeling of freedom.
VI. To make me relax from my busy day.
VII. To be different from the rest.
VIII. Not to irritate me with its content.
They refer to the advertisements of the mobile operator chosen by the participants, where the high values for the factor correspond to a higher degree of agreement with the statements. From the analysis of the relevant values, it becomes clear that there are not big differences between the two genders because their values are close [8-10]. However, these results are distant from the value of t=3.154 p<0.01. Effective or persuasive will be applied in different advertisements. t(298)=3.154; p<0.01.
Factor-effective components of advertising,
where t=3.154 p<0.01; men-2.226 -mean values; women- .397 -mean values
The results from the second significant T-test for independent samples show that gender has a significant effect on the responses of the participants for the factor “socially valuable causes”. This question alludes to those additional communications related to corporate social activity which would win the approval of mobile product and services users and would be essential for stimulating customers’ interest. In this test it is evident that the female group has significantly higher mean values for the factor (x̄=.51) compared to the male group (x̄=.36). In it the following statements are included – providing means for various social groups, holding sports events or actions for environmental protection, providing means for the treatment of animals, etc. Women are more likely to accept a larger range of these actions by giving them a higher evaluation. The results from the social functions are indicated. The better awareness of the company can lead to using its products and services. t(298)=2.458; p<0.05
Factor-Socially valuable causes,
where t= 2.458 p<0.05; men-2.361 - mean values; women- 2.507-mean values
The results from T-tests are presented in a table in order to trace the dependences between them. The purpose is to check whether the demographic or other characteristics of the emerging dependent variables have influenced their variation in the studied respondents using advertisement’s functions. (Table 1).

Table 1: T-tests for independent samples regarding gender.

Correlation analyses between the influencing functions and consumer behavior

Simultaneously with the one-factor analyzes for unobservable samples on some demographic characteristics, correlation analyzes were conducted on the functions of advertising and consumer behavior. This is an effective method to test the performance of mobile advertisements in the minds of young respondents.
The first statistically significant correlational dependency is between the scales of the two emerging opposing factors: “Important information” and “Consumer interest in advertising”, where r=0.303; p<0.01. This means that the correlational dependency is weak. The statements valid for both scales- “Important information” (items: Provides correct information to clients; Provides enough benefits for clients; Provides innovative ideas for clients) and “Consumer interest in advertising” (items: The ads are interesting; The ads are funny; and the reverse statement The ads are boring and monotone) can be explained through a positive correlation due to the better service of mobile operators, which has led to influencing some of the advertisements of the mobile operators. The significance of this correlation is crucial to the study because according to the first hypothesis: there is a connection between the different impacts of advertising and the demographic characteristics of young people. According to the final result the important information and the consumer interest in advertisement may lead to behavioral change. Therefore, the important information in advertisements, the higher the likelihood for increasing the interest in them is, and hence in the products and services of mobile operators.
Factor “Important information”
versus factor “Consumer interest in advertising” (positive statements), where r=0.303, p<0.01
The results show a moderate statistically significant positive correlation between the scales of the two emerging opposing factors: “Plentitude of information” and “Trust in the company through benefits”, where r=0.442; p<0.01. This means that there is a tendency the high values on one of the scales to correspond to the high values on the other. When comparing the statements on both scales: “Plentitude of information” (items: Provides correct information to clients; Provides enough benefits for clients; Provides innovative ideas to clients) and “Trust in the company through benefits” (items: Offers low prices; Offers appropriate products and services; Attends to clients’ needs with care; Provides enough benefits to clients) can be seen that the positive correlation found that the confidence of the respondents to the advertisements of mobile operators is due to the improvement of the services in the companies. This is the reason why respondents have a higher trust in them, which leads to giving a higher evaluation of the respective advertisement. The convincing functions of the advertisement are investigated to identify changes in user behavior. Therefore, most positive answers provided by respondents for the first factor lead to a higher final evaluation of the companies.
Factor “Plentitude of information”
versus factor “Trust in the company through benefits”,
where r=0.442, p<0.01

The possibility of assigning quantitative data to the selection of methods and means for designing this survey deserves further exploration. Young people’s perception of the different products and services provided by mobile operators in Bulgaria is influenced by advertisements because they need them.
Changes in consumers’ behavior are hard to investigate, but the continuity of the study shows evidence of such.
The establishment of enduring beliefs in respondents is another complex responsibility of the mobile companies which is measured through advertising influence. The behavioral change in youth between 18 and 25 years of age can be explained with the partial or complete perception of the products and services of the Bulgarian mobile operators.
These conclusions confirm the proposed hypotheses to a certain extent.

According to the results of the demographic factor sex it is found that women do not define the advertisements of the mobile operators as meaningless and unnecessary, therefore they are more willing to interact with them. This shows that they are more strongly influenced. In support of this statement is the result obtained for reasons of making a purchase under the influence of advertising. The surveys put emphasis on the psychological, sexual and existential aspects of young people by identifying the exact impact functions of the advertisements of individual companies.

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