ADVERTISING
The modern age is an era of competition.
To withstand competition manufacturers have to think of new
and unfamiliar uses for their products or they have to find out
new buyers for their products.
To put it more clearly demand creation is as important as
meeting existing demand.
For demand creation what is more important is advertisement.
Advertisements could do wonders if they are properly done.
The patent medicine people were the first to prove what
advertisement could do. They sold “Rivers of tonics and
mountains of pills.”
Advertising is that activity by which visual or oral
messages are addressed to the general public.
Its purpose is to inform or influence them in order to
increase the sales of the advertiser.
It is done with a view to selling the goods or services,
offered by the advertiser.
It may also draw the readers or viewers to act favourably
towards the idea. It is paid for by a seller (sponsor).
The seller or the advertiser has to pay for the space (or time)
through which the message (advertisement) appears.
The aim is to persuade people to buy more.
Advertising creates desire for new products.
“Advertisement is the art of influencing human action, the
awakening for the desire to possess and possess your product.”
American Marketing Association defines advertising as “any paid
form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods
or services by an identified sponsor.”
From the above definitions, it is stated that:
• (a) Advertisement is a message to large groups.
• (b) It is the form of non-personal message/communication.
• (c) It persuades the general public to purchase the goods or
services advertised.
• (d) It is paid for by an advertiser to publisher.
• (e) Advertising messages are identified with the
advertiser.
• Advertisement is most widely used method for
promotion of products and services. It is used
by all type of organizations including
government and non-government
organizations.
• Advertising is a good way to communicate
information related to offerings by
organizations.
• With popularity of mass media like satellite
television, cable network, internet, print media
etc. the scope and importance of advertising is
increasing day by day.
• Companies are having a huge budget for
advertising.
• Definition of Advertising:
• Advertising is a paid form of non-personal presentation and
promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor.
• The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), the body which
represents advertising agencies, defines advertising as –
• “The means of providing the most persuasive possible selling message to
the right prospects at the lowest possible cost”.
Propaganda:
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Propaganda means spreading of ideas or doctrines or messages.
Like publicity and advertising it also communicates ideas, but in
propaganda there is favour for a cause Propaganda may be a paid form if
a newspaper.
It may be self-sponsored if the newspaper itself goes on printing
something in favour of the subject matter.
But one feature about propaganda is that it is usually temporary and
when the case no longer has an appeal, it ceases.
For example as the day of election approaches, the vigour and strength of
propaganda in favour of different candidates and parties gathers
momentum.
But as soon as elections are over the propaganda comes to an end.
Advertising – Evolution and History
Egyptians used papyrus to make sales messages and wall posters.
Commercial messages and political campaign displays have been found in
the ruins of Pompeii and ancient Arabia.
Lost and found advertising on papyrus was common in Ancient Greece
and Ancient Rome.
Wall or rock painting for commercial advertising is another manifestation
of an ancient advertising form, which is present to this day in many parts
of Asia, Africa, and South America.
• The tradition of wall painting can be traced back
to Indian rock art paintings that date back to
4000 BC.
• History tells us that Out-of-home advertising and
billboards are the oldest forms of advertising.
• As the towns and cities of the Middle Ages began
to grow, and the general populace was unable to
read, signs that today would say cobbler, miller,
tailor or blacksmith would use an image
associated with their trade such as a boot, a suit, a
hat, a clock, a diamond, a horse shoe, a candle or
even a bag of flour.
• Fruits and vegetables were sold in the
city square from the backs of carts and
wagons and their proprietors used street
callers (town criers) to announce their
whereabouts for the convenience of the
customers. As education became an
apparent need and reading, as well as
printing, developed advertising expanded
to include handbills. In the 18th century
advertisements started to appear in
weekly newspapers in England.
• These early print advertisements
were used mainly to promote
books and newspapers, which
became increasingly affordable
with advances in the printing
press; and medicines, which were
increasingly sought after as disease
ravaged Europe. However, false
advertising and so-called “quack”
advertisements became a problem,
which ushered in the regulation of
advertising content.
• 19th Century:
• Thomas J. Barratt from London has been called “the father of
modern advertising”. Working for the Pears Soap Company,
Barratt created an effective advertising campaign for the
company products, which involved the use of targeted slogans,
images and phrases. One of his slogans, “Good morning Have
you used Pears’ soap?” was famous in its day and well into the
20th century.
• Under Barratt’s guidance, Pears Soap became the world’s first
legally registered brand and is therefore the world’s oldest
continuously existing brand.
• Barrat established Pears Annual in 1891 as a spin-off
magazine which promoted contemporary illustration
and colour printing and in 1897 added the Pears
Cyclopedia a one-volume encyclopedia.
•
• From the early 20th century Pears was famous for the
annual “Miss Pears” competition in which parents
entered their children into the high-profile hunt for a
young brand ambassador to be used on packaging and
in consumer promotions.
Advertising – Nature and Scope
• Advertising is a growing business in the Philippines today.
• It has been gaining importance in our economy.
• The role which advertising plays continues to increase in significance
year after year.
• The host of new products marketed, the expenses and the risks involved
in launching them, and the low cost of personal selling are among the
conditions which have placed a heavy responsibility on the advertising
industry.
• With its growing productive capacity and output, there is a
need for finding consumers for this growing output, and
advertising plays an important role in the process of moving
the goods from the producers to the consumers.
• With mass marketing to distribute the output of our
production, the gross national product may increase to a
considerable extent.
• Advertising helps to increase mass marketing while aiding the
consumer to choose from amongst the variety of products
offered for his selection.
• It was only in the latter half of the 19th century, that mass
advertising, as we know it today, came into being.
• Mass production became a reality, and channels of
distribution had to be developed to cope with the
physical movement of goods, creating a need for mass
communication to inform consumers of the choices
available to them.
• This development was accelerated by increasing literacy.
• Advertising as a profession is in its infancy. Because of
this fact, there is a tremendous scope for development so
that it may be productively used for the benefit of
producers, trader’s consumers, and the country’s
economy.
• Advertising Features
• 1. Provides information – The main feature of advertising is to
provide information about the product to potential buyers.
It provides details like features, uses, prices, benefits, manufacturer’s
name and instructions for using the product effectively.
• 2. Paid communication – Businesses select, assign and pay
advertisers for preparing advertisements that include the size, slogan,
etc.
• These advertisers are asked to prepare a design or format of the
advertisement as per the products and requirements of the businesses.
3. Non-personal presentation – Advertisement is a non-personal
presentation, which means that media tools like television, radio,
newspaper, etc., are considered that reaches out to a large number of
people.
4. Publicity – As advertisement provides information about the
product; advertising provides publicity to goods, services and ideas.
Advertising provides flow and movement of information with the aim of
increasing public awareness of a subject.
For example, Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (HUL)’s Project Sunlight has
recently launched ‘Bright Future Speeches’ wherein the Indian youth
raises concerns about the need for sanitation and hygiene through films
and television advertisements (HUL, 2014).
• 5. For persuasion – The main feature of advertising is to persuade and
attract potential customers to new ideas that lead to probable sale of
products.
• This means that the information needs to be believable and convincing
that the product is better than their competitive products.
• 6. Target oriented – Advertisements are developed that caters to the
needs and wants of target customers and markets.
• Advertisements depict target customers and markets by relevant
characters, themes, props, slogans, select storylines and so on.
• For example, protein health drinks like Horlicks, Complan, etc., are
targeted towards children representing young urban India and emotions
are targeted towards excelling in studies, sports and tackling
competition.
• 7. Creativity – Creativity plays a critical role in
advertising, which involves presenting a product in an
artistic, attractive and agreeable manner.
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