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INTRODUCTION ADVERTISING
DEFINITIONS OF ADVERTISING
1. American Marketing Association has defined advertising as “any
paid form of non-personal presentation of ideas, goods and services
by an indentified sponsor”.
2. According to Webstar, “Advertising is to give public notice or to
announce publicity”.
3. According to Gardner, “Advertising is the means of mass selling
that has grown up parallel with and has been made necessary to
mass production”.
FEATURES OF ADVERTISING
1. Communication : Advertising is means of mass communication
reaching the masses. It is a non-personal communication because it
is addressed to masses.
2. Information : Advertising informs the buyers about the benefits
they would get when they purchase a particular product. However,
the information given should be complete and true.
3. Persuasion : The advertiser expects to create a favourable
attitude which will lead to favourable actions. Any advertising process
attempts at converting the prospects into customers. It is thus an
indirect salesmanship and essentially a persuasiontechnique.
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4. Profit Maximisation : True advertising does not attempt at
maximising profits by increasing the cost but by promoting the sales.
This way It won‟t lead to increase the price of the product. Thus, it
has a higher sales approach rather than the higher-cost approach.
5. Non-Personal Presentation : Salesmanship is personal selling
whereas advertising is non-personal in character. Advertising is not
meant for anyone individual but for all. There is absence of personal
appeal in advertising.
6. Identified Sponsor : A sponsor may be an individual or a firm
who pays for the advertisement. The name of reputed company
may increase sale or products. The product gets good market
because of its identity with the reputed corporate body.
7. Consumer Choice : Advertising facilitates consumer choice. It
enables consumers to purchase goods as per their budget
requirement and choice. Right choice makes consumer happy and
satisfied.
8. Art, Science and Profession : Advertising is an art because it
represents a field of creativity. Advertising is a science because it has
a body of organised knowledge. Advertising is profession is now
treated as a profession with its professional bodies and codeof
conduct for members.
9. Element of Marking Mix : Advertising is an important element of
promotion mix. Advertising has proved to be of great utility to sell
goods and services. Large manufactures spend crores of rupees on
advertising.
10. Element of Creativity : A good advertising campaign involves
lot of creativity and imagination. When the message of the advertiser
matches the expectations of consumers, such creativity makes way
for successful campaign.
OBJECTIVES OF ADVERTISING
The fundamental purpose of advertising is to sell something - a
product, a service or an idea. In addition to this general objective,
advertising is also used by the modern business enterprises for
certain specific objectives which are listed below :
1. To introduce a new product by creating interest for it among the
prospective customers.
2. To support personal selling programme. Advertising maybe
used to open customers' doors for salesman.
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3. To reach people inaccessible to salesman.
4. To enter a new market or attract a new group of customers.
5. To light competition in the market and to increase the sales as
seen in the fierce competition between Coke and Pepsi.
6. To enhance the goodwill of the enterprise by promising better
quality products and services.
7. To improve dealer relations. Advertising supports the dealers in
selling he product. Dealers are attracted towards a product which
is advertised effectively.
8. To warn the public against imitation of an enterprise's products.
IMPORTANCE OF ADVERTISING
Advertising has become an essential marketing activity in the
modern era of large scale production and serve competition in the
market. It performs the following functions:
1. Promotion of Sales : It promotes the sale of goods and services
by informing and persuading the people to buy them. A good
advertising campaign helps in winning new customers both in the
national as wet as in the international markets.
2. Introduction of New Product : It helps the introduction of new
products in the market. A business enterprise can introduce itself and
its product to the public through advertising. A new enterprise can't
make an impact on the prospective customers without thehelp of
advertising. Advertising enables quick publicity in the market.
3. Creation of Good Public Image : It builds up the reputation of
the advertiser. Advertising enables a business firm to communicate
its achievements in an effort to satisfy the customers' needs. This
increases the goodwill and reputation of the firm which is necessary
to fight against competition in the market.
4. Mass Production : Advertising facilitates large-scale production.
Advertising encourages production of goods in large-scale because
the business firm knows that it will be able to sell on large-scale
with the help of advertising. Mass production reduces the cost of
production per unit by the economical use of various factors of
production.
5. Research : Advertising stimulates research and development
activities. Advertising has become a competitive marketing activity.
Every firm tries to differentiate its product from the substitutes
available in the market through advertising. This compels every
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business firm to do more and more research to find new products and
their new uses. If a firm does not engage in research and
development activities, it will be out of the market in the near future.
6. Education of People : Advertising educate the people about new
products and their uses. Advertising message about the utility of a
product enables the people to widen their knowledge. It is advertising
which has helped people in adopting new ways of life and giving-up
old habits. It has contributed a lot towards the betterment of the
standard of living of the society.
7. Support to Press : Advertising provides an important source of
revenue to the publishers and magazines. It enables to increase
the circulation of their publication by selling them at lower rates.
People are also benefited because they get publications at cheaper
rates. Advertising is also a source of revenue for TV network. For
instance, Doordarshan and ZeeTV insert ads before, in between
and after various programmes and earn millions of rupees through
ads. Such income could be used for increasing the quality of
programmes and extending coverage.
ACTIVE PARTICIPANT IN ADVERTISING
Following are the group of people who are actively involved in
advertising.
1. Advertiser : Seller who manufacture and market consumer
products are the prominent group of advertisers. Hindustan unilever
, proctor and gamble, Seimen and Larson and toubro are the
examples of advertisers. Also the retailers are the second prominent
segment among advertisers. They stock the products . and sell them
to the ultimate consumers. Government and social organization are
also the active participant in this category.
2. Target audience : It refers to the recipient of the advertising
message. Every message is either directed to a mass audience
and class audience. Advertising desire to cover this target audience
for promoting sales. Advertising message intends to cover the
potential user and non user who may purchase the product in future.
The messages are also directed to the user of the competitor's
product so that they switch over the advertiser's products.
3. Advertising Agencies : An advertiser has two options viz. (i) to
design, develop and produce and advertising message and get it
placed in desired media directly through his own sales or advertising
department, or (ii) to entrust the entire job of advertising
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to a team of highly professionalised, specialised, independent,
advertising agency. An advertising agency is composed of creative
people, who conceive design, develop and produce, advertising
message with creative ideas and place it in the desired advertising
media, for and on behalf of its client (the advertiser). The advertising
agencies usually charge a commission of 15% on the media bills
from the media owners. In addition, they charge out-of pocket
expenses to their clients, i.e. the advertisers. They employ
copywriters, artists, photographers. Typographers, layout designers,
editors and such other creative people.
4. Advertising Production People (Artists) : The production of
impressive and persuasive advertisements is possible only with the
active help and creative spirit of the artists like copywriters, artists,
photographers, typographers, layout designers, editors and such
other creative people. Such people are usually employed by the ad
agencies or, their services may be hired by the ad agencies on job
basis.
5. Target Audience (Readers, Listeners, Viewers and Present
and Future Buyers) : Advertising messages are given about
products services and ideas to readers, listeners, viewers and actual
and potential buyers, who are known as the audience. The target
audience may be classified into the following three categories, viz.,
(i) existing or, current consumers, who are reminded and
influenced to continue their patronage and to increase the volume of
their buying,
(ii) consumers, who buy and use, a competitor‟s brand; hence
they are persuaded to buy the advertised brand, instead of the
competitor‟s brand; and
(iii) those consumers, who do not use any such product; and
even then, are persuaded to buy the advertised product.
6. Mass Media : Advertising messages are communicated to the
target audience through different mass media, such as,
(i) Print Media : They consist of newspapers, magazines,
journals, handbills, etc.
(ii) Electronic Media : They consist of radio, television motion
pictures, video, multi-media and the internet.
(iii) Outdoor Media : They consist off posters, hoarding,
handbills, stickers air balloons, neon sing bill boards, local cinema
houses, and transit media.
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(iv) Direct Mail : It consist of brouchers, leaflets, pamphlets,
letters and return cards addressed to consumers.
The advertising agencies guide their clients (advertisers) in
selection of the most appropriate advertising media, which is known
as „media planning‟. Each medium has sits own merits and demerits.
7. Government Authorities : The business of advertising is
regulated by the government department. The government adopts
law and regulation which have a direct or an indirect bearing on the
advertising. Apart from this ASCI (Advertising standards council of
India) and ABC (Audit Bureau of circulation) are also some of
authorities regulating advertising.
8. Advertising Production Firms: Advertising production firms
are the support agencies which help in the production of
advertisement. This includes copywriter, artist, photographers,
typographers, producer, editors. These are the people who transform
ideas into a finished forms Thus the success and failure of the
advertisement depend on these people.
ROLE OF ADVERTISING IN MARKETING MIX
Marketing mix consist of four important variables of marketing,
i.e. 4Ps-Product, Price, Promotion and Place. Apart from the
traditional 4 Ps, there are also other variables, i.e. Packaging,
Postion, and Pace.
Advertising is an element of promotion. However, it not only
assists in promoting the product, but also affects the other variables
of marketing mix. This can be explained as follows.
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1. Advertising and Product : A product is normally a set of physical
elements, such as quality, shape, size, colour and other features.
The product may be of very high quality .At times, the product is so
designed that it requires careful handling and operations. Buyers
must be informed and educated on the various aspects of the
product. This can be effectively done through advertising. Thus,
advertising plays the role of information and education.
2. Advertising and Price : The price is the exchange value of the
product. A marketer may bring out a very high quality product with
additional features as compared to competitors. In such a case, price
would be definitely high. But buyers may not be willing to pay a high
price would be definitely high. Here comes advertising. Advertising
can convince buyers regarding the superiority of the brand and thus
its value for money. This can be done by associating the product
with prestigious people, situations, or events. Alternatively when a
firm offers a low price products the job of advertising needs to stress
the price advantage by using hard hitting copy. It is not just enough
to convince, but it is desirable to persuade the buyer. Thus
advertising plays the role of conviction and persuasion.
3. Advertising and Place : Place refers to physical distribution and
the stores where the goods are available Marketer should see to it
that the goods are available at the convenient place and that too at
the right time when the buyers need it. To facilitate effective
distribution and expansion of market, advertising is of great
significance. Thus advertising do help in effective distribution and
market expansion.
4. Advertising and Promotion: Promotion consists of advertising,
publicity, personal selling and sales promotion technique.
Businessmen today have to face a lot of competition. Every seller
needs effective promotion to survive and succeed in this competitive
business world. Advertising can play a significant roleto put forward
the claim of seller, and to counter the claims of competitor. Through
effective advertising, sellers can face competition and also help to
develop brand image and brand loyalty.
5. Advertising and Pace: Pace refers to the speed in marketing
decisions and actions. It involves among other things the launch of
new products or brand variations at greater speed than before. As
and when new brands are launched, advertising plays an important
role of informing, educating and persuading the customers to buy the
product.
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6. Advertising and Packaging: The main purpose of packaging is
protection of the product during transit, and preservation of quality
and quantity. Nowadays, marketers take lot of efforts to developand
design attractive packages as they carry advertising value. A
creatively design package attract the attention of the customers. It
also carries an assurance of quality and creates confidence in the
minds of customers to buy the product.
7. Advertising and Positioning: Product positioning aims at
creating and maintaining a distinct image of the brands in the minds
of the customers. Through advertising the marketer can convey the
positioning of the brand and accordingly can influence the buying
decision of the target audience.
ROLE OF ADVERTISING IN SOCIETY:
Advertising is the integral part of every day's life. It is a pervasive
method of marketing in society. Though the methods by which
marketers advertise have changed over the decades, therole and
purpose of advertising has changed over the period of time.
Without advertising modern society cannot survive
.Advertising is useful to society in following ways.
Encourage Purchasing
Encouraging people to purchase goods and services is themain
role of advertising. Some industries rely on advertising more than
others: A cereal company, for instance, must advertise more
aggressively, due to the wide arrange of competing products, than
a power company that faces little to no competition. Advertisers often
influence members of society to purchase products based on
instilling a feeling of scarcity or lack. .
Reflect cultural trends
Advertising bridges the gap among people by communicating
varied culture through advertising message. It bring variation in the
social life
Promotes Economic growth
Advertising contributes to bring about all round development of
the economy by increasing demand and by encouraging economic
activities it fuels the desire to shop and, in turn, shopping stimulates
the economy.
Improves standard of living :
Advertising is an economic activity. It provides opportunities to
people to improve their income. It motivates people to consume more
material and thereby improves their standard of living.
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Provides employment: Effective advertising generates demand
for goods and services. high demand calls for more productionwhich
requires more of physical and human resources thus creating
employment opportunities.
Advertising and Brand building
Brands are the identification that differentiates one business
from another (through name, symbol etc.). However, today brands
can also be defined as the personality they reflect to people in
relation to status, emotional characteristics and subjective quality.
They give the consumers a perceived knowledge of the product, its
quality and uniqueness before they buy it.
Brands Ensure delivery of service as promised by them. For
example, Pizza Company A claims to deliver pizza within a certain
time and Pizza company B claims to deliver most delicious Pizzas.
It makes easy for the consumers to identify what they want and which
brand to choose for it. It is important for a brand to accomplish the
claim advertised to retain Brand Image.
Advertising is one of the key elements in building a brand, which
is equally important to the marketer and consumers. Brand
personality acts as a potent brand differentiator and offers
sustainable competitive advantage.
Advertising by creating or reinforcing brand's personality
enhances brand value or equity which in turn can be leveraged
through brand extension. Brand personality also helps brands to gain
market share, command price premium and insulates from
discounting Brands.
Building a strong brand name is key factor for business success.
In the competitive business environment of today, consumer
sophistication has altered business practices. Organizations are
forced to anticipate customers' needs and convey clear messages
to consumers by establishing strong brand names and focusing on
brand building.
A brand's practical attributes and symbolic values are inherent
elements that help the brand appeal on consumers' minds and
emotion. When consumers relate brands with symbols, it becomes
easier for an organization to raise consumer interest. For instance,
Lexus is known for luxury, or Apple is known for innovation.
Therefore, in consumers' minds, a brand is more than just a
recognizable name: it is a promise that needs to be met on aregular
basis.
Advertising is important for building brand awareness. By raising
consumer interest and making consumers awareness of their
products and services, firms not only expand their customer base,
but they also keep their loyal customers and increase their market
share. In other words, the more aware consumers are of a brand, the
more likely they are to buy from a particular business.
Approaches in Brand building:
To make brand distinctive: brand building can be done through
repetitive advertising. Also by highlighting unique selling proposition
one can distinguish brand from one another.
1. Constant innovation: Consumers need continuous innovation
and new products. It is not always a new product even an
improvement on the existing product is acceptable to the consumers.
Through intensive advertising such brands are build which is time
consuming.
2. Domination of brand: brand building largely depends on the
domination is creates on the competitors. Domination can take place
either in national market or in niche market.
3. Prompt availability: Prompt delivery of the product is one of the
factors that ensure brand building. This is possible if there is proper
coordination between the finance, production, and marketing
department.
4. Integration of new and old media: Consumers have ever
changing demand. Due to availability of various media option the
seller can push the product in the market by blend multiple media
option .Thus advertising message are flashed to consumers through
media mix.