1

1
INTRODUCTION ADVERTISING

Unit Structure
1.0 Objectives
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Definitions of Advertising
1.3 Features of Advertising
1.4 Objectives of Advertising
1.5 Importance of Advertising
1.6 Active Participant in advertising
1.7 Role of advertising Marketing Mix
1.8 Role of advertising in Society
1.9 Summery
1.10 Questions

1.0 OBJECTIVES

After completion of this lesson the student will be able to

understand:
Meaning, Nature and Features of Advertising
Objectives of Advertising
Importance of Advertising
Active Participant in Advertising
Role of Advertising in Marketing Mix
Role of Advertising in Society
Advertising and Brand building

1.1 INTRODUCTION:

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,
 2

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.

1.2 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”.

1.3 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.
 3

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.

1.4 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.
 4

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.

1.5 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
 5

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.

1.6 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