What is Advertising ?
The word advertising comes form the latin word
"advertere meaning” to turn the minds of towards". Some of the
definitions given by various authors are: 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 organization." According to American Marketing Association
"advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion
of ideas, goods and services by an identified sponsor".
Advertising is used for communicating business
information to the present and prospective customers. It usually provides information
about the advertising firm, its product qualities, place of availability of its
products, etc. Advertisement is indispensable for both the sellers and the
buyers. However, it is more important for the sellers. In the modern age of
large scale production, producers cannot think of pushing sale of their
products without advertising them. Advertisement supplements personal selling
to a great extent. Advertising has acquired great importance in the modern world
where tough competition in the market and fast changes in technology, we find
fashion and taste in the customers.
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 persuasion technique.
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 code of 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.
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 the help 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 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 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.
(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.
Check your progress
1. “Advertising has become an essential marketing
activity in the modern era of globalization”. Explain.
2. Explain how the following group of people are involved
in advertising.
a) Mass Media
b) Target Audience
c) Advertising Agencies
d) Government Authorities
3. “To sell something is not the only objective of
Advertisement”. Discuss.
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:
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 role to 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.
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 develop and 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, the role 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 the main
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. Provides
employment: Effective advertising generates demand for goods and services. high
demand calls for more production which 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 a regular 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.
SUMMERY
Advertising consists of all the activities involved in
presenting to an audience a non-personal, sponsor-identified, paid-for message about
a product or organization.
Advertising has become essential to promote sales, to introduce
new product, to create good public, for large scale of production, for
educating people etc.
Advertising is the integral part of every day's life.
Without advertising modern society cannot survive Advertising is useful to society
as it encouraging people to purchase goods and services, it bridges the gap
among people by communicating varied culture through advertising message, it
contributes to bring about all round development of the economy by increasing
demand, it provides opportunities to people to improve their income.
QUESTIONS :
1. Define Advertising and explain
its nature and features.
2. Define Advertising and explain
the main objectives of Advertising
3. What is Advertising? Explain the
importance of Advertising
4. Who are the Active Participants
in Advertising?
5. What is the Role of Advertising
in Marketing Mix?
6. Explain the Role of Advertising
in the Society
7. What is the interface between
Advertising and Brand building?
Explain the main approaches in Brand
building.
