Introduction:

Advertising is an audio or visual form of marketing

communication that employs an openly sponsored, non-
personal message to promote or sell a product, service or
idea. Sponsors of advertising are often businesses wishing to
promote their products or services. Advertising is
differentiated for public relations in that an advertiser usually
pays for and has control over the message. It differs from
personal selling in that the message is non-personal, i.e., not
directed to individuals.
Advertising is communicated through various mass media,
including traditional media such as newspapers, magazines,
television, radio, outdoor advertising or direct mail; and new
media such as search results, blogs, social media, websites or
text messages.
The actual presentation of the message in a medium is
referred to as an advertisement or “ad” for short.
Commercial ads often seek to generate increased
consumption of their products or services through
“branding”, which associates a product name or image with
certain qualities in the minds of consumers.
On the other hand, ads that intend to elicit an
immediate sale are known as direct-response advertising.
Non-commercial entities that advertise more than consumer
products or services include political parties, interest groups,
religious organisations and governmental agencies.
 Non-profit organisations may use free modes of
persuasion, such as a public service announcement.
Advertising may also be used to reassure employees or
shareholders that a company is viable or successful.

Evolution:
Many elements of Indian culture and industry have British
roots, so that British advertising models usually work well. In
1991, the government dramatically liberalized Indian
economy, opening it to international business. The
emergence of a moderately affluent middle-class numbering
in the hundreds of millions attracts multinational
corporations and the international advertisers.
 Advertising in India operates at two levels. Ads for
high-value products appear in English-language papers such
as The Hindu and The Madras Mail, which targeted
Europeans and high-status Indians. By contrast, ads for low-
value products are typically placed in vernacular papers and
are aimed at a lower middle class with highly restricted
spending power. The working and the peasant’s population,
with very low disposable incomes, are seldom targeted by
the advertising agencies. Local merchants might use signs
and posters to reach them. Cricket is one sport where the
Indians have had an international success, so that cricket
stars are prominent endorsers in national advertising.

FEATURES OF ADVERTISING
 Paid form:
Advertising is always a paid form of communication and
hence communication nature. Thus, advertising can clarify
be distinguished from publicity which is not paid for by the
sponsor.
  Non-personal presentation:
Advertising is a non-personal presentation. Generally,
advertising is always directed to a mass audience rather than
to any individual. At times, advertising message may give the
impression of a personal appeal. However, all the sensations
are non-personal in nature.

 Identified sponsor:
Advertising always has an identified sponsor. In other
words, advertising discloses or identifies the source of the
opinions and ideas it presents.

 Information and persuasion:

Advertising usually informs the potential consumers about
the products ad services, their benefits and utilities. It also
persuades the consumers to purchase such products and
services. So, advertising is the art of influencing human action
and awakening of a desire to possess products and services.

Advertising objectives:
 Customers:
Advertising plays a very important role in customer’s life.
Customers are the people who buy the product only after
they are made aware of the products available in the market.
If the product is not advertised, no customers will come to
know what products are available and will not buy the
product even if the product is for their benefit. On the other
hand, customers come to know about the wider choice of
brands of products, so that they can compare, evaluate an
decide their purchase decisions on the products.

 Sellers and manufacturers:

 Advertising helps increasing sales.
 Advertising helps producers or the companies
to know their competitors and plan
accordingly to meet up the level of
competition.
 If any company wants to introduce or launch a
new market, advertising will make a ground
for the product.
 Advertising helps creating goodwill for the
company and gains customer satisfaction after
reaching mature age.
 The demand for the product keeps on coming
with the help of advertising and demand and
supply become a never ending process.
 Society in general:
Advertising educates the people. There are some
special issues also which advertising deals with like
child labour, liquor consumption, girl child killing,
smoking, family planning, education etc., thus
advertising plays a very important role in society.
Example: Government advertisements for creating
awareness amongst the public.
DIFFERENT THEMES OF ADVERTISING
 Theme of prestige:

This theme of advertising is used to advertise

prestigious/luxury products such as electronics (A/c,
refrigerator etc.,)., jewellery, watches etc. These products
provide a status symbol and a sense of pride to their
customers.
 Theme of comfort:
 This theme of advertising is used to advertise products
which give a high level of comfort and makes it customer
happy and satisfied.
These include refrigerator, washing machine, air
conditioners, T/V, microwave oven, electronic gadgets etc.,

 Theme of economy:
 This is the common theme in clearance sale and bargain
offers. This is the theme of advertising is generally used to
sale products of low value.
 Theme of health:
This theme of advertising is used to advertise food
products, medicines/ drugs concerned to health aspects. For
example: Horlicks – It makes your kid taller, stronger and
shaper.

 Theme of Beauty:
 So, generally this theme of advertising uses cosmetics,
toilet soaps, skin care products, perfumes etc which has
greater appeals amongst the young men and women. It
focuses on particular target customers in the market where
those customers are prospective buyers of such
commodities, since they are attracted.

 Theme of Parental Affection:

 This time of advertising is used to advertise products
related to children, which has a psychological effect on
parents as they are concerned about their kids.
For Example: toys, baby care products such as soaps, foods,
etc.

 Theme of fear:
 Fear of death, accident, personal loss through fire,
burglary, etc., is used in the advertisements of insurance,
safety vaults, etc. The traffic police also make use of this
theme to caution people, e.g., ‘keep off the road; shun the
anguish of an accident’.

 Theme of Achievement:
 Most of the reputed giant concerns use this theme of
advertising by emphasizing their contribution to the national
economy, e.g. ‘Reliance contribution to the nation’.

 Theme of Patriotism:

This theme of advertising is used by native firms to

induce people to buy their products in place of imported
products.
 Theme of Curiosity:
 Human psychology is basically inquisitive, and variety is
the species of life. The eagerness for new things is so strong
that this theme can be used through advertisements of new
designs, styles, package, etc.

ADVERTISING MEDIA
Advertising media refers to the various media channels
through which advertising is done. Advertising media is used
for showcasing promotional content which communicated in
various forms such as text, speech, images, video using TV,
radio, online, outdoor etc. Basically, they are channels
through which companies can advertise their products and
services to reach to customers.
Kinds of Media:
The following are the four kinds of Media
 Newspaper
 Magazine
 Radio
 Television
Press Media:
 A press release, news release, media release, press
statement or video release is a written or recorded
communication directed at members of the news media for
announcing something ostensibly newsworthy. Typically,
they are mailed, faxed, or e-mailed to assignment editors and
journalists at newspaper, magazines, radio stations, online
media, television stations or television networks.
Newspaper:
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written
information about current events. Newspaper can cover
wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports and art
often include materials such as opinion columns, weather
forecasts, reviews of local services, obituaries, birth notices,
crosswords, editorial cartoons, cosmic strips, and advice
columns.
Most newspapers are business, and they pay their
expenses with a mixture of subscription revenue, newsstand
sales, and advertising revenue. The journalism organisations
that publish newspapers are themselves often metonymically
called newspaper. Newspaper have traditionally been
published in print (usually on cheap, low-grade paper called
newsprint).
However, today most newspapers are also published on
websites as online newspaper, and some have even
abandoned their print versions entirely.
In India, there are different types of newspapers namely,
Hindu, Times of India, Economic Times, dtnext etc., when
literacy level increases, this medium can be easily adopted
for good result through advertising.

Merits of Newspapers:
1. Newspaper is read by vast number of populations, so news or
information can be made available easily.
2. Newspaper is not very expensive.
3. if any one wants to publish advertisements or any useful
information, then he can publish easily in any size
format or any page of newspaper.
4. Nowadays newspaper is made available directly to your
house by many vendors.
5. Newspaper is available in various languages, so you can
choose the newspaper of your choice and almost all the
latest news are covered in the newspaper which gives
information about the latest trend going on in the
world.
 6. You can also increase vocabulary and general
knowledge by reading newspaper daily and regularly.
7. Weather report, sports events, business news, local
news as well as world news is available in newspaper.
8. Newspaper are eco-friendly and easy to recycle.
Demerits of Newspaper:
1. In some of the newspaper the advertisement space may
be expensive.
2. As the internet, Television or Radio are used widely by
many people, so advertisers prefer newspaper less for
advertisements compared to internet and other medias.
3. Newspaper can be easily discarded one=c read., so less
chances for advertisers to convert the advertisements
into leads for sale.
4. Competitors can easily see the price of your product and
hence they quickly react to your prices.
5. Sometimes in some newspaper the news which are
shown are false. The news is even twisted and
distorted.
6. Sometimes poor printed image quality is seen in the
newspaper.
Magazines and Journals:

A magazine is a publication, usually a periodical publication,

which is printed or electronically published (sometimes
referred to as an online magazine). Magazines are generally
published on a regular schedule and contain a variety of
content. They are generally financed by advertising, by a
purchase price, by prepaid subscriptions, or a combination of
the three. A newspaper or other periodical, in the literal
sense of one published each day many publications issued at
stated intervals, such as academic journals (including
scientific journals), or the record of the transactions of a
society, are often called journals .

Merits of Magazines:
1. The cover page of magazine is often attractive.
2. The magazine has a longer life compared to newspaper.
3. Some magazines are good and attracts lots of new
customers hence good for advertisement business.
4. The paper and image quality is generally good in
magazine hence good for product oriented
advertisement as ads looks better in magazine.
5. More attention is paid to advertisement because of high
reader involvement.

Demerits of Magazines:
 1. Magazines are expensive compared to newspapers.
2. Less population read magazine compared to
newspaper.
3. The advertisement cost is high compared to
newspaper.
4. Limited flexibility for the ads placement and the
format used.

Radio:
Radio is the quickest medium of advertising when
compared to other sources of media. Transmission by radio
waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be
linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio
format. This helps rural areas to get to know about the
information/events around than newspapers quickly.

Merits of radio:
1. Radio is one of the media which covers huge population.
 2. Radio can be enjoyed at home, in office, while driving
car and can be enjoyed anywhere.
3. Radio channels varies from region to region; hence you
can listen radio in your regional language.
4. Like other entertainment media, Radio is also favourite
of enormous number of population.
5. You can advertise your product on radio and the rate of
advertisement is usually lower than other medium of
communication.
6. Important information or news can be easily spread on
radio.
7. For local market radio is one of the powerful medium of
communication.

Demerits of Radio:
1. During bad weather you cannot listen radio properly .
Often unclear and is affected by weather.
2. You need to adjust frequency properly.
3. Less and limited radio channels are available compared
to other communication medium.

Television:
Watching TV is the most common leisure activity in our
country today. It is the medium where the consumer spends
the most “attentive” time. No wonder it has grown into a
giant advertising medium. The power of television is in its
ability to simultaneously appeal not only to sight and hearing,
but to strengthen interest through the dimensions of
movement and the realism of full colour. It is comprised of
pictures and words, but of the two, the pictures are infinitely
more important.
TV advertising can show and tell many people about
your product or service, and demonstrate the benefits of
ownership. Since they see how it works and how it is
packaged, every time they see it they will be psychologically
reminded of their desire to have it.
Television always has been a popular medium for large
retailers, but because of lowered production costs and the
ability of cable to reach smaller market areas, its use by small
and medium size businesses is becoming more popular.
Television is often referred to as the “king” of the advertising
media. It has proven its power to influence human behaviour
again and again. But it is also the “king” of advertising costs
as well.
Merits of television:
 Television reaches very large audiences – usually much
larger than the audience your local newspaper reaches,
and it does so during a short period of time.
 Since there are fewer television stations than raio
stations in each area, each TV audience is divided into
much larger segments, which enables you to reach a
larger, yet, more diverse audience.
 It can convey your message with sight, sound and
motion, and can give a product or service instant validity
and prominence.
 You can easily reach targeted audiences. Children can be
reached during cartoon programming, omemakers
during daytime programming, and insomniacs after
midnight.

Demerits of television:
 When you advertise on TV, your commercial is not
only competing with others, it is also competing
with the viewer’s environment as well.
 Even if your commercial is being aired, viewers may
never see it unless it is intrusive enough to capture
their attention.
 Multiple exposures are required to achieve
message retention and consumer action. If you
don’t reach your viewer at least 5-7 times, you are
just throwing money away.
  The introduction of DVRs and other program
recorders often allow viewers to avoid
commercials.
 Because of a larger” area of dominant influence,”
the relative cost will be higher-both the terms of
airtime and production.

Online Advertising:

Online advertising, also called online marketing or

Internet advertising or web advertising, is a form of
marketing and advertising which uses the internet to deliver
promotional marketing messages consumers. Consumers
view online advertising as an unwanted distraction with few
benefits and have increasingly turned to ad blocking for a
variety of reasons. It includes email marketing, search engine
marketing (SEM), social media marketing, many types of
display advertising (including web banner advertising), and
mobile advertising.
Merits of Online Advertising:
Online Advertising introduce your product to entire
world on the internet. Customer can visit your shop on your
website using internet any time and they can purchase your
product whenever they want and hence out of several
advantages providing these facilities is useful for customers.
The opportunity y marketing your product with the help of
internet will increase and hence more sales of our product.
Customer can visit your product easily on your online store
and can place their order if they wish and hence looking to
this type of advantages it will be beneficial to both customer
and seller.
By “marketing” on the internet you can sell not only in
the same country but you can make the product available to
entire world which is one of the main advantages out of
various advantages. With internet marketing using various
programs such as Google ad sense or other affiliate network
you can target your product to specific country.

Demerits of Online Advertising:

Senior citizens are not online in the same numbers as

younger generations. Products and services that are geared
toward them may not be successfully seen by this
demographic if online advertising is the primary advertising
method.
Advertising overload, measurability, scope and too
many choices are also the disadvantages of online marketing.
Report:

Different media of advertising have different appeals on

people. The advertising media satisfy the objectives of
advertising. They are to reach maximum prospects, gain
attention of readers and should cover wider area at less cost.
The ojectives of all business are to makes profits ad a
merchandising concern can do that by increasing its sales at
remunerative prices. This is possible, if the product is widely
Polished to be audience the final consumers, channel
members and industrial uses and through convincing
arguments it is persuaded to buy it. Publicity makes a thing
or an idea known to people. It is a general term indicating
efforts at mass appeal. As personal stimulation of demand
for a product service or business unit by plating commercially
significant news about it in a published medium or obtaining
favourable presentation of it upon video television or stage
that is not paid for by the sponsor. On the other hand,
advertising denotes a specific attempt to popularize a specific
product or service at a certain cost. It is a method of
publicity. It always intentional openly sponsored y the
sponsor and involves certain cost and hence is paid for. It is a
generic form of non-personal communication about an
organization an or its products idea service etc. that is
transmitted to a target audience through a mass medium.

Conclusion:
 I conclude that advertising on television, newspapers,
magazines, radio and internet are used by most of the
manufacturers and middlemen in the business which has a
wide appeal and effective in taking the information about the
goods and services /brands available in the markets to
potential customers who are generally attracted by colourful
advertisements and have the willingness and purchasing
power to buy the desired products in the markets.