While playing the Marketplace© simulation, you may be told that your advertisements are false. This can happen for a number of reasons and it is not always immediately apparent why. Here are some of the main reasons your advertisement may be marked as false:
- You mentioned a feature that is not included in the brand
- You have included your advertisement in a region where either the brand or an advertised feature is not available
- You have not made your brand available for sale yet
- You are mentioning the wrong brand, or an older version of an updated brand
- You are making a claim that was not true in the previous quarter
The first item on this list is obvious. If you mention that your brand includes high-speed networking but you failed to include this in your brand, then your advertisement is false. You will either need to add this feature to your brand or you will need to remove the claim from your advertisement.
Your ad may be entirely truthful, but still be problematic. If you choose to run the advertisement in an area where your brand is not being sold, then, technically, your advertisement is false. Either do not run that advertisement in the region where it is not being sold, or make that feature/brand available in that region. For example, if you advertise 'order online at our web-site' but you do not have a web-sales center in that region, then the customers reading the ad will not be able to order the brand online, even if you have a web center in another region.
If your advertisement is completely truthful, but you still receive a false advertising claim, it is very possible that your brand has not yet been made available for sale. To correct this, go to
Marketing>Pricing>Price and Priority
and make sure that you have a price set for that brand in each region where you plan to sell it. Be sure to check the 'available for sale' checkbox as well.
Often, we find that teams create a new brand and then re-use an existing advertisement for that brand. This is acceptable. However, you must remember to change the brand that you are mentioning. If your old ad mentioned the 'Super' brand, but you have now created a new brand called 'Troopers', you will need to make sure that your new advertisement mentions the 'Troopers' brand instead of the old brand.
Ad claims like "fastest processor on the market" or "Most R&D' are good claims. They make your company stand out and look like a market leader. However, keep in mind that your claim can only be truthful if it has been demonstrated before and the Customer Union has been able to verify this claim. This means that if you wish to advertise "Fastest processor on the market" then your brand must have had that feature in the previous quarter. You cannot make this claim if you are only just now adding a more powerful processor.
Comments