Advertising and Promotion (MKT621) VU

Lesson 2
INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

LECTURE OVERVIEW
In this lecture we will study the reasons and advantages of advertising and its objectives. We
will also discuss various segments of advertising and different aspects of definition besides
briefly relating to its history.

WHY TO ADVERTISE?
ADVANTAGES
• Advertising is every where.
• Advertiser may not see individual consumer yet has research (knowledge) about the
consumer.
• Advertising can be far cheaper per potential customer than personal selling.
So – Advertising is better as a sales tool and though it is non-personal yet is more effective.

Now therefore we must further analyze in depth about the definition of advertising besides
understanding personal selling and Non personal as explained before in the last lecture.
Continuing with the standard definition let us take up one by one important components as
underlined below:
So, just to review the definition
“Advertising is the non - personal communication of information usually persuasive in nature
about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media.”
(Bovee 1992)

Communication
Means through which one person can pass information, ideas or feelings to another through
speech or pictures.
Though, communication uses all senses like smell, touch, taste, sound & sight, only two are
useful in advertising i.e. Sound & Sight
Sound: Radio, Television — micro-sound chips in magazines.
Sight: The most useful medium of communication like print, i.e. “A picture is worth a thousand
words”

Information
Information is knowledge, fact or news. It comes in different forms:
Complete or Incomplete! Biased or deceptive!
What it is? What it looks like? How it works?
What are its benefits &drawbacks etc?

Paid For
If an advertisement is created, placed in the media so the cost to create and time or space in the
media must be paid for.
This is the point, where advertising departs from Public Relations.

Persuasive
Purpose of advertisement is to Identify & differentiate one product from another and to
persuade the customer for preferring one to another.
Products, Services or Ideas

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Advertising and Promotion (MKT621) VU
Things advertiser wants consumers to buy. There are three basic differentiations in products
1. Perceptible – Obviously different from other-like color, size, shape etc.
2. Imperceptible – Those which exist but are not obvious.
3. Induced. – No obvious difference but inform people about the difference

Identified Sponsors
Telling audience about the sponsors

Various Media
Like Newspapers, Magazines, Radio, TV, Billboards, hoardings, balloons… So “anything
which is used to communicate ideas from one person to another in non personal-way.”

HISTORY OF ADVERTISING.

1704 1st newspaper ad, seeking buyer for an Oyster bay was published.
1843 1st Ad. Agency set up in Philadelphia
1882 Advertising of a soap brand was done with a huge budget of 11000 US$.
1893 A famous beverage brand was registered as a trade mark.
1899 J. Walters: 1st agency opens an office in U.K.
1923 1st entertainment program was sponsored by an advertiser.
1947 J .Walter Thompson 1st agency to cross 100Mil $ in billing.
1976 Indian commercial TV launched.
1978 1st TV commercial is launched.
1990 A new Medium Internet is born.
1993 5 million internet users get on line.
1999 Internet advertising breaks 2 Billion US$ mark.
2003 TV show with built in advertising is planned.

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