1.

1 CONCEPT AND DEFINITION OF ADVERTISING

Figure 1.1 Advertising

Source www.google.com

The term ‘Advertising’ is derived from the Latin word ‘advertere’ that means, “to turn the
minds towards”. The dictionary meaning of the word is ‘to announce publicity or to give public
concerned to a specific thing which has been announced by the advertiser. It is publicity in
order to inform and influence them with.

Advertising is an audio or visual form of marketing communication that engages openly

sponsored, non-personal message to promote or to sell a product, service or idea. Sponsors of
advertising are often business people wishing to promote their products or services.
Advertising is different from public relations as an advertiser pays for and has control over the
message. It is also different from personal selling as the message is non-personal, means not
directed to a particular individual. Advertising is communicated through mass media, including
traditional media and new media. Traditional media includes newspaper, magazines, television,
radio, outdoor advertising or direct mail and new media such as search results, blogs, social
media, websites or text messages. The actual presentation of the message in a medium is
referred as an advertisement or ‘ad’ for short.

Commercial ads often seek to generate increased consumption of their products or services
through "branding", which associates a product name or image with certain qualities in the
minds of consumers. On the other hand, ads that intend to generate an immediate sale are
known as direct-response advertising. Non-commercial entities that advertise more than
consumer products or services include political parties, interest groups, religious organizations
and governmental agencies. Advertising may also be used to reassure employees or
shareholders that a company is viable or successful. It is considered to be a highly smooth
communication force and powerful marketing tool. In other words we can say that it is a
complete psychological treatment of the consumer and a very creative and glamorous area also.

Advertising has been defined by various experts as follows

1. According to American Marketing Association, “Advertising is any paid form of non-

personal presentation of ideas, goods and services by an identified sponsor.”
2. According to Harry Walker Hepner, Advertising is one of the arts of communication.”
3. According to Roll and Hall, “Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation
and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified person.”
4. According to F. Jefkins, “Advertising is a means by which we make known what we have
to sell or what we want to buy.”
5. According to William J. Stanton, “Advertising consists of all the activities involved in
presenting to an audience a non-personal, sponsor-identified, paid for message about a
product or organisation”

1.2 FEATURES OF ADVERTISING

1. Various Forms

Advertising may be in various forms of non-personal presentation. It may be a sign, a symbol,

an illustration, or newspaper, a radio broadcast or telecast on the television network. It may be
through the mail or through mass media.

2. Sponsor

Every advertisement must have some sponsor. A sponsor may be an individual or a firm having
something to advertise. The sponsor must communicate his message to the public.

3. Paid Form

Advertising is a paid form of publicity. The advertiser pays to the media for giving publicity to
his AD message. Paid form is necessary to differentiate advertising from publicity or public
relations. Paid form also becomes ‘Controlled form’ because the advertiser can exercise control
over the content of the message as well as the manner in which it is to be placed.

4. Non-Personal Presentation

Advertising is not done in person through face to face communication by the sponsor. It is done
through different media on behalf of the sponsor and hence, it is non-personal. It aims at
reaching and communicating in a mass market. Here, the message is given to all and not to one
specific individual. Advertising is non-personal though the advertising message may have
personal appeal.

5. Provides Information

Advertising's primary purpose is to provide information about products or services to

prospective buyers. Advertisement includes the details of products such as features, uses,
prices, benefits, manufacturers name and so on. The key message and brand name are also
there. The information supplied helps in educating and guiding consumers and facilitating them
to make a correct choice while buying a product.

6. Target Oriented

Advertising becomes effective and result oriented when it is target oriented. A targeted
advertisement intensively focuses on a specific market or particular groups of customers. Here
the selection of a particular market is called target market.

7.Art, science and profession

Advertising is art, science and a profession. It is now universally accepted. It is an art as it

needs creativity for raising its success. It is a science as it has its principles or rules. It is also a
profession as it has a code of conduct for its members and operates within standards set by its
organised bodies. Ad agencies and space brokers function as professionals.

8. Creativity

Advertising is a method of presenting a product in attractive, artistic manner. It is possible

through the element of creativity. The Creative people introduce creativity in advertisements.
Without it, the Ads would not succeed. Therefore creativity is called the ‘Essence of
Advertising’.

9. Meaningful Contents

Advertising must have meaningful contents. There must an exist of an idea which the sponsor
wants the public to be convinced about, or goods he wants to sell, or services he seeks to render.
Advertising is done mainly to promote the sale of goods and services. It may also be used to
promote ideas or action.

10. Element of Marketing Mix

Advertising is an important part of a marketing mix. It supports the sales promotion efforts of
the manufacturer. It makes a positive contribution to sales promotion provided other elements
in the marketing mix are reasonably favourable. It is alone inadequate for promoting sales.
Many companies now spend huge funds on advertisements and public relations.

1.3 TYPES OF ADVERTISING

There are several branches or types of advertising which can be used by the companies which
are as follows

1. Print Advertising
Print advertising is a widely used form of advertising. Anything written in the print media to
grab the attention of the specific target audience comes under the category of print advertising.
These advertisements appear in newspapers or magazines which are quite popular modes of
advertising for different companies all over the world. The companies can also promote their
products through brochures or fliers. The newspaper and magazines sell the advertising space
and the cost depends on several factors. The quantity of space, the page of the publication, and
the type of paper decide the cost of the advertisement. So an ad on the front page would be
costlier than on inside pages. Similarly an ad in the glossy supplement of the paper would be
more expensive than in an ordinary quality paper.

2. Broadcast Advertising

This type of advertising is very popular all around the world. It consists of television, radio,
or Internet advertising. The ads on the television have a large audience and are very popular.
The cost of the advertisement depends on the length of the ad and the time at which the ad
would be appearing. For example, the prime time ads would be more costly than the regular
ones. Radio advertising is not what it used to be after the arrival of television and Internet, but
still there is specific audience for the radio ads too. The radio jingles are quite popular in
sections of society and help to sell the products.

3. Outdoor Advertising

Outdoor advertising makes use of different tools to gain customer’s attention. The billboards,
kiosks, and events and tradeshows are an effective way to convey the message of the company.
The billboards are present all around the city but the content should be such that it attracts the
attention of the customer. The kiosks are an easy outlet of the products and serve as information
outlets for the people too. Organizing events such as trade fairs and exhibitions for promotion
of the product or service also in a way advertises the product. Therefore, outdoor advertising
is an effective advertising tool.

4. Covert Advertising
This is a unique way of advertising in which the product or the message is skilfully included in
an entertainment or media channels like a movie, TV serial and even sports. There is no actual
ad, just the mention of the product in the movie. For example, Tom Cruise used the Nokia
phone in the movie Minority Report or the use of Cadillac cars in the movie Matrix Reloaded.

5. Public Service Advertising

Public service advertising is a technique that makes use of advertising as an effective

communication medium, to convey socially relevant messages about important matters and
social causes. There are a host of important matters such as AIDS, political integrity, energy
conservation, illiteracy, poverty and so on all of which need more awareness as far as general
public is concerned. This type of advertising has gained much importance in recent times and
is an effective tool to convey the message.

6. In-store Advertising

This is also a popular advertising method for large malls and departmental stores. This type of
advertisement was popularized by stores such as Walmart. This is also known as 'point of
purchase advertising', where the products are usually displayed prominently at checkout
counters and packaged attractively. They aim to influence the customer to make an impulse
purchase, rather than actively create a need for the product.

7. Celebrity Advertising

Although the audience is getting smarter and smarter, and the modern-day consumer is getting
unaffected to the over elaborated claims made in a majority of ads, there exists a section of
advertisers that still bank upon celebrities and their popularity for advertising their products.
Using celebrities for advertising involves signing up celebrities for campaigns, which consist
of all sorts of advertising including television or even print ads.
1.4 CONCEPT OF DIGITAL MEDIA ADVERTISING

Digital media includes any format or device used to convey content using digital signals. Cell
phone, internet, television are digital media.

Digital media is employed in many functional areas. Many industries are finding areas of
expansion to simplify production using digital media. For example, the advertising industry is
exploring innovative ways of reaching customers over cell phones and internet. Other examples
of new or expanding digital media include Interactive web pages, video games, MP3 players,
e-books, digital television.

Digital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital form. Digital media
is now a base in the art and entertainment industries. Technology is used in everything from
graphic design, fine art and photography to special effects in movies, animation and game
development. Individuals may show different behaviour patterns in different contexts (e.g.
private versus professional), which may be described as different digital personal.

Digital advertising is marketing media that is displayed digitally. Digital advertising

technology exists on the Internet, on smart phone and portable media devices, and even on
automobiles and billboards. Businesses and product manufacturers use digital advertising to
build or maintain a brand image and market products and services to consumers.

1.5 ADVANTAGES OF DIGITAL MEDIA ADVERTISING

1. Storage and Preservation

Digital media is stored on digital storage devices such as Hard Drives and Flash storage. This
has allowed huge amounts of data to be stored on a small place with no risk of damage to the
data provided that the medium in which the data is stored in is not mistreated. For example, in
the past, photos were printed on paper which had a few disadvantages in terms of storage and
preservation. Large amounts of printed photos would quickly take up lots of space and there
was also the risk of the photos becoming damaged due to a lot of things such as weather, pests
and even time. Digital media has made these problems a thing of the past because digital
storage mediums can store a large amount of data, including photos. This ultimately results in
a better environment as less resource is used to produce things such as paper.

2. Distribution and access

Digital media is very easy to access and to distribute via digital storage mediums and the
internet. In the past, when people wanted to share a large collection of photos or magazines, it
would take up a lot of space and would take great effort in order to transfer it from one place
to another. This also limited the access to which people had to certain information. The arrival
of digital ways of distribution has made it really easy to share and access information. If a
person wishes to share photos or magazines in digital form, they can send it to the other person
via the internet and they would receive it almost quickly. Easier methods of distribution have
allowed greatly improved communication and knowledge of world affairs between countries
and individuals. Since media can be accessed more easily than ever, the audience of digital
media grows larger and larger.

3. Cost

Easier methods of storage and distribution have made the costs of maintenance much lower.
This is because, for example, in the past an office may have stored a variety of important
documents in hard copy. If they were to be damaged, the office part of the business or company
would suffer major monetary loss. Due to media resorting to digital forms of storage, the costs
in keeping media in hard copy (e.g. paper) had also diminished. Easy distribution of media via
the internet has also made it able to reach a wider audience for less as there are less cost in
distribution in terms of postage and labour costs etc. Social media also provides a good medium
of advertising which allows content to reach many different types of people.

4. Easy Tracking of Final Results

Digital media allows the advertiser to monitor and track the results of all their campaigns. One
can find out when a lead was converted into a sale, note the platform where it happened, and
determine what kinds of ads are working best for their particular demographic. The internet
with all its minute tracking abilities allows one to measure the return on investment of their
marketing system.

1.6 FORMS OF DIGITAL MEDIA ADVERTISING

1. Electronic Billboards

Electronic billboards are the digital version of traditional billboard advertisements. These
billboards display a variety of digital advertising messages. They are targeted because they
provide advertisers with the opportunity to change advertising messages throughout the day.
Electronic billboards are cost effective because several advertisers share the expense with
rotating advertisements. They are flexible because new designs and advertising messages can
be changed within a day or two.

2. Web-Based Advertising

Another form of digital advertising is web-based advertising. This form of advertising targets
internet users while they visit websites. Pop-up advertisements appear as a new window and
display an advertising message for a product or service usually related to the original website.

Video advertisements are another form of digital web-based advertising that plays brief
commercials before the video loads during a break in the video or at the conclusion of the
video. Major search engines offer video media options to advertisers.

3. Viral Marketing

Viral marketing is a form of digital advertising businesses use to spread the word about their
brand. Advertising messages are spread digitally through email and other online media. This
form of advertising encourages existing customers to tell others about a product, service or
company. The intent is for word to spread like a ‘virus’ to others within a social group or
network.

4. Audio Advertising
Audio advertising is a form of digital advertising that targets customers through podcasts,
internet radio and live streaming digital radio. Podcasts are digital audio files such as an MP3
that user download to a computer or personal media player. Internet radio and live streaming
digital radio play ‘sponsor’ messages that advertise products and services to customers while
they listen to the radio online.