CHEPTER-1

INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

1.1 PREFACE

1.2 MEANING OF ADVERTISING

1.3 CHARACTERISTICS OF ADVERTISING

1.4 PURPOSE OF ADVERTISING

1.5 NECESSITY OF ADVERTISING

1.6 ACTIVE PARTICIPANTS IN ADVERTISING

1.7 ADVERTISING AND MARKETING MIX

1.8 IMPORTANCE OF ADVERTISING IN SOCIETY

1.9 TYPES OF ADVERTISING

1.10 ETHICS IN ADVERTISING

1.11 AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT FOR ADVERTISEMENT

1.1 PREFACE:
The word advertising is derived from the latin word "advertere”. The meaning of the term
"advertere” means “to turn the minds of towards". There are a number of writers and authors
who have defined the term advertising from different perspectives. Some of the well-known
definitions of the term advertising are:

William J. Stanton defines advertising as “advertising consists of all the activities involved in
presenting to an audience a non-personal, sponsor-identified, paid-for message about a product
or organisation."

The above definition highlights the following main features of advertising:

1. It is non-personal
2. It is sponsor identified
3. It is a paid form of message.

American Marketing Association (AMA) defines advertising as "advertising is any paid form of
non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods and services by an identified sponsor".

Advertising aids in educating masses regarding business information related to a business firm
promoting its products and services, features of products advertised by that firm, availability of
these products, etc. Advertising proves to be a very effective tool for sellers for marketing their
products whereas for buyers, advertising helps in informing them about the availability of
various products and services in the market. In present competitive market, due to availability of
a number of producers of similar products and services, advertising proves to be an essential and
effective tool in marketing the products of these producers. Due to changing needs, tastes and
preferences of present day customers, advertising holds an important place in helping them to
choose from a variety of products and services.

1.2 MEANING OF ADVERTISING

 1. American Marketing Association has defined advertising as “any paid form of non-
personal presentation of ideas, goods and services by an identified sponsor”.
2. According to Webster, “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 CHARACTERISTICS OF ADVERTISING

1. Communication: Advertising acts as a tool for communicating to masses on a large scale

about products and services available in the market. Advertisements supply complete and
detailed information about products and services to present and prospective buyers. However,
advertising is one way communication, i.e. generally from seller to prospective buyer.

2. Information: An advertisement helps in informing a potential buyer about any new product
launched in the market along with its features, price, benefits, utilities and availability. This
helps the buyer to make a proper choice amongst the varied products available in the market
as per their needs and preferences.

3. Persuasion: Advertising is an art of persuading potential and prospective consumers to buy a

particular product by creating attraction in them towards the product which helps in arousing
desire in them to buy that product. Thus, advertisements aid in their buying behaviour.

4. Profit Maximisation: Through aggressive and effective advertising, manufacturers can

maximise their sales and profits. This is because; advertisements would help to secure more
and more customers for their products which would lead to higher sales and higher profits.

5. Non-Personal Presentation: Advertising lacks personal touch. It does not aim at appealing a
single individual personally. It is non-personal in nature and thus, helps in disseminating
information to masses on a large scale which are its target audience. Advertising is very cost-
effective method for appealing to a large group of audience.
6. Identified Sponsor: An identified sponsor can be a producer or a seller of any product or
service which he wants to advertise. By specifying the brand name and company name of a
product in an advertisement, helps consumers to know the sponsor of that product. Brand
name helps in marketing of products and services on a large scale.

7. Consumer Choice: Advertisements by supplying complete information of a product or

service along with its usage and price, help consumers to make a right choice of a product as
per their needs and which also fits into their budget. Thus, advertisements aid in buying
behaviour of a consumer.

8. Art, Science and Profession: Advertising is an art as it requires a lot of creativity on the part
of a person who designs an advertisement. It is a science as it is an organised body of
knowledge with requires systematic and scientific planning. Advertising is a profession as it
governed by a well defined set of code of conduct and standards.

9. Element of Marketing Mix: Advertising as an effective and powerful tool of marketing mix,
helps in pushing and promoting the product of a manufacturer and creating a demand for it.
Along with large multinational companies to small retailers, all depend on advertising for
marketing their products and services.

10. Element of Creativity: For advertisements to be attractive, artistic and effective and to fulfil
its objective, they should be designed with immense creativity and imagination. The message
provided by the advertisement should be able to create a positive impact on the consumers.

1.4 PURPOSE OF ADVERTISING

The basic objective of advertising is to sell a product or service to its target and potential
customers. Apart from this objective, there are a number of other objectives of advertising as
used by the modern business enterprises. These objectives are stated as follows:
1. To make consumers aware of any new product or service introduced in the market.
2. Advertising supports salesman in selling products. If a brand is very popular, it would be easy
for the salesman to persuade and convince the prospective customers to buy that product.
3. Advertising targets large audience and hence, it can be reached to those masses also where
personal selling is not possible.
4. Advertising is essential for launching a product in a new market and gaining demand for it for
a new set of customers.
5. Advertising creates brand preference. By comparing a product of one brand with a same type
of product of other brand, helps the customers in knowing which product is better as
compared to other.
6. Advertising helps in intimating the general public against the imitation of any brand name.
7. By advertising its products and services, a firm increases its goodwill by assuring better
quality products and services.
8. Advertising leads to competition in the market as all the brands try to distinguish themselves
in terms of quality, uses, benefits and price with other similar brands through advertising. This
in turn benefits the ultimate consumer in terms of better quality products.

1.5 NECESSITY OF ADVERTISING:

In today’s scenario, due to availability of variety of products and service of different brands,
advertising of products has become an essential tool for marketing of these goods and services.
The following points highlight the importance of advertising:

1. Announcement of a New Product: Advertising acts as a tool for making people aware
about introduction of any new product or service in the market. In order to attract the right
audience for the product and to capture the market, it is essential to advertise the newly
launched product or service at right time and through an appropriate source of media.
2. Encourages Research: In order to distinguish its products and services in terms of quality
and benefits from other similar products in the market and create a brand image of it, every
manufacturer advertises its products. For that, every business firm is required to take
extensive research work to search ways for producing better products with enhanced uses.

3. Promotion of Sales: Advertising plays an essential and important role in promoting and
pushing sales of a particular brand. Advertising builds awareness amongst the masses
regarding the different products available in the market, which persuades them to buy a
product of a particular brand. Effective and attractive advertising sparks an interest in the
customers to buy that advertised product which directly boosts the sales of that product.

4. Creation of Good Public Image: Advertising helps the customer to evaluate a particular
product in terms of benefits, price, usage, etc with other similar products of different brands
available in the market. If customers are satisfied with a particular brand, they show brand
loyalty which helps to create a good public image and reputation of the firm manufacturing
that product.

5. Mass Production: Advertising results in large scale production and selling of goods and
services. This is because, attractive and effective advertising helps to secure more and more
customers for the product advertised and therefore, it encourages mass production of goods
and services. Also, mass production lowers the total cost of production which further leads to
reduction in the final price of the product.

6. Education of People: Advertisements educate the people by providing complete information

of the products available in the market in relation to their usage, benefits, price, etc. It
provides a wide range to the customers to choose from as per their needs and requirements.
Through advertising, people get acquainted to new and innovative products which develop
their standard of living.

7. Support to Press: Advertising proves to be a source of revenue to various sources of media

like newspapers, magazines and TV channels. By publishing an ad in a magazine or a
 newspaper or showing an ad on a TV channel, the publishers or the TV channels earn
revenue from the advertiser. This revenue can be utilised by the publisher companies in
improving the quality of their magazines and by TV channels in extending their coverage.

1.6 ACTIVE PARTICIPANTS IN ADVERTISING:

1. Advertiser: The advertiser can be any firm, individual, Government or social organisation
who wants to advertise their products, services or highlight any social issues or ideas to
general public to raise their awareness levels and promote their products and ideas. This group
also includes retailers as they also display various products in their shops for selling them to
the customers.

2. Target Audience: Target audience refers to the desired audience to whom a manufacturer
wants to target for promoting and selling his products. Target audience may include only a
particular segment of customers or mass audience. Through advertising, that manufacturer
tries to arouse interest in its desired audience so that they get attracted towards his products
 and ultimately get persuaded to buy them. Thus, the target audience refers to the recipient of
the messages advocated by the advertisements.

3. Advertising Agencies: Advertising agencies consist of highly creative and professionalised

people who are entrusted with the task of designing, developing and producing ads and
showing and printing them through appropriate media i.e. T.V., magazines, newspapers,
radio, publications, etc. These agencies are service based business and so charge their clients
for producing and popularising their products, services or ideas amongst masses through
advertisements. Advertising agencies are creative teams consisting of layout designers,
editors, photographers, copywriters, artists, etc. These agencies even undertake market
research on behalf of their clients. In short, advertising agencies are the medium through
which a firm, individual, social or Government organisation can promote and communicate
about its goods, services and ideas amongst the masses.

4. Advertising Production People : Advertising production people comprise of all those who
are directly or indirectly concerned with production and development of advertisements.
Attractive and persuasive advertisements are a result of the collective efforts put in by layout
designers, editors, photographers, copywriters, artists, etc., who comprise the advertising
production people. These people are employed by ad agencies or their services are hired by ad
agencies for carrying out the functions of designing and producing ads. It requires a high
degree of creativity, skills and talent on the part of these people to plan and develop an
advertisement that would spread the message of the advertisement effectively amongst the
masses.

5. Target Audience (Readers, Listeners, Viewers and Present and Future Buyers): The
target audience comprise of the readers, listeners, viewers and present and future buyers who
are the recipients of the messages given by advertisements about any product, service or idea.
The target audience can be grouped into three groups as follows:
a) Consumers who are loyal to a particular brand and through advertisements they are
persuaded to stick to the brand.
 b) Consumers who are loyal to a competitor’s brand and so through advertisements they are
persuaded to switch to the brand advertised by highlight its better features, usage and
benefits as compared to its competitor’s brand.
c) Consumers who do not use any such product which is advertised. Thus, they too, are
persuaded to buy the advertised product and gain benefits out of it.

6. Mass Media: Mass media includes T.V, newspapers, radio, magazines, publications, internet,
websites, etc through which the advertising messages are to be highlighted and communicated
to the masses. Depending on the type of the advertising message and the target audience, an
appropriate medium for communicating the message is to be chosen by the advertising
agencies. The main elements of mass media are listed as follows:
(a) Print Media: It includes those sources which print and publish the advertising messages.
Print media comprises of newspapers, magazines, publications, journals, etc.
(b) Electronic Media: People can even obtain information about various products, services
and ideas through electronic media which includes internet, ads shown on television,
radio, multimedia, etc.
(c) Outdoor Media: Outdoor media consists of neon signs, billboards, posters, hoardings, air
balloons, handbills, etc.
(d) Direct Mail: Advertising messages can even be communicated directly to the target
audience through sending them letters, brouchers, pamphlets, leaflets, etc.

7. Government Authorities: The advertising field is bound with certain well defined norms,
standards and code of conduct laid down by various advertising regulating authorities. All
advertising firms are bound to function within these standards and norms. The Government
frames various laws and regulations which all advertising firms are required to follow. In
India, advertising regulating authorities include, The Advertising Standards Council of India
(ASCI) and Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC).

8. Advertising Production Firms: As the name suggests, advertising production firms are
engaged with production and development of advertisements. By securing the collective help
and creativity of the advertising production people, these firms produce advertisements of
 their clients. The advertising production firm is responsible for planning, designing, and
producing a final ad to transmit the advertising effectively amongst the masses.

1.7 ADVERTISING AND MARKETING MIX:

Advertising is basically related to the promotion element of the marketing mix as the main
objective of advertising is to promote and push products and services for sale. However, it is
blending of all elements of marketing mix – product, price, place and promotion. After
producing and packaging a product, it is necessary to fix an appropriate price for it and decide a
key market for promoting and selling the product.

1. Advertising and Product: Through advertising, consumers are informed about the main
features of a product launched in the market in terms of its usage, benefits, features, price, etc.
It also helps to distinguish it from the other similar competitive products available in the
market. A persuasive and effective advertising would go a long way in informing the
consumers about the value of the product and arousing interest in the minds of the consumers
to buy that particular product. Thus, advertising would only help in promoting the product but
 for that the product should also be designed in such a way that is something unique in terms of
quality, design, features, packaging, customer service, etc.

2. Advertising and Price: A manufacture or a marketer should use an appropriate pricing

strategy to fix price for its products, as a firm’s pricing strategy, too affects the advertising
design and style. At times, products of high quality and value to consumers are priced on a
higher side. In that case, advertising plays a major role in convincing and persuading people to
know the worth of the high price by educating and informing them about the benefits they
would receive from that product as compared to its substitutes. Also, at times people equate
products with lower price to lower quality and hence, prefer to buy their substitutes. In that
case also, advertising has to be very effective and persuasive to compel the people to buy it.

3. Advertising and Place: Place includes distribution and methods for reaching a product to its
customers. Place, too, plays an important role in marketing of goods and services. Before
selecting an appropriate place for selling one’s products, it essential that a marketer undertakes
market research to study the kind of audience of that market to decide whether that market and
audience would be a convenient place for marketing his goods and services. Also, the goods
should be made available in the market at right time when its need arises. For effective
distribution of goods and services, advertising is of utmost important.

4. Advertising and Promotion: The main function of advertising is promoting and pushing a
product for sale. Advertising helps to raise awareness amongst the masses about the existing
and any newly launched products in the markets along with the products’ ability to satisfy the
requirements of the user. Advertising also helps to distinguish a product in terms of better
quality, price, usage and benefits from its competitors. Also, due to availability of a number
of similar products in the markets, it is essential to promote one’s products through
advertising. Without awareness, interest would be not developed in the minds of the buyers
to buy a particular product. Here, advertising plays an important role in persuading people to
buy a particular brand.
4. Advertising and Pace: Pace refers to the speed at which the products and services are
introduced in the market. When at a time, a number of new brands are introduced, it is
essential to inform and educate the people about these newly introduced products with their
features and usage. In that case, advertising is the only tool for making these brands familiar
amongst the masses. Advertising would help in widening the knowledge of the people about
various products and services available in the market.

5. Advertising and Packaging: Products are packed in order to protect them from damage
during transportation and also to maintain its quality. An attractive package arouses interest
in the minds of the consumers towards the product and helps in promoting it. Consumers
equate products with creative packaging with good quality and thus, it compels people to buy
such products. This builds satisfaction in the consumers that they have bought good quality
products.

8. Advertising and Positioning: Positioning of a product refers to positioning or selecting a

correct target audience for marketing one’s product and creating a distinct image of the brand
in the minds of the buyers. By highlighting the value of a product, in terms of its quality,
usage, price and benefits through advertising, a consumer can get from that product as
compared to its substitutes, helps to create a brand image of the people. This helps to create a
demand for the product and continuous advertising would help people to loyalty towards the
product.
1.8 IMPORTANCE OF ADVERTISING IN SOCIETY

Advertising plays a very effective and important role in today’s world in promoting one’s
products where there is a tough competition in the market due to availability of similar products.
It has become essential to make customer aware and informed about any new products launched
in the market and persuade them to buy them. Also, the role of advertising has changed over
time. The following points highlight the role of advertising in society.

1. Encourage Purchasing: The main role of advertising is to instil interest in the minds of the
consumers towards a product and encourage them in purchasing it. In today’s world, due to
availability of wide range of similar products, it is essential that every manufacturer advertise
his product and distinguish it from others. At times, advertising is even concerned with
manipulating the minds of the consumers to purchase and use the product advertised. Thus,
the purchasing or buying behaviour of consumers is largely influenced by advertising.

2. Reflect Cultural Trends: Different cultures differ in terms of clothing, cuisine, traditions,
customs, etc. Advertising is a medium to communicate to the people all over the world about
varied cultural trends. Certain advertisements depict the patterns of varied culture to increase
 their knowledge and awareness about different cultures. This leads to some uniqueness in the
social life of the people.

3. Promotes Economic Growth: There is a positive correlation between advertising and

economic growth. Effective and persuasive advertising leads to increase in sales of products
of a company which increases their revenue. When a company succeeds, it creates more jobs,
pays more tax and thus, contributes to economic development of a nation.

4. Improves Standard of Living: Advertising plays a key role in improving standard of living
of people. Through advertising, people are educated and informed about any latest
introduction of innovative products and services with enhanced quality and usage to the
people in the market. Due to this awareness, people are stimulated to buy such innovative
products which improve their standard of living. Thus, advertisements help in making people
switch to new habits by putting aside old habits.

5. Provides Employment: Advertising creates a number of job positions for the people in media
like artists, copywriters, editors, photographers, layout designers, etc. People possessing skills
in these areas can find employment in the advertising field. On the other hand, advertising
creates demand. Thus, to meet this increasing demand of goods and services advertised, it
makes it essential for a manufacturer to hire more and more human resources to increase
production. This also leads to increase in employment opportunities.

6. Advertising and Brand Building: Advertisements aid in building a brand’s equity. In the
present scenario, due to presence of a number of goods and services of similar kinds, it has
become essential to differentiate one’s products from others in terms of quality, usage and
benefits. This differentiation is termed as creating a brand. Advertising helps in building and
positioning a brand by making people aware of it by communicating them about the brands’
uniqueness from its substitutes.
In order to retain a brand’s image, it is essential that the brand provides services as advertised
and promised. For example, Toothpaste A promises to that it by its continuous use, one could
get whiter and shinier teeth. On the other hand, Toothpaste B promises that by its regular use,
one could get relief from sensitivity. This would help consumers to make a right choice of
toothpaste as per their needs as to whether they want whiter teeth or relief from sensitivity.
However, it is important that whatever has been claimed and promised by these toothpastes
should be fulfilled in order to maintain its brand image.

The most important aspect in brand building is creating brand awareness. In this case,
advertising plays a key role in making people aware and informed about a particular brand.
This is because, without awareness people would not be stimulated to buy that brand. The
main objective of advertising is to arouse interest in the minds of the people towards products
and services advertised and persuade and stimulate them to buy them. This helps a firm to
increase its customer base and retain its existing customers. Thus, to build a brand, the first
step is to build brand awareness amongst the target audience.

A brand name is very important for a manufacturer as well as the ultimate customers. To build
a brand’s personality, it is important to highlight its unique or differentiating qualities and
value to the people to make people aware as to in what terms is their product better than
others. Thus, brand personality helps in differentiating one’s products and services from
others and aids in competitive advantage.

A strong brand name can help a manufacture or marketer to fix a premium price for its
product, without losing its customers. This is because, if once, people become loyal towards a
particular brand, they would be even willing to pay more for that brand, since; they have
developed trust towards that product. For businesses to be successful, creating or building a
strong brand name is of utmost importance. A key suggestion in building a strong brand name
is that businesses should undertake a market research to study the needs and requirements of
people and create products and services to fulfil these demands. After manufacturing such
products, people should be made aware through advertising of the benefits they would receive
 by using these products. This is termed as brand positioning. An effective brand positioning,
in long term would help in establishing a strong brand name.

Elements in Brand building:

1. Brand Differentiation: A business firm can differentiate its brand from its competitors by
highlighting its uniqueness through advertisement. A brand name helps to distinguish it from
others.

2. Improvised or Innovative Products: With changing time, the needs, requirements, habits,
tastes, preferences of people also change. They demand improvised or innovative products to
meet their changing needs. Thus, a business firm should continuously try to innovate or
improve their products, to fulfil these changing requirements of people.

3. Timely Availability: How strong a brand name is, but if the products of that brand are not
timely stocked in the market when their need arises, people switch on to some other brands.
Thus, to retain its existing customers and attract more customers, products and services should
be made available in the market on timely basis.

4. Blending of Media: Due to presence of a number of media channels, it is important for a

marketer to choose an appropriate media which would effectively help in communicating
advertising message to its target audience and promoting and pushing his products and
services. Also, the marketer can promote his products by using multiple media channels.
Using multiple media channels would also help in promoting one’s products and services
effectively.
1.9 TYPES OF ADVERTISING
There a number of kinds of advertising which are stated as follows:
• Informative Advertising
• Persuasive Advertising
• Reminder Advertising
• Reinforcement Advertising.

All these types of Advertisements can be advertised using various Media Vehicles. Media
Vehicles mainly include Television, Radio, Print Media and Out of Home Advertising. The type
of advertising channel to be chosen will depend on the type of advertisement that is to be
promoted. If it is informative advertisement, print advertisement is the most effective whereas
for persuasive advertisements and reminder advertisements, advertisements can be promoted
using television and Out of Home Media Vehicles. As reminder advertisements are only for
reminding the customer that they have to buy a product OOH advertisements of these types can
be seen outside the Malls, near a market place etc.
1.10 ETHICS IN ADVERTISING:
Ethics, as a branch of social science is concerned with showing what is good and what is bad. In
terms of advertising, ethics are a set a set of moral and social norms which every advertiser
should follow. Ethics in advertising bind an advertiser to follow a well-defined code of conduct.
An advertisement which does not make false or misleading claims, maintains public decency and
morality, restricts advertising harmful and injurious products and maintains fair competition is an
ethical one. The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI)has specified a Code for Self-
Regulation in Advertising.

Advertisers should possess adequate knowledge of ethical principles in advertising, so that they
can differentiate between right and wrong. In short, every advertiser should follow the following
three principles:
1. Depicting truth through their advertisements
2. Maintaining moral dignity of a person and public decency
3. Responsibility towards various stakeholders of the society

The main objective of advertising to inform and educate masses about any new products and
services introduced in the market as well as about the existing ones with relation to its usage,
benefits and value to the people. For a marketer, advertising is a tool to gain more and more
customers for its products and capture a larger market share. In doing so, at times, advertisers
present their ads in a very attractive manner and a lot of puffing is done. They show that their
products are very unique and beneficial to customers in terms of usage, price and benefits as
compared to their substitutes. But, at times, the information provided through such
advertisements is false and misleading. Just to gain more and more customers in a shorter time,
advertisers indulge in unethical advertising. This would be helpful in short run but not in long
run. If an advertisement is misleading, the business firm or organisation would lose its
credibility. Thus, it is important for an advertiser to follow ethical principles and norms in
advertising his products and services.

The following points highlight various elements of ethical advertising:

1. An advertiser should only indulge in true advertising. This means that, their advertisements
should only provide true information and highlight true facts of their products or services.
They should not indulge in tall and misleading claims, just to attract customers. Only the real
benefits, which the people can receive from using that product or service, should be promised
by the advertisements. There should be no exaggerations in the ad.

2. An advertiser should never advertise products which are injurious or harmful to health and
environment. For example, advertisements of products like cigarettes and those containing
tobacco should never be advertised. Advertisements of such harmful products are banned in
most of the countries, including India.

3. Advertisements which are against public morality and decency should be avoided. The
message to be spread through advertisements should be stated in clear terms, with any scope
of ambiguity or double meaning. Advertisements should maintain the limit of decency.
Advertisements should be not vulgar or obscene.

4. Advertisements should maintain fairness in competition. They should just provide true
information about their products and services in the market and persuade people to buy them.
They should be rational and objective in nature.
1.11 AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT FOR ADVERTISEMENT:

Advertisement is one of the most important tools for the mass media communication. But when
an advertisement is telecasted, it is very important to know if the advertisement campaign was
able to help increase the sales or not as otherwise the main objective of the advertisement would
fail. Now, in order to understand if the advertisement campaign was effective or not various
measurement techniques are used for different types of media vehicles.

These can be iterated as follows:

Print Media:
The major tool that is used for measuring the effectiveness is the Readership survey where
audience are asked which are the brands that they remember from the magazine or the newspaper
they have read in the last six months. Other form of Measurement is to present the audience with
a list of brands or cutting and note down which all cuttings were they able to recognize. These
different approaches for Print Media Audience Measurement are known as Recent Reading
approach and Through the Book approach.

Television Audience Measurement: For Television Audience Measurement, there are two
primary approaches which are Dairy Method and People Meter. Both of these measurements are
done by different Market Research agencies like AC Nielsen and IMRB. The division which
conducts these measurements is usually known as TAM i.e. Television Audience Measurement.
In the Diary approach, the audience is supposed to maintain a log of all the channels and the
timings at which one sees those channels. In the people Meter, there is a choice for the audience
to select their age group, the device automatically logs the information about which channel is
being viewed at that particular instant.

Radio Audience Measurement: For Radio, there is RAM i.e. Radio Audience measurement
department of the Research agencies which do the audience measurement the working of which
is similar to TAM. In this case, the radio frequency along with the demographics of the audience
is taken into consideration.

Internet Media: Recently, Web Audience Measurement (WAM) had been introduced to
understand the effectiveness of the Internet advertisements. This type of measurement is simpler
as it would need one to understand total number of times, a particular link has been clicked or the
total number of times, a particular page on it has been viewed.

Audience Measurement is one of the critical parts of Advertising as it helps to understand if the
main objective of advertising is being met or not. Also, after audience measurement it is also
important to substantiate the facts by comparing the results with that of the sales in the particular
month or in the near future as the advertisements unlike sampling gives result after a long period
of time and not in the immediate future.
OVERVIEW OF THE INDIAN OOH INDUSTRY:

With the backdrop of Government initiatives with respect to improved street furniture and
removal of illegal billboards, the out-of-home advertising industry is estimated to rise at a greater
pace over the coming five years. At present, the Out-of-home advertising industry is worth Rs 14
billion, which is expected to rise to 24 billion Rs by 2015 with a growth rate of 11.4%.

With the industry’s own initiative to undertake research and suggest better mechanisms to
measure the out-of-home audience, in future we can have better options and solutions for
measuring outdoor audience.

Since it is expected that digital out-of-home advertising will grow rapidly in the coming years,
advertisers will stand a chance to gain customised services as per their requirements related to
their target audience and target market. Due to this adaptability feature of out-of-home
advertising, more and more advertisers would prefer to advertise their products and services
through OOH media.

Prime Factors Affecting Out-of-home Advertising Industry:

Trends
• FMCG, BFSI, Telecom, E & M emerged as the best advertisers for 2010.
• The present mantra is not the number of advertising panels but the quality of the audience and
its quantity
• The upcoming trend under out-of-home advertising is digital out-of-home advertising.
• Outdoor advertising companies are coming up with personalised services to advertisers to
meet their advertising needs to target a particular target audience.
• Outdoor advertising companies are concentrating more on the return of investment.

Issues:
• Systems and methods for measuring audience
• Disorganised and Unsystematic Industry
• Absence of Quality Properties

Implications:
• The industry recorded a growth of 12.0% in 2010 over 2009 and reached 14 billion in 2010.
• The growth in out-of-home advertising in 2010 was a result of the growth in the field of
infrastructure
• Factors responsible for the growth of out-of-home advertising in India are personalised
services offered by advertising companies.
• Lacks of adequate out-of-home audience measurement mechanisms pose a challenge before
the industry.
• The new form of out-of-home advertising i.e. digital OOH is estimated to grow rapidly in the
coming five years.
OUT-OF-HOME AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT
Out-of-home advertising is very different from other mediums of advertising. In case of other
mediums of advertising, the advertising message is to be delivered to the masses by securing
their active participation in using that medium of delivery. For e.g. for delivering advertising
messages through television, radio, newspaper, magazine, internet, etc., a person should
personally be available in front of a T.V set, computer or he/she should have a newspaper or a
magazine in his hand. This means that the major factor in measuring the outdoor audience is to
keep a record of total number of people who come in contact with the advertising source or
platform during a given period of time.

With respect to outdoor advertising, audience measurement can be undertaken when a person is
outside his home. While walking on the road, or travelling by a car, bus, or any other means of
transport, waiting on a bus stop or on railway station or on airport, etc, he may across a number
of advertising panels. Of these, some panels would be quite large, whereas others may be too
small to be visible from far away, some may not be completely visible to the person as such
panels may be facing the people passing by the other way, whereas others may be exactly in the
front of the person, etc. Some panels of advertisements would be placed on the main roads,
whereas some would be posted on the sides and back of buses, some may be posted on the
shelter of the bus-stops. Thus, depending upon the size and site of these panels, the visibility of
such panels for a person can be judged. Also, in order to measure whether the advertisement on
these panels would be seen by the people, depends on the tasks they are engaged in while passing
through such panels and the time they spend in viewing the advertisements on these panels.

Due to advancement in the field of information systems, a number of advanced or sophisticated

devices to study movement of humans and their behaviour have been discovered which aid in
calculating the total number of audience passing a given panel during a certain period of time
and the actual number of audience for each panel.

As compared to other mediums of advertising, a different approach is required to measure the

large number of panels and their geographic sites. For that purpose, in audience measurement for
large geographic areas, user centric measurement based on sample study would be applicable but
that would prove very costly. In order to make this method effective and accurate, the sample
size should be large enough to provide an appropriate result and decision making regarding
planning for size of the panel for displaying the advertisement. In order to estimate the out-of-
home media audience accurately and economical, most countries, prefer a combination of sample
survey and mobility measurement to get accurate results.

Factors Influencing Measurement of Out-of-home Advertising:

1. Clarity about the area to be covered through outdoor advertising and the target audience.
2. A definite list of the site, type and visibility of the panels which are to be measured
3. Study of people’s behaviour
4. Knowledge of approximate number of people passing through the geographic area under
study
5. Information about the people and vehicles at the roadside which are not calculated through
survey
6. Financial resources to undertake the measurement and the market information available would
influence the level of sophistication of each of the factors mentioned.
PRINCIPLES OF OOH AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT:
Out-of-home audience measurement is based on the following ten principles which are generally,
applicable to all media and specifically to out-of-home audience measurement:

1. Meeting the Requirements of the Marketplace:

In order to create an efficient system for measuring the out-of-home audience, it is essential
that the advertiser undertakes a thorough study of the whole market place of the country in
general and specifically the categories of people getting influenced by outdoor advertising.
The main objective behind this study should be to fulfil the requirements and needs of the
target audience.

2. Coordination Between Research Companies and Out-of-home audience:

There should be a complete consultation between the research companies and the out-of-
home audience on a regular basis. Some countries have specified a well defined procedure in
order to ensure that the consultation between the research companies and the user audience is
effective. There should be an advisory body who is assigned the task of ensuring that a
proper coordination or consensus exists between the research companies, the advertising
media and the customers.

3. Openness to Information
The information related to the procedure followed along with its proof to validate such
procedure should be made available open to all. This information only will help a user to
understand the deficiencies of a market to make allowances for it.

4. Optimum allocation of Resources:

 Resources for carrying out the research of measuring the out-of-home audience should be
allocated judiciously and appropriately based on the requirements of the market and the
factors influencing the advertising decisions.

5. Scientific Method:
The methods to be used for the measurement should be scientific in nature. The system of
measurement should be valid enough to measure actually what is required to be measured.
On the other hand, the system of measurement should also be reliable enough that it should
yield results similar if the research is undertaken using same methods, a couple of times.

6. Ideal Research Practices:

To make data collection procedure and report making accurate, it is essential to observe the
best or ideal practices available for the same. Though, there are some or the other drawbacks
of every method, however there are certain procedures that are most acceptable. Overall,
transparency should be maintained at each and every level.

7. Quality Control:
In order to maintain quality at each level, adequate quality control measures need to be
observed in each and every step of the research i.e. in collection of data, classification,
tabulation, editing and report writing. The out-of-home audience measurement procedures
should comply with all the prescribed national and international codes of conduct.

8. Increasing Response:
In order to extract reliable and accurate information from the respondents, it should be
ensured that the respondents are not overburdened. This will help to maximise the response
rates and reduce the level of biasness. Also, the respondents would be made comfortable to
maintain their confidential and private issues.
9. Observing Equality:
In order to ensure fairness in competition, it is essential that all the audience groups are
exposed to same conditions and a fair price for getting accessed to information about the
audience. For that the following points should be borne in mind:

• Transparency regarding the measurement procedures and systems followed

• Fair dealings between the sellers and buyers of advertising space

• Optimum utilisation of the data that would be very costly to collect.

10. Methodological Experimentation:

The research bodies carrying out the task of out-of-home audience measurement should
undertake extensive research to search for innovative methods and conduct experiments in
order to test other alternative methods. The results of such experiments should be made
openly available to the general public for their verification.
TRADITIONAL & MODERN WAYS OF OOH ADVERTISING ARE AS FOLLOW:

1. TRADITIONALWAYS OF OOH ADVERTISING

1.1 Billboards

1.2 Bus Shelters

1.3 Community Branding

1.4 External Facades

1.5 Flyover Panels

1.6 Gantry

1.7 Hoardings

1.8 Pole Kiosk

1.9 Public Utility

1.10 Smart Bus Shelter

1.11 Social Advertising

1.12 Subway Panels

1.13 Traffic Media

1.14 Unipole
 2. MODERN WAYS OF OOH ADVERTISING:
2.1 Waste disposal bins advertising
2.2 Boat club advertising
2.3 Call center
2.4 Cinema advertising
2.5 Coffee culture advertising
2.6 Cyber café advertising
2.7 Fast-Food Chain / Restaurant Advertising
2.8 Golf Club Advertising
2.9 In-Store Advertising
2.10 Mall Advertising
2.11 Nightlife Advertising
2.12 Office Complex Advertising
2.13 Petrol Pump Advertising
2.14 Residential Building Advertising
2.15 Toll Booth Advertising
2.16 3D Graphics
2.17 Balloon Advertising
2.18 Candy Bar Advertising
2.19 Dustbin Advertising
2.20 Elevator Advertising
2.21 Escalator Advertising
2.22 Food Court Advertisement
2.23 Lobby & Reception Advertisement
2.24 Mobile Charging Units Advertising
2.25 Seat Branding
2.26 Shoe Shine Advertising
2.27 Shopping Bag Advertising
2.28 Staircase Advertising
2.29 Ticket / Receipt/ Bill Advertising
2.30 Ticket Counter Advertisement
2.31 Washroom Advertising
2.32 Airline Advertising
2.33 Airport Advertising
2.34 Auto Rickshaw Advertising
2.35 Bus Advertising
2.36 Metro Advertising
2.37 Railway Advertising
2.38 Taxi Cab Advertising
2.39 Display Van
2.40 Aerial Advertising
2.41 LCD Advertising
2.42 Scroller Advertising
2.43 Trivision Advertising