Advertising is the promotion of a product or service and is extremely pervasive in contemporary society.

To maximize sales, companies will pay a premium for wide exposure through the mass media. Advertising space is common, but not restricted to these realms; billboards, public transportation, movies (product placement), schools, clothing, even bathroom stalls carry ads and the industry is constantly finding new ways to advertise. The United States has the largest advertising market, accounting for half of the world's advertising expenditures (estimated at 500 billion in 2004 by the New Yorker). Japan holds a secure second place over Germany and the United Kingdom but still at less than one fifth of the U.S. total. In the United States, the number one target market for most major companies is the youth market. American youth spend over $70 billion a year as consumers and also influence their parents purchases (The Educators Reference Desk). Marketing to youth begins in early childhood where approximately 90% of the ads shown during childrens programs promote food and drink products. Companies believe that young people are more inclined to be loyal to their favorite products if they are influenced early on. Most companies employ other persuasive tactics to lure the youth dollar, like enlisting celebrity endorsers. Actors, musicians, and athletes earn a lot of money to promote everything from cereal to expensive clothes and lifestyle choices. Companies hope that youth will define their personal identity through a loyalty to what they buy, wear and eat. Although the majority of youth are attracted to logos, brand names, and popular chains, many others resist brand culture for political reasons. One example of resistance is the culture jam movement in North America. Founder and publisher of Adbusters magazine Kalle Lasn and other media activists are concerned about the erosion of our physical and cultural environments by commercial forces. Culture jamming aims to change the way information flows, the way institutions wield power, the way television stations are run and how food, fashion, automobile, sports, music and culture industries set their agendas.

Importance Of Advertisement For A Product

Research in advertising is done in order to produce better advertisements that are more efficient in motivating customers to buy a product or a service. The research can be based on a particular advertising campaign or can be more generalized and based on how advertisements create an effect on peoples mind. Lots of approaches are involved to go about conducting an advertising research like economical, psychological, demographical and sociological. When designing an advertisement for a particular product many things should be researched like where it should be displayed, whether the advertisement can be printed in newspapers or magazines or broadcasted on television or radio or published on the Internet. Many methods are undertaken to collect relevant information. The research itself is of two kinds, syndicated and customized. Syndicated research is a single research done by the company that is available to other companies as well. Customized research is research based on certain criteria and is done for a particular company and its results are available to only that company.

Pre-testing or copy testing is a type of customized research that determines the in-market efficiency of an advertisement before it is released or before the final production. The more the pre-testing is done the more likely that it will be a successful advertisement and each pre-testing should be applied number of times. This can done by studying the level of attention the customers have, motivation, brand linkage, communication and entertainment. Flow of emotions and flow of attention are broken down and studied individually. The results are applied on the advertisement that is still being developed to recognize the weak points and replace them. A reliable feedback loop can guide the researchers, client and the agency to work in harmony. Tests should be applied during the storyboard stage of ad making. This is an early stage and the results are highly predictive. During this process images are selected and used as integrated campaign print ad. Post-testing or ad tracking studies are either syndicated or customized. Studies are done over a period of time or continuously. The in-market research is done to understand a brands linkage, performance, awareness, and preference along with product attitudes and usage. They are done by, conducting interviews either on phone or Internet. Testing the finished advertisement provides the confidence and gives an idea whether it is following the strategy. All the above studies should facilitate the clients advertisement development make the end product easier to achieve. The study should contain rational information having not only surface knowledge but also provide deep in-sight that will open window to a customers mind. The customer, too, should provide precise information based on facts and not based on imaginary thinking and self-delusion. He should be able to explain the role of advertisement in the whole marketing plan. Working in vacuum doesnt get the desired result. The basis is to provide in-depth understanding about the consumers for improving on the advertisement techniques and other marketing decisions. The traditional methods of qualitative and quantitative techniques have been improved to analyze the information with good insight. The rapidly changing likes and needs of the customers are difficult to track, but should be studied in order to increase the quality of advertisement. The changes are because of the huge number of options offered to them by the market.

Steps
1. 1 Begin the ad creation by analysing your product and consumer. Each ad has to be made specifically for those who are interested in buying the product or using the service, namely the "Consumer", or theTarget Audience.

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Who is your consumer? use your product / service. Search for as much information about them as possible. If your product is already in the market you can obtain this information by conducting consumer surveys, talking to the sales people, or observing consumer behaviour at various stores. If the product has not as yet launched, use best guess strategy or existing market information. Thus you will be able to define who your buyer or user is - this is your Target Audience, or the Consumer.
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If you are selling a pencil, your target audience may be kids, students, women, men or teachers. Are they the users, buyers or influencers? In the case of pencils users may be students, buyers are parents and influencers are friends.

3. 3 Find out WHAT is so special about your product, the unique selling proposition. Make sure you find only one compelling reason otherwise you will confuse your reader. This is also sometimes referred to as the brand positioning. Look for something that current competitors do not offer or do not overtly claim to offer.
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Identify a relevant

Highlight the Product benefit unique product offering. By relevant it should be something that the consumer needs or likes, and not that's unique for the sake of it. An example of something unique to your product but not relevant is a colourful garbage bag.
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Finding the one most relevant reason is more challenging than it sounds. Make a list of your product benefits and then rank them in the order of importance to your Consumer (not to you). Concentrate on the top most benefits. Is there an unmet desire or need, any frustration in the mind of your consumer, that will create a market for your particular product? Assess the need gap that exists for the product or service The product claim you make should be credible and trustworthy - don't make incredulous claims that your product can not deliver. Take for example the pencils. Do they need to sharpened or be lead replaced. Are they easy to grip, should they be smooth and stylish, and come in many attractive colors, so on so forth

4. 4 Understand WHY will they buy

Consumers have many choices

or how will they use your product. Why consumers buy this product category, your brand or the competitor's brand. 5. 5 Decide HOW to effectively convey the Product message. Use the information that you have collected to form a "Creative Brief" for your creative team.
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Normally the product benefit or your USP is highlighted in the ad by using catchy headlines and attention grabbing visuals. For the tone and style of the ad you need to keep your Target Audience in mind. It should get their attention, be easy to understand, informative, correct in tone and manner and above all entertaining. Engage the consumer to make your ad stand out in clutter (a term used to describe plethora of ad messages that an average consumer is exposed to) and be different from competitors. Words such as "Free", "Extra", "Best", "New" or "Now" are the traditional favourites. For an instant response, action words such as Call Now, Hurry, Rush, work well. Don't forget to include all the information that is required but at the same time don't overload. Keep it simple and short.

6. 6 Think of when will they buy, how will they shop for it. This will help you decide how, when and where to advertise, what media is best for you; choices may be local Newspaper, web, pamphlets and many others. 7. 7 Admire your ad. It might be a great ad, but you are not sure that it will sell what you want it to sell, until you have tested it amongst your Target Audience. Put the ad out and have a questionnaire ready to find out if you have reached the audience you set out to.

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Edit Tips

Always take notes of important things- when you do that you can be sure everything is logical and not contradictory. Also it serves as a template for checking. When in doubt trust your gut; even professionals do it. Check, recheck and check again is the gospel law of advertising. Follow the rules, but after that break them, great ads were created by breaking rules. If possible, and if you know how, use the golden ratio for your advertisement design.