Classification of Advertising

Advertising objectives are the major guiding force of types of advertising used by the firm.

There are following types of advertising:

i. Selective Demand Advertising:

It is essentially competitive advertising. It puts one brand against rest of the market. This type of advertising is employed when a product is beyond the introduction stage in its life cycle. The objective of selective demand advertising is to make the consumers select a particular brand from among various competing brands.

ii. Global Advertising:

Multinational firms treat the world as their market. Firms such as National, IBM, Sony or Ford advertise globally. This type of advertising is called global advertising.

iii. Primary Demand Advertising:

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It is designed to stimulate demand for a generic category of a product such as tea, detergent, or refrigerators. Primary demand advertising is used when product is in the introductory stage of its life cycle. This is called “pioneering advertising”.

iv. Product Advertising:

Most advertising is product advertising which is designed to promote the sale or reputation of a particular product or brand.

v. Consumer Advertising:

These advertisements are intended to promote sale of the advertised products by appealing directly to the buyers and consumers. Such advertising is called consumer advertising.

vi. National Advertising:

The advertising is conducted on a national basis through a media which has base throughout the country.

vii. Industrial Advertising:

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Industrial advertising on the other hand, refers to those advertisements which are issued by the manufacturers or distributors to the buyers of industrial goods/products. This category include machinery and equipment, industrial intermediates, parts and components, etc.

viii. Professional Advertising:

There are certain products for which the consumers themselves are not responsible for the buying choice. The classic examples are pharmaceuticals where the decision is made by doctors while the consumers are the patients.

Almost similar situation exists in the field of construction where architects, civil engineers and contractors are the decision makers. Firms operating in such market segments, therefore, have to direct their advertising to their decision makers, who are professional people. Such advertising is called professional advertising.

ix. Trade Advertising:

Advertisements which are directed by the manufacturers to distribution channel members, such as wholesalers and retailers, are called trade advertising. The objective of such advertising is to promote sales by motivating the members of distribution channel to stock more or to attract new retail outlets.

x. Local Advertising:

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Small firms may like to restrict their business to state or regional level. Some firms first localise their marketing efforts and once success has been achieved, they spread out to wider horizons. A classic example is Nirma Washing powder, which initially was sold in Gujrat and subsequently entered the other markets of the country. Retail stores also undertake local advertising.

xi. Advocacy Advertising:

It is another form of non-commercial or social advertising. It is also referred to as cause advertising. It is any kind of paid public communication or message from an identified source and in a conventional medium that presents information or a point of view bearing on publicly recognised controversial socio-economic, political and cultural issues. In fact, it is idea marketing. For example, advertisements against child labour and drink driving come in this category.

xii. Comparative Advertising:

Comparative advertising is another form of selective demand advertising. In comparative advertising, the advertising directly (by naming a rival brand) or indirectly (through inference) points out differences between the brands.

xiii. Institutional Advertising:

It presents information about the advertiser’s business or tries to create a favourable attitude i.e., build good image towards the organisation. The objective of institutional advertising is to create a particular image for a company.

xiv. Social Advertising:

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The objective behind it is purely social considerations of various types. Such advertising is generally given by the government agencies, social organisations, charitable institutions, police department, railways etc.


Classification of Advertising – With Categories

Advertising can be broadly classified into the following categories:

i. Product Advertisement:

Product advertising focuses on a particular product or brand. Most advertising is product advertising. It is designed to promote the sale or reputation of a particular product or brand. For example, Bournvita, Viva, Horlicks, Lux, Dettol, etc. Product advertisement generally describes the product’s features and sometimes prices.

Product advertisement is again divided into primary, selective and remainder advertising as discussed below:

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(a) Primary Advertising (Pioneer Advertisement):

This type of advertisement is used at the time of introducing a new product in the market. This is mainly used during the introduction stage of the product life cycle. It develops primary demand.

(b) Selective Competitive Advertising:

When a product enters growth stage of the cycle and when competition begins, advertisement becomes competitive or selective. Thus this types of advertisement is used where there are a large number of similar products in the market. It specifically highlights how a product is better than that of competitors.

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(c) Reminder Advertising:

This type of advertisement is adopted by companies when they visualise that their products are moved into maturity and saturation stages (or when sales are declining). The advertiser wants to keep his product’s name before the public and uses soft-sell advertisements, which merely mention the name as a reminder. For example, Coca Cola, Limca, Gold Spot etc.

ii. Institutional Advertising:

When the advertisement is to create an image reputation of the firm, it is called institutional advertising. These advertisements are not always directed only to consumers. Such an advertisement may be directed also at shareholders, creditors, etc. not attempt to sell a particular product; it benefits the organisation as a whole. For example, ITC, Raymonds, Dabur, Ranbaxy, etc. undertake institutional advertising, also known as corporate advertising.

iii. Comparative Advertising:

This type of advertisement stresses on comparative features of two or more specific brands. This method is adopted when similar product are fastly appearing in the market.

iv. Shortage Advertising:

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When there is short supply of product, shortage advertisement is used, e.g., oil crisis. In this type of advertisement, new promotional objectives may be incorporated such as (a) educating the people the most economic use of the product, (b) making appeal to save resources, and (c) to reduce customer pressure on the sales force.

v. Co-Operative Advertising:

When manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers jointly sponsor and share the expenditure on advertising, it is called co-operative advertising.

vi. Commercial Advertising:

This is concerned with selling products or ideas to increase the sales volume. It is also called business advertising.

The following are the different forms of commercial advertising:

(a) Consumer advertising—directed at consumers.

(b) Industrial Advertising—used for selling industrial products.

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(c) Trade Advertising—related to trade and aimed at retailers, wholesalers and contractors.

(d) Professional Advertisement—related to professions (lawyers, doctors etc.)

(e) Farm Advertising—related to farm products.

vii. Non-Commercial Advertising:

This is used by non-profit organisations, for inviting donations, financial aid, etc.


Classification of Advertising – According to the functions

Advertising may be classified according to the functions which it is intended to fulfill:

(i) Advertising may be used to stimulate either the primary demand or the selective demand.

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(ii) It may promote either the brand or the firm selling that brand.

(iii) It may try to cause indirect action or direct action.

A. Advertising Based on Demand Influence Level:

(i) Primary Demand (Stimulation):

Primary demand is demand for the product or service in question rather than for a particular brand. The advertising that focuses on Primary demand represents a form of inter-industry competition.

Simply stated, primary demand advertising is intended to affect the demand for a type of product, and not simply one particular brand of that product. If cigarette manufacturers attempt to increase the overall demand for cigarettes with an advertising campaign extolling the virtues of cigarette smoking in general, this would be a primary demand campaign.

Some marketers advertise to stimulate primary demand. Ordinarily, the sponsor is either the first to introduce a new product o- is an organized group, such as a trade association. When a product is new, primary demand stimulation is appropriate.

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At this time, the marketer must inform consumers of the existence of the new item and convince them of the benefits flowing from its use. Later, when primary demand has materialized and competitors have entered the market, the advertising strategy may be altered to stimulate the selec­tive demand.

Through joint effort, members of a group may accom­plish what would be prohibitively costly for any one of them. Pioneer­ing advertising is aimed at developing the primary demand.

(ii) Selective Demand (Stimulation):

This demand is for a particular brand such as Charminar cigarettes, Surf detergent power, Rath Vanaspati or Vimal fabrics. The marketers involved in selective demand advertising attempt to establish a differential advantage and to acquire an acceptable sort of market.

They do not try to stimulate the demand for the pro­duct or service. In this, the advertiser attempts to differentiate his brand from the brands of others, even though he may also hope, and perhaps intend, to increase the total amount of consumption of that product. Competitive advertising stimulates selective demand. It may be of either the direct or the indirect type.

B. Institutional or Product Advertising:

(i) Institutional Advertising:

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Institutional advertising aims at building for a firm a Positive public image in the eyes of shareholders, employees, suppliers, legislators, or the general public. In some cases, a company may use a public affairs programme as part of an effort to improve its image. Institutional advertising does not attempt to sell a particular product; it benefits the organization as a whole.

It notifies the consu­mers that the company is a responsible business entity and is patriotic; that its management takes ecologically responsible action, is an affir­mative-action employer, supports the socialistic pattern of society or provides employment opportunities in the community. Institu­tional advertising is often closely related to the public relations function of the enterprise.

Marketers may aim institutional advertisements at consumers or focus them upon other groups, such as voters, government officials, suppliers, financial institutions, etc. If the effort is effective, the target groups will respond with goodwill towards, and confi­dence in the sponsor. Institutional advertising is also a useful method or introducing sales persons and new products to consumers.

When Indian Oil advertisements describe the company’s general activities, such as public service work, this may be referred to as institutional advertising because it is intended to build an overall favourable attitude towards the company and its family of products. Institu­tional Advertising may be informative, persuasive or reminder oriented in character.

(ii) Product Advertising:

Most advertising is product advertising, designed to promote the sale or reputation of a particular product or brand. This is true whether the advertising is done by a manufacturer, a middleman, or a dealer, and whether the advertising concerns the product itself or some of its features, such as service, price, or the quality directly associated with it. Advertisements about Indane Cooking Gas are a case in point.

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The objective of product advertising is to promote particular products or services that the organization sell. The marketer may use such promotion to generate exposure attention, comprehension, attitude change or action for an offering.

Product advertising is the type we normally think of when the subject of advertising comes up in a conversation. It deals with the non-personal selling of a particular good or service.

(a) Informative Product Advertising:

It seeks to develop an initial demand for a product. This form of advertising tends to charac­terize the promotion of any new type of product, for its’ objective is often to simply announce its availability. Informative advertising is usually used in the introductory stages of the product life cycle. It was the original approach to advertising.

(b) Persuasive Product Advertising:

To develop demand for a particular product or brand is the goal of persuasive product adver­tising. It is a competitive type of promotion that is used in the growth period and, to some extent, in the maturity period of the product life cycle.

(c) Reminder-Oriented Product Advertising:

The goal of this type of advertising is to reinforce previous promotional activity by keeping the brand name in front of the public. It is used in the maturity period as well as throughout the declining phase of the product life cycle.

C. The Audience to Which It Is Directed:

(i) Consumer Advertising:

Most of the consumer goods producers engage in consumer- product advertising. Marketers of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, scoot­ers, detergents and soaps, cigarettes and alcoholic beverages are in­cluded here.

Aside from scooters and cars, all these products are all package goods that the individual consumer will often buy during the year. Advertisers in this area compete with one another to establish an advantage for their particular brand.

(ii) Industrial Advertising:

Industrial Product advertising is another important type of advertising. Industrial executives have little confidence in advertising. They seem to rely on this form of promotion mainly out of fear that their competitors may benefit if they stop their advertising efforts.

The expenditure on industrial advertising as a per cent of sales is much smaller than that on consumer goods advertising. The task of the industrial advertiser is complicated by the multiple buying influence characteristic of many industrial goods, the derived nature of their demand, and the fact that many materials lose their identity in the end product.

While industrial advertising objectives vary according to the firm and the situation, several are most common and most important. These are-to inform, to bring in orders, to induce inquiries, to get the advertiser’s name on the buyer’s list of sources, to communicate to influential persons in the buying firm whom the salesman cannot reach, to provide support for the salesman, to reduce selling costs, to help get items in the news column of a publication, to establish recognition for the firm or its products, to motivate distributors, to create or change a company’s image, to create or change a buyer’s attitude, and to influence users of customer end products.

The adver­tising budget is sometimes set as a percentage of expected sales. A more intelligent method is to spend enough to accomplish the task assigned to advertising in the general marketing plan. This involves the use of marginal analysis.

The basic appeals tend to be rational, to increase the rupee profits of the buyer or aid in achieving his non-monetary objectives. Patronage appeals are often emotional. The industrial copy should be largely factual, and the claims made should be specific and provable. Brand advertising is not nearly as effective as it is in the consumer goods field.

Trade journals are the media most generally used followed by catalogues, direct mail communication, exhibits, and general management publications and distributor helps. Advertising agencies are much less useful in industrial than in consumer advertising.

The basis of good advertising management is the measurement of results. Often, while this cannot be done with any approach to accuracy, thought and ingenuity can usually be used to devise mea­surements that will provide valuable guidance in planning and administering a firm’s advertising programme.

Industrial marketers typically use exhibits in shows or expositions to meet potential custo­mers, to make occasional sales, to build prospect lists, to discover new uses for products, to introduce new products, to demonstrate non-portable equipment, to meet competitive effort, to hire new personnel, and to contact new distributors or agents. To ensure that it is successful, participation in a show must be carefully timed and planned in great detail, and the contacts made must be followed up.

Samples are especially useful in introducing new products, although they may be employed generally as an aid to the salesman or as a means of describing the goods. Because they are expensive, great care must be taken in planning their distribution. Publicity most commonly takes the form of articles in trade journals.

The most effective way to obtain publicity is to create newsworthy situations or events. The beginning of a firm’s public relations programme is to live well in its relations with the various subgroups that compose the firm’s public. This involves a careful study of how the company’s behaviour affects each of these groups, and what the latter think of the company.

Correspondence is a form of sales promotion activity largely initiated by the customer or prospective customer. If not well done, it is apt to have a negative effect. It should probably be handled by a specialized unit, although almost every unit of the business must participate by supplying information.

Direct mail is a relatively impersonal form of correspondence initiated by the marketer. It is especially useful when possible buyers are few. It may serve almost any purpose that does not involve personal contact with the customer or prospect.

Catalogues are a basic promotional tool for industrial goods. In preparing them, the marketer should attempt to find out what facts the probable users of a catalogue hope to find in it, and then mention those facts in it. If properly distributed, the catalogue may reach buyers who are very difficult to contact by other means.

Its main purposes are to get orders, to gain recognition by the buyers, to induce requests for information, to get invitations to bid or quote, to get specifications adopted, to induce product recommendations, and to facilitate their approval.

Advertising novelties are a secondary means of promotion, but may be useful as continuing reminders of the marketer and his products and services. Entertainment must be very carefully managed to avoid offending the customer’s sense of propriety.

(iii) Trade Advertising:

This is aimed at retailers, wholesalers and contractors.

(a) Retail Advertising:

This may be defined as “covering all advertising by the stores that sell goods directly to the consuming public. It includes, also, advertising by establishments that sell servi­ces to the public, such as beauty shops, petrol pumps and banks.” While accounting for a sizable portion of the total annual advertising expenditure, retail advertising is locally oriented and often poorly planned and employed.

The basic problem confronting it is that store personnel are usually given this responsibility as an added task to be performed, together with their normal functions. Advertising agencies are rarely used.

The result is that advertising is often relegated to a secondary position in a retail store. The basic step in correcting this deficiency is to give one individual the responsibility and the authority for developing an effective retail advertising programme.

One aspect of retail advertising deserves special mention here, and this is co-operative advertising. Co-operative advertising refers to a sharing of advertising costs between retailers and manufacturers or vendors.

From the retailer’s point of view, co-operative advertising permits a store to secure additional advertising that would not other­wise have been available.

(b) Wholesale Advertising:

Most wholesalers are not advertising- minded, either for themselves or for their suppliers; and their use to trade advertising is largely haphazard and behind the times. Whole­salers would benefit from adopting some of the image-making tech­niques used by retailers- the need for developing an overall promo­tional strategy. They also need to make a greater use of supplier promotion materials and programmes in ways that will be to their advantage.

(iv) Non-Profit Advertising:

This advertising is a, growing part of the total advertising picture. It generally aims at fund raising (“send us a check for Prime Minister’s flood relief fund”), persuasion to action (“get a check-up for Malaria), and attracting clients (“Hear Indo-Pak Mushaira in your city”).

(a) Public Service Advertising:

This advertising is directed at the social welfare of a nation or a community. While the effectiveness of the product ads may be measured by a rise in sales, the effectiveness of public service ads must be measured in terms of goodwill towards the sponsoring organization.

Some examples of public service adver­tising are advertisements on safe driving, LIC’s ads on the signs of drug addiction and Forhans ad on gum care. In this type of advertis­ing, the objective is to put across a message intended to change attitu­des or behaviour and, as a result, benefit the public at large. Adver­tisements on not mixing drinking and driving are a good example of public service advertising.

D. Timing of the Response It Elicits:

Direct or Indirect Action:

Product advertising has two sub-categories direct and indirect action advertising:

(i) Direct action advertising aims at generating immediate res­ponse. Many retail messages, for instance, request consumers to buy now. Other advertisements in the direct category contain coupons, and request the consumers to redeem these soon.

Finally, numerous mail-order marketers attempt to induce consumers to order at once. These promote correspondence courses and indicates that consumers who are interested in the course should mail a card to the company.

Direct action advertisements generate behaviour directly through exposure and attention.

(ii) Indirect action advertising does not attempt to bring about an immediate behaviour response. Rather, it attempts to create favourable attitudes towards the sponsor and his products or services. The objectives of this form of advertising are long-run in nature, They include exposure, attention, comprehension, attitude change, and behaviour.

In Fig 2.2, DA denotes the movement of direct action objecti­ves and IA denotes the movement of indirect action objectives towards behaviour.

Marketers who use indirect action advertising strive to bring about sales of products and services, but not necessarily in the imme­diate future. In Lohia Scooters’ recent advertisements about Vespa- XE, the sponsors do not expect that large numbers of consumers will rush out and, immediately after exposure to the advertising, start booking for the Scooters.

They did expect, however, that the adver­tisement would improve many consumers’ attitudes towards the product. Attitude improvements increase the probability of purchase in the future.

Direct action advertising is designed to make the prospective purchaser buy the product immediately or, at the least, get more information about it. Advertising about products intended to alleviate skin or eye disorders is typically designed to secure immediate buying action by those interested in them.

Adver­tising for such higher priced items as cars, etc., which people buy infrequently, is normally of an indirect nature, in that it attempts to create a favourable attitude towards a manufacturer’s product (or brand) which will exist at the time the decision-making unit decides to make a purchase.

Much advertising, however, seeks both direct and indirect effects. A full-page magazine advertisement of cornflakes may seek to build a continuing preference for the brand of the manufacturer involved, whereas the coupon in the corner of the advertisement is designed to get Mrs. Kapoor immediately to take the coupon to the local dealer and collect a sample packet.

E. Sponsorship Arrangement:

Sponsorship of advertisements may be undertaken by an indi­vidual organization or as a co-operative activity. The co-operation may be horizontal (firms on the same level of production or distribution) or vertical (firms in a distribution channel).

Many manufacturers offer retailers and wholesalers co-operative advertising allowances designed to get local advertising support for their brands. The manufacturer typically pays a portion of the retailer’s or wholesalers advertising costs. Allowances may be used either in connection with special promotions or as a part of normal operations.

Funds are typically allocated on some proportionate basis, such as one rupee per case purchased or 2 per cent of sales during a specific period of time. Co-operative advertising often has highly specific and short-range objectives, such as getting the customer to make a buying decision in regard to a specific product at a specific location at a specific price as soon as possible.

The term co-operative is sometimes used to designate advertising efforts supported by industry or trade groups or associations. Such industry-co-operative efforts are usually undertaken to increase the primary demand for a product or service. Examples include the promotion of milk (by milk producers association) and advertising about “full service banks” by the Bankers’ Association.

Horizontal co-operative advertising usually occurs through trade associations, which promote primary demand for a specific type of pro­duct. Some retailers, particularly those in shopping centres, may get together in joint promotional efforts.

Similarly, the manufacturers of complementary products such as house furnishings may find it desira­ble to join forces. Their objective is to get more out of the promotion rupee.

Vertical co-operation may take place at various points in the distribution channel. It is in the interest of a product’s manufacturer and its wholesalers to promote the product to retailers. To do so, they may decide to join forces in advertising the product, or there may be co-operation between a manufacturer and retailers for this purpose.

Co-operative advertising requires the middleman to share the cost of ads. It helps the manufacturer to get greater promotional advantage out of the advertising rupee because media rate structures usually give local advertisers lower rates than to national firms. In addition, the retailer is more likely to follow through where he is paying a share of the cost.

Co-operative advertising and advertising allowances, however, are subject to abuse, because allowances may be given to retailers with little expectation that they will be used for ad purposes. This may become a disguised price concession. The result is price discrimination.

F. Extent of Geographical Coverage-National, Regional or Local:

(i) National advertising is practised by many firms in our country. It encourages the consumer to buy their products wherever they are sold. Most national ads concentrate on the overall image and desirability of the product.

The famous national advertisers are Hindustan Levers, DCM, ITC, Jay Engineering, TISCO

(ii) Local advertising is generally done by retailers and service firms rather than manufacturers. Retailer ads usually provide specific information for the consumer. Markfeds advertisements for consu­mer goods sales during weekends in various sectors in Chandigarh is of this type. These ads save the customer time and money by passing along specific information about products, prices, location, and so forth.

(iii) Regional advertising is another geographical alternative for organizations. Amrit Vanaspati, which claims to be the leading hydrogenated oil producer in the Punjab, is based in Rajpura. But, until recently, it mainly confined itself to one of the vegetable oil brands distribution to Malihabad district (in U.P. near Lucknow).

G. Advertising According to Medium Utilized:

Perhaps the most common classification of advertising is by the medium used; such a scheme produces the familiar distinctions among TV, radio, magazine, outdoor, business periodical, newspaper, and direct mail advertising. Indeed, this classification is so common in use that it is mentioned here only for the sake of completeness.


Classification of Advertising – Top 15

Classifications

i. National Advertising:

National advertising offers a product or service to the general consumer audience across the country. Some marketers may consider the entire country as the target market place for their offering. Therefore they select media with a countrywide base. National advertising need not appear everywhere around the nation. But it should be seen in more than one or two regions of the country.

Such advertisements are created to sell a branded offering in different parts of the country. It is also called ‘general advertising’. Generally, large established marketers use national advertising to promote their product or service, e.g. Hindustan Lever Ltd., Procter and Gamble, Bajaj Auto Ltd., Larsen & Toubro, Escorts, Maruti Udyog Ltd., etc.

Mass media like nationally circulated and TV channels are used to spread the message across the country. Advertisements for India Indian Airlines, IBM ‘think pad’, Gold Flake and Provogue are the advertisement which could be termed as national advertising.

National advertising need not appear everywhere around the nation. However, it should be seen in more than one or two regions of the country.

ii. Local Advertising:

Small firms may like to restrict their business to a very small geographical area-state or a region. This region may be the target customer for the marketer. Many a times, some firms may first localize their marketing efforts and once success has been achieved, they spread out to wider horizons.

A classic example could be ‘Dainik Bhaskar’, which was initially advertised and sold only in Madhya Pradesh and later entered other states e.g. Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. Retail stores also undertake local advertising. Local advertising directs consumers to the shop where a variety of products can be purchased, or where a service is offered. The advertising announces products that are available locally. The area to be covered would generally be a city or a town and media would be selected which principally relates to that area.

In such instances, local advertising also known as retail-advertising, tries to create a distinctive image for the shop. The emphasis on price, availability and location. The aim of the advertiser is not only to promote a particular brand but to inform the consumers about where to get the merchandise, the stock or variety available, prices and the new offers. The emphasis is laid upon “Buy Brand A from our Store” rather than stressing “Buy Brand A”; as in the case of national advertising.

iii. Global Advertising:

Multinational firms treat world as a global village. The whole world is considered to be their target markets. In such instances, advertising may be made for all the countries where the product is selling, with minor differences made with respect to the culture and legal factors.

Big firms like Procter and Gamble and Nestle may put their advertising on global media to be viewed by audience across the globe. With the Internet revolution, global advertising has also got an impetus Advertisement placed on the world wide wed announces to the audience, cutting across the national boundaries, the availability of products or services.

Periodicals like times and reader’s digest are among the print media vehicles which could be used by the global advertisers.

iv. Consumer Advertising:

This is also called end product advertising. Such advertisements are primarily directed at consumer. These are the advertisements which are most prominent as a very substantial portion of the total advertising budget is directed to potential buyers of consumer products through mass media. As we know, consumers are the set of people who finally use the product and customers are the set of people who actually buys the product. Therefore consumer advertising is directed towards both customers and final consumers who either purchase the products or uses it.

These advertisements are intended to promote sale of the advertised products by appealing directly to the buyers for consumer’s goods. The fact that the number of buyers of consumer items are generally very large and are widely distributed over a large geographical area further, enhances the importance of consumer advertising as a marketing tool. Products such as detergents, cosmetics, soft drinks, fabric, etc. are some examples that follow the route of consumer advertising to promote the product to the target consumers.

v. Industrial Advertising:

Industrial advertising refers to those advertisements which are sponsored by the manufactures or country distributors and is aimed at the buyers of the industrial products. The producers of industrial goods use such advertising in which appeals are directed to create demand for their industrial goods by urging industrial users to purchase the advertised product.

Purchase of industrial products is a complex process in most companies, particularly due to the high cost of such products. So advertising here does not seek to sell a product directly. Moreover, since the number of industrial buyers is not very large, industrial sellers rely more on personal selling industrial advertising only opens avenues of growth and give identity to the industrial sellers. Also, the sellers seems to rely on this form of promotion mainly out of fear that their competitors may benefit, if they stop advertising.

In industrial advertising, the basic appeal should be rational and largely factual. The claim made in the advertisement should be specific and provable. Trade journals are most commonly used media, followed by catalogues, direct mail communication, exhibitions, general management publications etc.

Because of the unique characteristics of industrial buying decision process, the amount spent on industrial advertising is comparatively lower than the amount spent on consumer advertising. Industrial advertising may be done for a number of reasons according to the firm and the situation.

Generally Industrial Advertising is done to:

i. Establish recognition for the firm or its products.

ii. Inform the users of the industrial products technological and other developments

iii. Induce inquiries about the quality, price etc. of the product from the industrial buyers

iv. Communicate to the decision influencers in the buyers organization whom the salesperson cannot reach

v. To provide support to the sales men and reduce the costs of personal selling.

vi. Professional Advertising:

There are certain products for which the consumers themselves are not responsible for the buying choice. For instance, pharmaceuticals are the products brought on the recommendation of the doctors by the patients. Therefore, professional advertising is directed towards people who are not the actual users of a product buy influence the purchase decision of the ultimate consumers.

To elaborate, doctors are told of new medicines and medical equipments, architects are offered new construction materials and so on. If a doctor prescribes a certain brand of drugs, the patient will not buy any other brand. Consequently, doctors make the final purchase decision for their customers i.e. the patients.

Most customers re not aware of how professional advisors decide on the various brands of professional products and services them recommend. However, the same can be used effectively by the marketer to communicate with decision influencers in professional fields about products and services.

vii. Trade Advertising:

Before consumers have an opportunity to purchase a product, it must be available in retail stores. To influence the intermediaries to keep a company’s product in their shelves is the task performed by Trade Advertising. Manufacturers use trade advertising to promote their products to wholesalers and retailers. The purpose of such advertising is therefore to secure distribution that is to ‘sell in’ to the trade. In trade advertising the emphasis is more on the product’s profitability to the intermediaries.

The intermediaries store only whose products which have a good demand by the customers. They prefer to stock goods of several producers to satisfy their customers, though they are limited in shelf space and short of funds for inventory.

viii. Institutional Advertising:

Institutional advertising is also called corporate advertising. This type of advertising is done by institutions to build-up an image of itself in the public mind. It is a public relations-relations-approach advertising. This type of advertisement is sometimes aimed at general audience to explain a company or institution and to suggest its positive attributes.

There May Be Various Goals For Doing Institutional Advertising:

i. Image building

ii. Build confidence

iii. Advocacy.

Institutional advertising does not attempt to sell anything directly. However, it does a lot of good to the organization as a whole. It forcefully tells how the organization is a socially responsible institution. It also tells about the nationalistic leanings of the organization. It may also show how its actions are consistent with the overall national objectives like environmental protection, employment generation, literacy, health for all etc.

This type of advertising is integrated to public relations function of the organization. Institutional advertising may be addressed either to consumers or other groups like governments, suppliers, financial institutions etc. it could be informative, persuasive or reminder-oriented.

ix. Primary Demand Advertising:

By primary demand we mean the demand of a class of product or service and not the demand for a particular brand. Primary demand is the demand for the whole product category. The main purpose of primary demand advertising is to stimulate the overall demand of the whole product category. It is most useful when a new type of product is introduced in a market or when a product is in the introductory stages in a given market. Such type of advertising is done to inculcate the habit for the product among people in general and to get a favour for it so that a permanent demand can be created in the near future.

Ordinarily, the sponsor of such advertising is either the first to introduce a new product or it’s an organized group such as a trade association jointly aiming to stimulate the demand for the product. The main objective of this type of advertising before the sponsor is to inform the existence of such product in the market and convince them of the benefits flowing from its use. Later, when primary demand has been stimulated and competitor have entered the field, the sponsor may like to direct the demand towards his brand, which is called selective advertising.

x. Secondary Demand Advertising:

As against the primary demand, secondary demand is the demand for a particular brand in a product class. Therefore, secondary demand advertising refers to the advertising which aims to stimulate the demand for a particular brand in a product class. As against primary demand advertising which tries to convert the non-users into users, secondary demand advertising aims to convert the non-users into users, secondary demand advertising aims to convert the users of brand ‘X’ into users of the brand of the advertiser.

The advertiser involved in selective demand advertising attempts to establish a differential advantage to acquire a sizable share in the market place. The advertiser may highlight some features or benefits of the brand, as against the competitors, which are of importance to the customers. Such appeals are designed to establish ideas regarding the product quality or performance which will induce ready acceptance or even preference for the brand.

However, it should be noted here that most selective demand advertising is likely to have an effect upon the total demand for the product class in which the advertised brand falls.

xi. Direct Action Advertising:

Advertising that stresses and persuades immediate buying of the product is known as direct action advertising. Advertising for consumer items requires immediate attention response from the customers in the form of sending orders for the goods advertised or requests for further information.

Many a times, sales promotion schemes are also communicated through advertising. Such advertising where the message is designed to spur up the level of sales immediately are also called direct action advertising.

Such advertising may contain the coupon for a free gift or a discount which could be redeemed at once at one of the sales outlet, or the advertiser arranges a draw at a fixed date offering certain prices. Numerous mail order marketers attempt to induce consumers to order at once on order to avail a limited time offering. Direct action advertising aims at generating behavioural action directly through exposure and attention to a given brand.

xii. Indirect Action Advertising:

Indirect action advertising, as against direct action advertising does not attempt to bring about an immediate behavioural response. Rather, it attempts to create a favourable attitude towards the sponsor and his products of services. The main objective of such advertisement is to build up the reputation or goodwill of the brand in the marketplace and to enhance want ability of the branded product offered through building mental associations relating to them. Such advertisement aims at attaining long term objectives.

Based on Non-Product Advertising:

The advertisement may be classified as non-product advertising which means advertising for intangible goods. When certain services, ideas etc. are advertised, they take the form of non-product advertising. Broadly speaking, there are four sub-groups under which non-product advertising could be understood.

xiii. Idea Advertising:

Not all advertising is designed to sell a product or service. Both companies and non-profit organization often use advertising to convey idea about some topic. Public service advertising, for example, communicates a message on behalf of some good cause, such as environment protection or prevention of child labour.

Such kind of advertising is done as a part of social responsibility by the advertising agencies or business organization or government or social service institutions. It seeks to promote important social issues. It is credit to promote greater awareness of public causes.

Though public service advertising is identified with national causes, there is some amount of public services even in product advertising like the promotion of soaps-for hygiene, banking and insurance habit- for savings etc.

xiv. Service Advertising:

Services are activities, benefits or satisfactions offered for sale. They are intangible, inseparable, variable and perishable. In recent years, service sector has expanded quite fast and the major service industries like banks, airlines and hotels advertise heavily. Advertisements for services differ from those for commodities, because of the difference in the way the two are marketed. Services are basically people enterprises.

xv. Financial Advertising:

An organization is concerned with, not only communicating with its target customers, but it also has to communicate with an important set of population i.e., investors and the financial intermediaries. Public limited companies invite the general public to subscribe to the share capital of the company.

Since the market is fiercely competitive, a small part of the investor community can always be motivated and won with advertising campaign that understands their aspirations and respect their intelligence. Some private and public limited companies invite people to deposit money in the company as a loan or sell bonds and debentures to the general public.

This type of advertising is called financial advertising. The media used for financial advertising are, mainly the print media especially the press and to some extent specialized magazines.

xvi. Personal Advertising:

One finds a clutter of advertisement in newspapers, especially on weekends, relating to personal messages by individuals and families. The advertisement relate to matrimonial matters, greetings obituary, sale and purchase of old furniture, goods and various other subjects. No serious research has, however, been done in this country to know the quantum of business generated by such advertisement.

But looking at the face value in some of the mainstream newspapers, pages are devoted to personal advertisements especially on Sundays. Occasions like Valentine’s Day, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day etc. are promoted by newspapers in advance. For getting the messages for such occasions, personal advertisement counters have been opened by some of the newspapers in different parts of big cities. Such advertisements can also be booked over telephone.

According to Harry L. Hansen that advertisement could be classified on the basis of:

i) Person- to whom the advertisement is directed e.g. consumer, industries, retailers, wholesalers, etc.

ii) Product – consumer good, industrial goods

iii) Media – print, radio, TV, mail, internet, outdoor

iv) Business institutions (Advertisers) – manufacturer, marketer, retailer

v) Advertising appeal – rational or emotional

vi) Objectives – awareness, attitude or action

Cundiff and Still opines that advertising may be classified in the following nine categories-

i) Geographical area – national, regional and local

ii) Prospects (Audience) – consumer, industrial, trade

iii) Message advertised – product, institutional advertising

iv) Result intended – quick action or delayed action

v) Sponsorship – manufacturer, middlemen, co-operative advertising

vi) Demand – primary, selective

vii) Targeted audience – mass class

viii) Stage of PLC – pioneering (for new product), competitive (for growth and maturity stages), retentive (for maturity and declining stage)

ix) Type of appeal -rational, emotional