Characteristics of Advertising

Advertising often occupies a dominant position in a promotion mix since it is an important source of product information for many consumers. Advertising is defined as any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, and services by an identified sponsor. The words ‘paid form’ distinguish advertising from publicity. Advertising requires the purchase of space or time in the medium in which it appears; publicity notices do not require such purchases. ‘Non-personal’ distinguishes advertising from personal selling.

Its objectives include to inform (new products, new product uses), to persuade (by the product, change brands, request more information), and/or to remind (of product’s existence, where to buy it). It helps consumers to choose among competing products. Indeed, advertising is sometimes described as ‘the engine of prosperity’. From another perspective, however, advertising goes against important social values. It creates false ‘needs’ and encourages waste.

There are two types of advertising: product advertising to promote a product or product line, and institutional advertising to promote an image or goodwill message of a company, industry, organization, or government.

Product advertising can be primary or selective. Its aim is to stimulate an increase in the sale in a class of goods without regard to brand. These ads are usually run by trade associations or unions. The aim of selective advertising is to persuade consumers to purchase a specific product. This is the type of advertising you commonly find in newspapers and magazines, and on radio and television.

Advertisers use institutional advertising for several purposes such as to promote a new project, a store opening, to attract business and tourism to their region, etc.

There are two major types of advertisements: classified and commercial. Classified advertisements are short advertisements in a newspaper or a magazine placed by people offering or asking for a product or service, or who are offering or looking for employment. Commercial advertisements are advertisements on television, radio or in a cinema.

The development of the world wide web has changed the business environment forever. Dot com fever has taken the industry and stock markets by storm. The e-commerce revolution promises to deliver a more efficient way of conducting business. Shoppers can now purchase from the comfort of their home 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

Owning a website is now an important ingredient strategy of an organization. Consumers can now obtain instant information on products or services to aid them in their purchase decision.  Sony Japan took pre-orders of their popular Playstation 2 console over the net, which topped a million after a few days. European football stars are now issuing press releases over the web with the sites registered under their own names. Hit rates are phenomenal. Advertisers have now moved their money over to the internet as customers are on average spending more time online than watching TV. Popular ways to advertise seem to be with banners and pop ups.

Major advertising media are classified as print (newspapers, magazines), broadcast (television, radio), direct mail, out-of-home, and other media.

Text 5.4. Scan the text and name different types of media.