advertisement from the 1890s]]
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience (viewers, readers or listeners) to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common. Advertising messages are usually paid for by sponsors and viewed via various traditional media; including mass media such as newspaper, magazines, television commercial, radio advertisement, outdoor advertising or direct mail; or new media such as websites and text messages.
Commercial advertisers often seek to generate increased consumption of their products or services through "Branding," which involves the repetition of an image or product name in an effort to associate certain qualities with the brand in the minds of consumers. Non-commercial advertisers who spend money to advertise items other than a consumer product or service include political parties, interest groups, religious organizations and governmental agencies. Nonprofit organizations may rely on free modes of persuasion, such as a public service announcement.
Modern advertising developed with the rise of mass production in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In 2010, spending on advertising was estimated at more than $300 billion in the United States and $500 billion worldwide.
Internationally, the largest ("big four") advertising conglomerates are Interpublic, Omnicom, Publicis, and WPP.
Definition
#The non-personal communication of information usually paid for & usually persuasive in nature, about products (goods & services) or ideas by identified sponsor through various media. (Arenes 1996) #Any paid form of non-personal communication about an organisation, product ,service, or idea from an identified sponsor. (Blech & Blech 1998) #Paid non-personal communication from an identified sponsor using mass media to persuade influence an audience. (Wells, Burnett, & Moriaty 1998) #The element of the marketing communication mix that is non personal paid for an identified sponsor, & disseminated through channels of mass communication to promote the adoption of goods, services, person or ideas. (Bearden, Ingram, & Laforge 1998) #An informative or persuasive message carried by a non personal medium & paid for by an identified sponsor whose organization or product is identified in some way. (Zikmund & D'amico 1999) #Impersonal; one way communication about a product or organization that is paid by a marketer. (Lamb, Hair & Mc.Daniel 2000)
History
advertising flyer from 1806 for a traditional medicine called
Kinseitan]] 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 17th 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.
As the economy expanded during the 19th century, advertising grew alongside. In the United States, the success of this advertising format eventually led to the growth of mail-order advertising.
In June 1836, French newspaper La Presse was the first to include paid advertising in its pages, allowing it to lower its price, extend its readership and increase its profitability and the formula was soon copied by all titles. Around 1840, Volney B. Palmer established the roots of the modern day advertising agency in Philadelphia. In 1842 Palmer bought large amounts of space in various newspapers at a discounted rate then resold the space at higher rates to advertisers. The actual ad- the copy, layout, and artwork- was stilled prepared by the company wishing to advertise; in effect, Palmer was a space broker. The situation changed in the late 19th century when the advertising agency of N.W. Ayer & Son was founded. Ayer and Son offered to plan, create, and execute complete advertising campaigns for its customers. By 1900 the advertising agency had become the focal point of creative planning, and advertising was firmly established as a profession. Around the same time, in France, Charles-Louis Havas extended the services of his news agency, Havas to include advertisement brokerage, making it the first French group to organize. At first, agencies were brokers for advertisement space in newspapers. N. W. Ayer & Son was the first full-service agency to assume responsibility for advertising content. N.W. Ayer opened in 1869, and was located in Philadelphia.
, Chile from 1935.]]
In the early 1920s, the first radio stations were established by radio equipment manufacturers and retailers who offered programs in order to sell more radios to consumers. As time passed, many non-profit organizations followed suit in setting up their own radio stations, and included: schools, clubs and civic groups. When the practice of sponsoring programs was popularised, each individual radio program was usually sponsored by a single business in exchange for a brief mention of the business' name at the beginning and end of the sponsored shows. However, radio station owners soon realised they could earn more money by selling sponsorship rights in small time allocations to multiple businesses throughout their radio station's broadcasts, rather than selling the sponsorship rights to single businesses per show.
]]
This practice was carried over to commercial television in the late 1940s and early 1950s. A fierce battle was fought between those seeking to commercialise the radio and people who argued that the radio spectrum should be considered a part of the commons – to be used only non-commercially and for the public good. The United Kingdom pursued a public funding model for the BBC, originally a private company, the British Broadcasting Company, but incorporated as a public body by Royal Charter in 1927. In Canada, advocates like Graham Spry were likewise able to persuade the federal government to adopt a public funding model, creating the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. However, in the United States, the capitalist model prevailed with the passage of the Communications Act of 1934 which created the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Public broadcasting now exists in the United States due to the 1967 Public Broadcasting Act which led to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR).
In the early 1950s, the DuMont Television Network began the modern practice of selling advertisement time to multiple sponsors. Previously, DuMont had trouble finding sponsors for many of their programs and compensated by selling smaller blocks of advertising time to several businesses. This eventually became the standard for the commercial television industry in the United States. However, it was still a common practice to have single sponsor shows, such as The United States Steel Hour. In some instances the sponsors exercised great control over the content of the show—up to and including having one's advertising agency actually writing the show. The single sponsor model is much less prevalent now, a notable exception being the Hallmark Hall of Fame.
The late 1980s and early 1990s saw the introduction of cable television and particularly MTV. Pioneering the concept of the music video, MTV ushered in a new type of advertising: the consumer tunes in for the advertising message, rather than it being a by-product or afterthought. As cable and satellite television became increasingly prevalent, specialty channels emerged, including channels entirely devoted to advertising, such as QVC, Home Shopping Network, and ShopTV Canada.
Marketing through the Internet opened new frontiers for advertisers and contributed to the "dot-com" boom of the 1990s. Entire corporations operated solely on advertising revenue, offering everything from coupons to free Internet access. At the turn of the 21st century, a number of websites including the search engine Google, started a change in online advertising by emphasizing contextually relevant, unobtrusive ads intended to help, rather than inundate, users. This has led to a plethora of similar efforts and an increasing trend of interactive advertising.
The share of advertising spending relative to GDP has changed little across large changes in media. For example, in the US in 1925, the main advertising media were newspapers, magazines, signs on streetcars, and outdoor posters. Advertising spending as a share of GDP was about 2.9 percent. By 1998, television and radio had become major advertising media. Nonetheless, advertising spending as a share of GDP was slightly lower—about 2.4 percent.
A recent advertising innovation is "guerrilla marketing", which involve unusual approaches such as staged encounters in public places, giveaways of products such as cars that are covered with brand messages, and interactive advertising where the viewer can respond to become part of the advertising message.Guerrilla advertising is becoming increasing more popular with a lot of companies. This type of advertising is unpredictable and innovative, which causes consumers to buy the product or idea. This reflects an increasing trend of interactive and "embedded" ads, such as via product placement, having consumers vote through text messages, and various innovations utilizing social network services such as Facebook.
Public service advertising
The advertising techniques used to promote commercial goods and services can be used to inform, educate and motivate the public about non-commercial issues, such as HIV/AIDS, political ideology, energy conservation and deforestation.
Advertising, in its non-commercial guise, is a powerful educational tool capable of reaching and motivating large audiences. "Advertising justifies its existence when used in the public interest—it is much too powerful a tool to use solely for commercial purposes." Attributed to Howard Gossage by David Ogilvy.
Public service advertising, non-commercial advertising, public interest advertising, cause marketing, and social marketing are different terms for (or aspects of) the use of sophisticated advertising and marketing communications techniques (generally associated with commercial enterprise) on behalf of non-commercial, public interest issues and initiatives.
In the United States, the granting of television and radio licenses by the FCC is contingent upon the station broadcasting a certain amount of public service advertising. To meet these requirements, many broadcast stations in America air the bulk of their required public service announcements during the late night or early morning when the smallest percentage of viewers are watching, leaving more day and prime time commercial slots available for high-paying advertisers.
Public service advertising reached its height during World Wars I and II under the direction of more than one government. During WWII President Roosevelt commissioned the creation of The War Advertising Council (now known as the Ad Council) which is the nation's largest developer of PSA campaigns on behalf of government agencies and non-profit organizations, including the longest-running PSA campaign, Smokey Bear.
Marketing mix
The marketing mix has been the key concept to advertising. The marketing mix was suggested by professor
E. Jerome McCarthy in the 1960s. The marketing mix consists of four basic elements called the four P’s. Product is the first P representing the actual product. Price represents the process of determining the value of a product. Place represents the variables of getting the product to the consumer like distribution channels, market coverage and movement organization. The last P stands for Promotion which is the process of reaching the target market and convincing them to go out and buy the product.
Advertising theory
Hierarchy of effects model It clarifies the objectives of an advertising campaign and for each individual advertisement. The model suggests that there are six steps a consumer or a business buyer moves through when making a purchase. The steps are: #Awareness #Knowledge #Liking #Preference #Conviction #Purchase
Means-End Theory This approach suggests that an advertisement should contain a message or means that leads the consumer to a desired end state.
Leverage Points It is designed to move the consumer from understanding a product's benefits to linking those benefits with personal values.
Verbal and Visual Images
Types of advertising
pictured above]] in Singapore. Buses and other vehicles are popular mediums for advertisers.]] with
UNICEF ads at Ingolstadt main railway station]]
Virtually any medium can be used for advertising. Commercial advertising media can include wall paintings, billboards, street furniture components, printed flyers and rack cards, radio, cinema and television adverts, web banners, mobile telephone screens, shopping carts, web popups, skywriting, bus stop benches, human billboards, magazines, newspapers, town criers, sides of buses, banners attached to or sides of airplanes ("logojets"), in-flight advertisements on seatback tray tables or overhead storage bins, taxicab doors, roof mounts and passenger screens, musical stage shows, subway platforms and trains, elastic bands on disposable diapers,doors of bathroom stalls,stickers on apples in supermarkets, shopping cart handles (grabertising), the opening section of streaming audio and video, posters, and the backs of event tickets and supermarket receipts. Any place an "identified" sponsor pays to deliver their message through a medium is advertising.
Digital advertising
;
Television advertising /
Music in advertising: The TV commercial is generally considered the most effective mass-market advertising format, as is reflected by the high prices TV networks charge for commercial
airtime during popular TV events. The annual
Super Bowl football game in the United States is known as the most prominent advertising event on television. The average cost of a single thirty-second TV spot during this game has reached US$3 million (as of 2009). The majority of television commercials feature a song or
jingle that listeners soon relate to the product. Virtual advertisements may be inserted into regular television programming through computer graphics. It is typically inserted into otherwise blank backdrops or used to replace local billboards that are not relevant to the remote broadcast audience. More controversially, virtual billboards may be inserted into the background where none exist in real-life. This technique is especially used in televised sporting events. Virtual product placement is also possible.
Infomercials: An
infomercial is a long-format television commercial, typically five minutes or longer. The word "infomercial" combining the words "information" & "commercial". The main objective in an infomercial is to create an
impulse purchase, so that the consumer sees the presentation and then immediately buys the product through the advertised
toll-free telephone number or
website. Infomercials describe, display, and often demonstrate products and their features, and commonly have testimonials from consumers and industry professionals.
;Radio advertising: Radio advertising is a form of advertising via the medium of radio. Radio advertisements are broadcast as radio waves to the air from a transmitter to an antenna and a thus to a receiving device. Airtime is purchased from a station or network in exchange for airing the commercials. While radio has the limitation of being restricted to sound, proponents of radio advertising often cite this as an advantage. Radio is an expanding medium that can be found not only on air, but also online. According to Arbitron, radio has approximately 241.6 million weekly listeners, or more than 93 percent of the U.S. population.
;Online advertising: Online advertising is a form of promotion that uses the Internet and World Wide Web for the expressed purpose of delivering marketing messages to attract customers. Examples of online advertising include contextual ads that appear on search engine results pages, banner ads, in text ads, Rich Media Ads, Social network advertising, online classified advertising, advertising networks and e-mail marketing, including e-mail spam.
;Product placements: Covert advertising, also known as guerrilla advertising, is when a product or brand is embedded in entertainment and media. For example, in a film, the main character can use an item or other of a definite brand, as in the movie Minority Report, where Tom Cruise's character John Anderton owns a phone with the Nokia logo clearly written in the top corner, or his watch engraved with the Bulgari logo. Another example of advertising in film is in I, Robot, where main character played by Will Smith mentions his Converse shoes several times, calling them "classics," because the film is set far in the future. I, Robot and Spaceballs also showcase futuristic cars with the Audi and Mercedes-Benz logos clearly displayed on the front of the vehicles. Cadillac chose to advertise in the movie The Matrix Reloaded, which as a result contained many scenes in which Cadillac cars were used. Similarly, product placement for Omega Watches, Ford, VAIO, BMW and Aston Martin cars are featured in recent James Bond films, most notably Casino Royale. In "", the main transport vehicle shows a large Dodge logo on the front. Blade Runner includes some of the most obvious product placement; the whole film stops to show a Coca-Cola billboard.
Physical advertising
;Press advertising: Press advertising describes advertising in a printed medium such as a
newspaper,
magazine, or trade journal. This encompasses everything from media with a very broad readership base, such as a major national newspaper or magazine, to more narrowly targeted media such as local newspapers and trade journals on very specialized topics. A form of press advertising is
classified advertising, which allows private individuals or companies to purchase a small, narrowly targeted ad for a low fee advertising a product or service. Another form of press advertising is the Display Ad, which is a larger ad (can include art) that typically run in an article section of a newspaper.
:Billboard advertising: Billboards are large structures located in public places which display advertisements to passing pedestrians and motorists. Most often, they are located on main roads with a large amount of passing motor and pedestrian traffic; however, they can be placed in any location with large amounts of viewers, such as on mass transit vehicles and in stations, in shopping malls or office buildings, and in stadiums.
newspaper advertised to its target market at North Avenue Beach with a sailboat billboard on Lake Michigan.]]
;Mobile billboard advertising: Mobile billboards are generally vehicle mounted billboards or digital screens. These can be on dedicated vehicles built solely for carrying advertisements along routes preselected by clients, they can also be specially equipped cargo trucks or, in some cases, large banners strewn from planes. The billboards are often lighted; some being backlit, and others employing spotlights. Some billboard displays are static, while others change; for example, continuously or periodically rotating among a set of advertisements. Mobile displays are used for various situations in metropolitan areas throughout the world, including: Target advertising, One-day, and long-term campaigns, Conventions, Sporting events, Store openings and similar promotional events, and Big advertisements from smaller companies.
;In-store advertising: In-store advertising is any advertisement placed in a retail store. It includes placement of a product in visible locations in a store, such as at eye level, at the ends of aisles and near checkout counters, eye-catching displays promoting a specific product, and advertisements in such places as shopping carts and in-store video displays.
;Coffee cup advertising: Coffee cup advertising is any advertisement placed upon a coffee cup that is distributed out of an office, café, or drive-through coffee shop. This form of advertising was first popularized in Australia, and has begun growing in popularity in the United States, India, and parts of the Middle East.
;Street advertising: This type of advertising first came to prominence in the UK by Street Advertising Services to create outdoor advertising on street furniture and pavements. Working with products such as Reverse Graffiti and 3d pavement advertising, the media became an affordable and effective tool for getting brand messages out into public spaces.
;Celebrity branding: This type of advertising focuses upon using celebrity power, fame, money, popularity to gain recognition for their products and promote specific stores or products. Advertisers often advertise their products, for example, when celebrities share their favorite products or wear clothes by specific brands or designers. Celebrities are often involved in advertising campaigns such as television or print adverts to advertise specific or general products. The use of celebrities to endorse a brand can have its downsides, however. One mistake by a celebrity can be detrimental to the public relations of a brand. For example, following his performance of eight gold medals at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, swimmer Michael Phelps' contract with Kellogg's was terminated, as Kellogg's did not want to associate with him after he was photographed smoking marijuana.
Sales promotions
Sales promotions are another way to advertise. Sales promotions are double purposed because they are used to gather information about what type of customers you draw in and where they are, and to jumpstart sales. Sales promotions include things like contests and games, sweepstakes, product giveaways, samples coupons, loyalty programs, and discounts. The ultimate goal of sales promotions is to stimulate potential customers to action.
Media and advertising approaches
Increasingly, other media are overtaking many of the "traditional" media such as television, radio and newspaper because of a shift toward consumer's usage of the Internet for news and music as well as devices like
digital video recorders (DVRs) such as
TiVo.
Advertising on the World Wide Web is a recent phenomenon. Prices of Web-based advertising space are dependent on the "relevance" of the surrounding web content and the traffic that the website receives.
Digital signage is poised to become a major mass media because of its ability to reach larger audiences for less money. Digital signage also offer the unique ability to see the target audience where they are reached by the medium. Technological advances have also made it possible to control the message on digital signage with much precision, enabling the messages to be relevant to the target audience at any given time and location which in turn, gets more response from the advertising. Digital signage is being successfully employed in supermarkets. Another successful use of digital signage is in hospitality locations such as restaurants. and malls.
E-mail advertising is another recent phenomenon. Unsolicited bulk E-mail advertising is known as "e-mail spam". Spam has been a problem for e-mail users for many years.
Some companies have proposed placing messages or corporate logos on the side of booster rockets and the International Space Station. Controversy exists on the effectiveness of subliminal advertising (see mind control), and the pervasiveness of mass messages (see propaganda).
Unpaid advertising (also called "publicity advertising"), can provide good exposure at minimal cost. Personal recommendations ("bring a friend", "sell it"), spreading buzz, or achieving the feat of equating a brand with a common noun (in the United States, "Xerox" = "photocopier", "Kleenex" = tissue, "Vaseline" = petroleum jelly, "Hoover" = vacuum cleaner, "Nintendo" (often used by those exposed to many video games) = video games, and "Band-Aid" = adhesive bandage) — these can be seen as the pinnacle of any advertising campaign. However, some companies oppose the use of their brand name to label an object. Equating a brand with a common noun also risks turning that brand into a genericized trademark - turning it into a generic term which means that its legal protection as a trademark is lost.
As the mobile phone became a new mass media in 1998 when the first paid downloadable content appeared on mobile phones in Finland, it was only a matter of time until mobile advertising followed, also first launched in Finland in 2000. By 2007 the value of mobile advertising had reached $2.2 billion and providers such as Admob delivered billions of mobile ads.
More advanced mobile ads include banner ads, coupons, Multimedia Messaging Service picture and video messages, advergames and various engagement marketing campaigns. A particular feature driving mobile ads is the 2D Barcode, which replaces the need to do any typing of web addresses, and uses the camera feature of modern phones to gain immediate access to web content. 83 percent of Japanese mobile phone users already are active users of 2D barcodes.
A new form of advertising that is growing rapidly is social network advertising. It is online advertising with a focus on social networking sites. This is a relatively immature market, but it has shown a lot of promise as advertisers are able to take advantage of the demographic information the user has provided to the social networking site. Friendertising is a more precise advertising term in which people are able to direct advertisements toward others directly using social network service.
From time to time, The CW Television Network airs short programming breaks called "Content Wraps," to advertise one company's product during an entire commercial break. The CW pioneered "content wraps" and some products featured were Herbal Essences, Crest, Guitar Hero II, CoverGirl, and recently Toyota.
Recently, there appeared a new promotion concept, "ARvertising", advertising on Augmented Reality technology.
Current trends
Rise in new media
With the dawn of the Internet came many new advertising opportunities. Popup,
Flash,
banner, Popunder,
advergaming, and email advertisements (the last often being a form of spam) are now commonplace. Particularly since the rise of "entertaining" advertising, some people may like an advertisement enough to wish to watch it later or show a friend. In general, the advertising community has not yet made this easy, although some have used the Internet to widely distribute their ads to anyone willing to see or hear them. In the last three quarters of 2009 mobile and internet advertising grew by 18.1% and 9.2% respectively. Older media advertising saw declines: −10.1% (TV), −11.7% (radio), −14.8% (magazines) and −18.7% (newspapers ).
Niche marketing
Another significant trend regarding future of advertising is the growing importance of the
niche market using niche or targeted ads. Also brought about by the Internet and the theory of
The Long Tail, advertisers will have an increasing ability to reach specific audiences. In the past, the most efficient way to deliver a message was to blanket the largest
mass market audience possible. However, usage tracking, customer profiles and the growing popularity of niche content brought about by everything from
blogs to social networking sites, provide advertisers with audiences that are smaller but much better defined, leading to ads that are more relevant to viewers and more effective for companies' marketing products. Among others,
Comcast Spotlight is one such advertiser employing this method in their
video on demand menus. These advertisements are targeted to a specific group and can be viewed by anyone wishing to find out more about a particular business or practice at any time, right from their home. This causes the viewer to become proactive and actually choose what advertisements they want to view.
Crowdsourcing
The concept of
crowdsourcing has given way to the trend of
user-generated advertisements. User-generated ads are created by consumers as opposed to an advertising agency or the company themselves, most often they are a result of brand sponsored advertising competitions. For the 2007
Super Bowl, the Frito-Lays division of
PepsiCo held the
Crash the Super Bowl contest, allowing consumers to create their own
Doritos commercial.
Chevrolet held a similar competition for their Tahoe line of SUVs.
This trend has given rise to several online platforms that host user-generated advertising competitions on behalf of a company. Founded in 2007, Zooppa has launched ad competitions for brands such as Google, Nike, Hershey’s, General Mills, Microsoft, NBC Universal, Zinio, and Mini Cooper. Crowdsourced advertisements have gained popularity in part to its cost effective nature, high consumer engagement, and ability to generate word-of-mouth. However, it remains controversial, as the long-term impact on the advertising industry is still unclear.
Global advertising
Advertising has gone through five major stages of development: domestic, export, international, multi-national, and global. For
global advertisers, there are four, potentially competing, business objectives that must be balanced when developing worldwide advertising: building a brand while speaking with one voice, developing economies of scale in the creative process, maximising local effectiveness of ads, and increasing the company’s speed of implementation. Born from the evolutionary stages of global marketing are the three primary and fundamentally different approaches to the development of global advertising executions: exporting executions, producing local executions, and importing ideas that travel.
Advertising research is key to determining the success of an ad in any country or region. The ability to identify which elements and/or moments of an ad that contributes to its success is how economies of scale are maximised. Once one knows what works in an ad, that idea or ideas can be imported by any other market. Market research measures, such as , and provide insight into what is working in an ad in any country or region because the measures are based on the visual, not verbal, elements of the ad.
Foreign public messaging
Foreign governments, particularly those that own marketable commercial products or services, often promote their interests and positions through the advertising of those goods because the target audience is not only largely unaware of the forum as vehicle for foreign messaging but also willing to receive the message while in a mental state of absorbing information from advertisements during television commercial breaks, while reading a periodical, or while passing by billboards in public spaces. A prime example of this messaging technique is
advertising campaigns to promote international travel. While advertising foreign destinations and services may stem from the typical goal of increasing revenue by drawing more tourism, some travel campaigns carry the additional or alternative intended purpose of promoting good sentiments or improving existing ones among the target audience towards a given nation or region. It is common for advertising promoting foreign countries to be produced and distributed by the tourism ministries of those countries, so these ads often carry political statements and/or depictions of the foreign government's
desired international public perception. Additionally, a wide range of foreign airlines and travel-related services which advertise separately from the destinations, themselves, are owned by their respective governments; examples include, though are not limited to, the
Emirates airline (
Dubai),
Singapore Airlines (
Singapore),
Qatar Airways (
Qatar),
China Airlines (
Taiwan/
Republic of China), and
Air China (
People's Republic of China). By depicting their destinations, airlines, and other services in a favorable and pleasant light, countries market themselves to populations abroad in a manner that could mitigate prior public impressions.
See: Soft Power See also: International Travel Advertising
Diversification
In the realm of
advertising agencies, continued industry diversification has seen observers note that “big global clients don't need big global agencies any more”. This is reflected by the growth of non-traditional agencies in various global markets, such as Canadian business
TAXI and
SMART in Australia and has been referred to as "a revolution in the ad world".
New technology
The ability to record shows on
digital video recorders (such as TiVo) allow users to record the programs for later viewing, enabling them to fast forward through commercials. Additionally, as more seasons of pre-recorded
box sets are offered for sale of
television programs; fewer people watch the shows on TV. However, the fact that these sets are
sold, means the company will receive additional profits from the sales of these sets.
To counter this effect, a variety of strategies have been employed. Many advertisers have opted for product placement on TV shows like Survivor. Other strategies include integrating advertising with internet-connected EPGs, advertising on companion devices (like smartphones and tablets) during the show, and creating TV apps. Additionally, some like brands have opted for social television sponsorship. The most famous example is when Mercedes Benz sponsored stickers from Get Glue during the 2011 Oscars.
Advertising education
Advertising education has become widely popular with bachelor, master and doctorate degrees becoming available in the emphasis. A surge in advertising interest is typically attributed to the strong relationship advertising plays in cultural and technological changes, such as the advance of online social networking. A unique model for teaching advertising is the
student-run advertising agency, where advertising students create campaigns for real companies. Organizations such as
American Advertising Federation and AdU Network partner established companies with students to create these campaigns.
Criticisms
While advertising can be seen as necessary for economic growth, it is not without social costs.
Unsolicited commercial e-mail and other forms of
spam have become so prevalent as to have become a major nuisance to users of these services, as well as being a financial burden on
internet service providers. Advertising is increasingly invading public spaces, such as schools, which some critics argue is a form of child exploitation. In addition, advertising frequently uses psychological pressure (for example, appealing to feelings of inadequacy) on the intended consumer, which may be harmful.
Regulation
In the US many communities believe that many forms of outdoor advertising blight the public realm. As long ago as the 1960s in the US there were attempts to ban billboard advertising in the open countryside. Cities such as São Paulo have introduced an outright ban with London also having specific legislation to control unlawful displays.
There have been increasing efforts to protect the public interest by regulating the content and the influence of advertising. Some examples are: the ban on television tobacco advertising imposed in many countries, and the total ban of advertising to children under 12 imposed by the Swedish government in 1991. Though that regulation continues in effect for broadcasts originating within the country, it has been weakened by the European Court of Justice, which had found that Sweden was obliged to accept foreign programming, including those from neighboring countries or via satellite. Greece’s regulations are of a similar nature, “banning advertisements for children's toys between 7 am and 10 pm and a total ban on advertisement for war toys".
In Europe and elsewhere, there is a vigorous debate on whether (or how much) advertising to children should be regulated. This debate was exacerbated by a report released by the Kaiser Family Foundation in February 2004 which suggested fast food advertising that targets children was an important factor in the epidemic of childhood obesity in the United States.
In New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, and many European countries, the advertising industry operates a system of self-regulation. Advertisers, advertising agencies and the media agree on a code of advertising standards that they attempt to uphold. The general aim of such codes is to ensure that any advertising is 'legal, decent, honest and truthful'. Some self-regulatory organizations are funded by the industry, but remain independent, with the intent of upholding the standards or codes like the Advertising Standards Authority in the UK.
In the UK most forms of outdoor advertising such as the display of billboards is regulated by the UK Town and County Planning system. Currently the display of an advertisement without consent from the Planning Authority is a criminal offense liable to a fine of £2,500 per offence. All of the major outdoor billboard companies in the UK have convictions of this nature.
Many advertisers employ a wide-variety of linguistic devices to bypass regulatory laws (e.g. printing English words in bold and French translations in fine print to deal with the Article 120 of the 1994 Toubon Law limiting the use of English in French advertising). The advertisement of controversial products such as cigarettes and condoms are subject to government regulation in many countries. For instance, the tobacco industry is required by law in most countries to display warnings cautioning consumers about the health hazards of their products. Linguistic variation is often used by advertisers as a creative device to reduce the impact of such requirements.
Advertising research
Advertising research is a specialized form of research that works to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of advertising. It entails numerous forms of research which employ different methodologies. Advertising research includes pre-testing (also known as
copy testing) and post-testing of ads and/or campaigns—pre-testing is done before an ad airs to gauge how well it will perform and post-testing is done after an ad airs to determine the in-market impact of the ad or campaign on the consumer. Continuous
ad tracking and the
Communicus System are competing examples of post-testing advertising research types.
Semiotics
Today’s culture is made up of meanings between consumers and marketers. These meanings depict
signs and symbols that are encoded in everyday objects.
Semiotics is the study of signs and how they are interpreted. Advertising has many hidden signs and meanings within
brand names,
logos, package designs, print
advertisements, and
television advertisements. The purpose of
semiotics is to study and interpret the message being conveyed in
advertisements.
Logos and
advertisements can be interpreted at two levels known as the surface level and the underlying level. The surface level uses signs creatively to create an image or personality for their product. These
signs can be images, words, fonts,
colors, or slogan. The underlying level is made up of hidden meanings. The combination of images, words,
colors, and slogan must be interpreted by the audience or consumer. The “key to advertising analysis” is the signifier and the signified. The signifier is the object and the signified is the mental concept. A product has a signifier and a signified. The signifier is the
color, brand name, logo design, and technology. The signified has two meanings known as denotative and connotative. The denotative meaning is the meaning of the product. A television’s denotative meaning would be that it is high definition. The connotative meaning is the product’s deep and hidden meaning. A connotative meaning of a television would be that it is top of the line.
Apple is an excellent example of using semiotics in their advertising campaign. Apple’s commercials used a black silhouette of a person that was the age of Apple's target market. They placed the silhouette in front of a blue screen so that the picture behind the silhouette could be constantly changing. However, the one thing that stays the same in these ads is that there is music in the background and the silhouette is listening to that music on a white iPod through white headphones. Through advertising, the white color on a set of earphones now signifies that the music device is an iPod. The white color signifies almost all of Apple’s products.
The semiotics of gender plays a key influence on the way in which signs are interpreted. When considering gender roles in advertising, individuals are influenced by three categories. Certain characteristics of stumuli may enhance or decrease the elaboration of the message (if the product is perceived as feminine or masculine). Second, the characteristics of individuals can affect attention and elaboration of the message (traditional or non-traditional gender-role orientation). Lastly, situational factors may be important to influence the elaboration of the message.
There are two types of marketing communication claims-objective and subjective. Objective claims stem from the extent to which the claim associates the brand with a tangible product or service feature. For instance, the camera has auto focus features. Subjective claims convey emotional, subjective, impressions of intangible aspects of a product or service. They are non-physical features of a product or service that cannot be directly perceived, as they have no physical reality. For instance the brochure has a beautiful design. Males tend to respond better to objective marketing communications claims while females tend to respond better to subjective marketing communications claims.
When advertising to different genders it is important to remember how men and women process information. Females process information comprehensively. Males process information through heuristic devices such as procedures, methods or strategies for solving problems. Men prefer to have available and apparent cues to interpret the message where females engage in more creative, associative, imagery-laced interpretation.
In advertisements, men are represented as independent. They are shown in more occupations than women. Women are represented mainly as housewives and mothers. Men are more likely to be shown advertising cars or business products, while women advertise domestic products. Men are more likely to be shown outdoors or in business settings. Women are depicted in domestic settings. Men are more often portrayed as authorities. As far as ads go, with age men seem to gain wisdom and are depriced as an authority figure. On the other hand women seem to disappear with age. Voiceovers are commonly used in advertising. Most voiceovers are men (figures of up to 94% have been reported). There have been more female voiceovers in recent years but mainly for food, household products, and feminine care products.
See also
Advertising Adstock Advertising to children American Advertising Federation Hall of Fame Branded content Classified advertising Communication design Conquesting Coolhunting Copy testing Copywriting Crowd manipulation Graphic design Informative advertising Integrated Marketing Communications Local advertising Market overhang Meta-advertising Mobile Marketing Performance-based advertising Pseudo-event Psychological manipulation Public relations Reality marketing Scad (scam ad) Senior media creative SEO Copywriting Sex in advertising Shock advertising Tobacco advertising Video commerce Video news release Viral marketing Virtual advertising Visual communication Web analytics World Federation of Advertisers
References
Bibliography
;General
Bhatia, Tej K. 2000. Advertising in Rural India: Language, Marketing Communication, and Consumerism. Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa. Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. Tokyo Press: Japan. ISBN 4-87297-782-3 Arthur Richards, Kent US (2008) Teacher, Pirate, renaissance man Clark, Eric, "The Want Makers", Viking, 1988. ISBN 0340320281 Cook, Guy (2001 2nd edition) "The Discourse of Advertising", London: Routledge, ISBN 0-415-23455-7 Graydon, Shari (2003) "Made You Look - How Advertising Works and Why You Should Know", Toronto: Annick Press, ISBN 1-55037-814-7 Johnson, J. Douglas, "Advertising Today", Chicago: Science Research Associates, 1978. ISBN 0-574-19355-3 Kleppner, Otto, "Advertising Procedure", Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall, 1966. Kotabe, Masaki and Kristiaan Helsen, Global Marketing Management, 3rd Edition, John Wiley & Sopns, Inc, publishers, Copyright 2004, ISBN 0-471-23062-6 Laermer, Richard; Simmons, Mark, Punk Marketing, New York: Harper Collins, 2007. ISBN 978-0-06-115110-1 (Review of the book by Marilyn Scrizzi, in Journal of Consumer Marketing 24(7), 2007) Lears, Jackson, Fables of Abundance: A Cultural History of Advertising in America, Basic Books, 1995, ISBN 0465090753 Leon, Jose Luis (1996) "Los effectos de la publicidad". Barcelona: Ariel, ISBN 84-344-1266-7 Leon, Jose Luis (2001) "Mitoanálisis de la publicidad". Barcelona. Ariel, ISBN 84-344-1285-3 McFall, Liz, Advertising: A Cultural Economy, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc., 2004. ISBN 0-7619-4255-6 Mulvihill, Donald F., "Marketing Research for the Small Company", Journal of Marketing, Vol. 16, No. 2, Oct., 1951, pp. 179–183. Packard, Vance, The Hidden Persuaders, New York, D. McKay Co., 1957. Petley, Julian (2002) "Advertising". North Mankato, Minnesota: Smart Apple Media, ISBN 1-58340-255-1 Young, Charles E., The Advertising Handbook, Ideas in Flight, Seattle, WA April 2005, ISBN 0-9765574-0-1 Wernick, Andrew (1991) "Promotional Culture: Advertising, Ideology and Symbolic Expression (Theory, Culture & Society S.)", London: Sage Publications Ltd, ISBN 0-8039-8390-5 ;Advertising critics
Achbar, Mark (editor), Manufacturing consent : Noam Chomsky and the media: the companion book to the award-winning film by Peter Wintonick and Mark Achbar, Montreal ; New York: Black Rose Books, 1994. ISBN 1551640031 Baines, Paul. (2001) "A Pie in the Face" in Alternatives Journal, Spring 2001 v27 i2 p14. Retrieved: InfoTrac Web: Expanded Academic ASAP plus. (24/07/2002). Boiler, David in: Silent Theft. The Private Plunder of Our Common Wealth, Routledge, New York, February 2003, ISBN 9780415944823, ISBN 0415944821 Chomsky, Noam, (edited by Peter R. Mitchell and John Schoeffel) Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky, New York: The New Press, 2002. Cf. "An Exchange on Manufacturing Consent" De Certeau, Michel. (1984) The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkley, London: University of California Press. Fraser, Nancy. (2000) "Rethinking the Public Sphere: A contribution to the critique of actually existing democracy" in S. During (ed), The Cultural Studies Reader. London and New York: Routledge. Goldman, Debra. (1999) "Consumer Republic" in Adweek.Com, Nov 22, 1999 v36 i47 p13. Retrieved: www.adweek.com (8/08/2002). Habermas, Jürgen. (c1989) The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: an Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. Harkin, James. (1996) "The Logos Fight Back" in New Statesman, June 18, 20001 v130 i4542 p 25. Retrieved: InfoTrac Web: Expanded Academic ASAP plus. (8/08/2002). Hodge, R. and Kress, G. (1988) Social Semiotics. Cambridge: Polity Press. Holt, D. (2002) "Why Brands Cause Trouble? A dialectical theory of Consumer Culture and Branding" in Journal of Consumer Research, June 2002 v29 i1 p 70(21). Retrieved: InfoTrac Web: Expanded Academic ASAP plus. (29/07/2002). Horkheimer, Max and Adorno, Theodor W. (1973) Dialectic of Enlightenment. London: Allen Lane. Jhully, Sut. (2006) The Spectacle of Accumulation. Essays in Media. Culture & Politics, Peter Lang Publishing (June 24, 2006), ISBN 0820479047, ISBN 978-0820479040 Jhully, Sut (1990) The Codes of Advertising: Fetishism and the political Economy of Meaning, Routledge; 1 edition (December 12, 1990), ISBN 041590353X, ISBN 978-0415903530 Jhully, Sut, Leiss, William, Kline, Stephen, Botterill, Jacqueline (2005): Social Communication in Advertising: Consumption in the Mediated Marketplace, Routledge; 3 edition (September 28, 2005), ISBN 0415966760, ISBN 978-0415966764 Kilbourne, Jean: Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel, Free Press; 1 edition (November 2, 2000), ISBN 0684866005 Klein, Naomi. (2000) No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies. New York: Picador, ISBN 0-312-20343-8 Korten, David. (1995) When Corporations Rule the World. 2. Edition 2001: Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco, California, ISBN 1-887208-04-6 Lasch, Christopher. The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations, Norton, New York, ISBN 978-0393307382 Lasn, Kalle. (2000) Culture Jam: how to reverse America's suicidal consumer binge - and why we must, Harper Paperbacks (November 7, 2000), ISBN 0688178057. ISBN 978-0688178055 Lasn, Kalle. (1999) Culture Jam: The Uncooling of America, William Morrow & Company; 1st edition (November 1999), ISBN 0688156568 Lees, Loretta, (1998) "Urban Renaissance and the Street" in Nicholas R. Fyfe (ed) Images of the Street: Planning, Identity and Control in Public Space. London; New York: Routledge. Leiss, William: (1990) Social Communication in Advertising, Routledge; 2 edition (July 27, 1990), ISBN 0415903548, ISBN 978-0415903547 Lemke, Jay L. (1995) Textual Politics: Discourse and Social Dynamics. London: Taylor & Francis. Livingston, Sonia and Lunt, Peter. (1994) Talk on Television: Audience Participation and Public Debate. London & New York: Routledge. Louw, Eric. (2001) The Media and Cultural Production. London: Sage Publications. McChesney, Robert W., Stolzfus, Duane C. S. and Nerone, John C, (2007) Freedom from Advertising: E. W. Scripps's Chicago Experiment (History of Communication), Univ of Illinois Pr (March 30, 2007) McChesney, Robert W. “The Political Economy of Media: Enduring Issues, Emerging Dilemmas”. Monthly Review Press, New York, (May 1, 2008), ISBN 978-1583671610 Prothers, Lisa (1998) Bad.eserver.org, "Culture Jamming: An Interview with Pedro Carvajal" in ''Bad Subjects: Political Education for Everyday Life, Issue #37, March 1998. Rorty, James: “Our Master's Voice: Advertising” Ayer Co Pub, 1976, ISBN 978-0405080449 Sinclair, Upton (1919): The Brass Check Stuart, Ewen. Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and the Social Roots of the Consumer Culture, Basic Books, ISBN 9780465021550, ISBN 0465021557 Williamson, Judith (1994): Decoding Advertisements (Ideas in Progress), Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd (March 1, 1994), ISBN 0714526150, ISBN 978-0714526157
External links
Advertising Educational Foundation, archived advertising exhibits and classroom resources Duke University Libraries Digital Collections: * Ad*Access, over 7,000 U.S. and Canadian advertisements, dated 1911-1955, includes World War II propaganda. * Emergence of Advertising in America, 9,000 advertising items and publications dating from 1850 to 1920, illustrating the rise of consumer culture and the birth of a professionalized advertising industry in the United States. * AdViews, vintage television commercials On-Line exhibits at William F. Eisner Museum of Advertising & Design Art & Copy, a 2009 documentary film about the advertising industry
Category:Advertising Category:Communication design Category:Graphic design Category:Marketing Category:Promotion and marketing communications
![[ReZe365] T-Home IPTV Reklám 2010 (Kutyás - Farkasos)](http://web.archive.org./web/20110902001815im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/zZxC8IUqc1M/0.jpg "[ReZe365] T-Home IPTV Reklám 2010 (Kutyás - Farkasos)")
