Advertising is any paid form of no personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor, with the specific objective.

Advertisements can be the cost-effective way to disseminate messages, be it building a brand preference or educate people. Although today’s media environment is challenging, good advertisements can pay-off.

The advertising objective should emerge from a thorough analysis of the; current marketing situation. If the product class is mature, the company is the market leader, and brand usage is low, the objective is to stimulate more usage.

If the product class is new, the company is not the market leader, but the brand is superior to the leader, then the objective is to convince the market of the brand’s superiority.

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The types of advertising are:-

1. Television Advertising 2. Infomercial 3. Radio Advertising 4. Online Advertising 5. New Media 6. Product Placement 7. Press Advertising

8. Billboard Advertising 9. Mobile Billboard Advertising 10. In-Store Advertising 11. Coffee Cup Advertising 12. Street Advertising 13. Sheltered Outdoor Advertising 14. Celebrity Branding 15. Consumer-Gene Rated Advertising 16. Sales Promotion.


What are the Different Types of Advertising?

Types of Advertising – Top 16 Types: Television, Radio, Infomercials, Online, Press, Billboard, Celebrity Branding, Consumer Generated Advertising and a Few Other Types

Type # 1. Television:

The TV commercial is generally considered the most effective mass- market advertising format, as is reflected by the high prices TV networks charge for commercial airtime during popular TV events. The annual Super Bowl football game in the United States is known as the most prominent advertising event on television. The average cost of a single thirty-second TV spot during this game has reached US$3.5 million (as of 2012). Some television commercials feature a song or jingle that listeners soon relate to the product.

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Virtual advertisements may be inserted into regular television programming through computer graphics. It is typically inserted into otherwise blank backdrops or used to replace local billboards that are not relevant to the remote broadcast audience.

More controversially, virtual billboards may be inserted into the background where none exist in real-life. This technique is especially used in televised sporting events. Virtual product placement is also possible.

Type # 2. Infomercials:

An infomercial is a long-format television commercial, typically five minutes or longer. The word “infomercial” is a portmanteau of the words “information” & “commercial”. The main objective in an infomercial is to create an impulse purchase, so that the consumer sees the presentation and then immediately buys the product through the advertised toll-free telephone number or website. Infomercials describe, display, and often demonstrate products and their features, and commonly have testimonials from consumers and industry professionals.

Type # 3. Radio Advertising:

Radio advertising is a form of advertising via the medium of radio. Radio advertisements are broadcast as radio waves to the air from a transmitter to an antenna and a thus to a receiving device. Airtime is purchased from a station or network in exchange for airing the commercials. While radio has the limitation of being restricted to sound, proponents of radio advertising often cite this as an advantage.

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Radio is an expanding medium that can be found not only on air, but also online. According to Arbitron, radio has approximately 241.6 million weekly listeners, or more than 93 percent of the U.S. population.

Type # 4. Online Advertising:

Online advertising is a form of promotion that uses the Internet and World Wide Web for the expressed purpose of delivering marketing messages to attract customers. Online ads are delivered by an ad server. Online advertising include contextual ads that appear on search engine results pages, banner ads, in text ads, Rich Media Ads, Social network advertising, online classified advertising, advertising networks and e-mail marketing, including e-mail spam.

Type # 5. New Media:

Technological development and economic globalization favours the emergence of new and new communication channels and new techniques of commercial messaging.

Type # 6. Product Placements:

Covert advertising, is when a product or brand is embedded in entertainment and media.

Type # 7. Press Advertising:

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Press advertising describes advertising in a printed medium such as a newspaper, magazine, or trade journal. This encompasses everything from media with a very broad readership base, such as a major national newspaper or magazine, to more narrowly targeted media such as local newspapers and trade journals on very specialized topics.

A form of press advertising is classified advertising, which allows private individuals or companies to purchase a small, narrowly targeted ad for a low fee advertising a product or service. Another form of press advertising is the Display Ad, which is a larger ad (can include art) that typically run in an article section of a newspaper.

Type # 8. Billboard Advertising:

Billboards are large structures located in public places which display advertisements to passing pedestrians and motorists. Most often, they are located on main roads with a large amount of passing motor and pedestrian traffic; however, they can be placed in any location with large amounts of viewers, such as on mass transit vehicles and in stations, in shopping malls or office buildings, and in stadiums.

Type # 9. Mobile Billboard Advertising:

Mobile billboards are generally vehicle mounted billboards or digital screens. These can be on dedicated vehicles built solely for carrying advertisements along routes preselected by clients, they can also be specially equipped cargo trucks or, in some cases, large banners strewn from planes. The billboards are often lighted; some being backlit, and others employing spotlights. Some billboard displays are static, while others change.

Type # 10. In-Store Advertising:

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In-store advertising is any advertisement placed in a retail store. It includes placement of a product in visible locations in a store, such as at eye level, at the ends of aisles and near checkout counters (aka POP—Point Of Purchase display), eye-catching displays promoting a specific product, and advertisements in such places as shopping carts and in-store video displays.

Type # 11. Coffee Cup Advertising:

Coffee cup advertising is any advertisement placed upon a coffee cup that is distributed out of an office, cafe, or drive-through coffee shop. This form of advertising was first popularized in Australia, and has begun growing in popularity in the United States, India, and parts of the Middle East.

Type # 12. Street Advertising:

This type of advertising first came to prominence in the UK by Street Advertising Services to create outdoor advertising on street furniture and pavements. Working with products such as Reverse Graffiti, air dancer’s and 3D pavement advertising, the media became an affordable and effective tool for getting brand messages out into public spaces.

Type # 13. Sheltered Outdoor Advertising:

This type of advertising opens the possibility of combining outdoor with indoor advertisement by placing large mobile, structures (tents) in public places on temporary bases. The large outer advertising space exerts a strong pull on the observer, the product is promoted indoor, where the creative decor can intensify the impression.

Type # 14. Celebrity Branding:

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This type of advertising focuses upon using celebrity power, fame, money, popularity to gain recognition for their products and promote specific stores or products. Advertisers often advertise their products, for example, when many celebrities share their favourite products or wear clothes by specific brands or designers. Celebrities are often involved in advertising campaigns such as television or print adverts to advertise specific or general products.

The use of celebrities to endorse a brand can have its downsides, however. One mistake by a celebrity can be detrimental to the public relations of a brand. Celebrities such as Britney Spears have advertised for multiple products including Pepsi, Candies from Kohl’s, Twister, NASCAR, Toyota and many more.

Type # 15. Consumer Generated Advertising:

This involves getting consumers to generate advertising through blogs, websites, wikis and forums, for some kind of payment.

Type # 16. Sales Promotions:

Sales promotions are another way to advertise. Sales promotions are double purposed because they are used to gather information about what type of customers you draw in and where they are, and to jumpstart sales. Sales promotions include things like contests and games, sweepstakes, product giveaways, samples coupons, loyalty programmes, and discounts. The ultimate goal of sales promotions is to stimulate potential customers to action.


Types of Advertising – 2 Major Types: Industrial and Rural Advertising

Type # 1. Industrial Advertising:

Industrial advertising or business advertising is related to the adver­tisements of industrial or investment products. The products are sold for further production. Industrial advertising informs manufacturers particular products are suitable for quality production. In this category, raw materials, machinery, equipment, tools and fuels are included.

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In­dustrial advertising is also undertaken to give information to customers and prospects on available sellers and manufactures. It stimulates derived demand and motivates distributors.

Trade journals, direct mail advertising, catalogues, samples, trade shows, exhibitions, fairs, circulars, pamphlets – all these are pressed into service to promote advertising for industrial goods. Manufacturers and prospective consumers are informed in this way about the availability of suitable raw materials, equipment, machinery, fuels, tools, etc.

The future of industrial advertising in India is very bright because of the development of technological processes, product changes, competi­tion, quality of products, widespread knowledge, expansion of education and national income, efficient communication, demographic and psychographic conditions.

Scientific inventions, technological develop­ments, social changes, space research, atomic power, economic and social changes – these have brought about far-reaching changes and promoted the development of advertising in India. Advertising men lead producers and consumers to progress and reform.

They work efficiently and success­fully, so that manufacturers may successfully tap the potential markets. Industrial advertisers consider the needs of the people in the future and decide the course of action accordingly. They assess their future trends and activities. Distribution channels are widely utilised for this purpose.

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Advertising men have developed a very scientific attitude to their ac­tivities. The progress of the country will continue as a result of scientific and technological improvements. Advertising men have an abundant scope for promoting the economic development of the country.

Type # 2. Rural Advertising:

Rural advertising is mainly related to agricultural advertising which promotes the sale and purchase of agricultural inputs, such as seeds, fertilisers, pump-sets and threshers. The emergences of new crops and technological breakthrough have underscored the need of more effective methods of advertising.

i. Media:

Rural India was traditionally covered only by exhibitions, fairs, weekly markets, etc. But scientific and technological developments have made rural people more conscious, active and energetic; and now they are ap­proached systematically and quickly. An assessment of the present media will reveal the future trend of advertising through broadcasting and print media.

a. Television:

Today, almost all the villages have at least one television set. In many villages, several television sets are working. Rural electrification has done a commendable job in the expansion of the broad­cast media. Once television was considered a luxury in rural areas; now it has become an essential article. People watch and see advertisements on television. It is hoped that very soon each family will have one television set.

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Advertisers can effectively communicate their messages to the rural masses. The installation of regional television stations has given a stimulus to television advertising in the local language or dialect. It is expected that rural advertising will expand rapidly with the development of the electronic media in India, and there will soon be a 100-per cent coverage of rural areas by television advertising.

b. Radio:

The radio has been widely used in rural areas. People listen to all the radio programmes. Almost every household in rural areas has a radio or a transistor set Agricultural development has contributed to the advertising of agricultural techniques, problems and solutions. ‘Krishi Ghoshti’ or Farm-Talk has contributed significantly to rural development.

Almost all households listen to radio programmes. Con­sumer as well as industrial products have been made popular by effective radio broadcasting. The message and programme of radio broadcasting are expected to be diversified in the light of the future needs of the economy.

c. Newspapers:

Newspapers once a rarely in rural area has today become popular as a result of education. The local newspapers have increased their circulation in rural areas. People now read newspapers. Consumption as well as production goods are effectively advertised through newspapers in rural areas. The future is bright, for self-employ­ment opportunities have expanded substantially in recent years.

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d. Magazines:

Advertisement in magazines has been nominal, and may not increase in the next 10 years. After that, it may achieve some popularity, particularly when educated people start their own estab­lishments in rural areas.

e. Posters:

Sheet posters, etc., are not very common in rural areas. People do not bother about them. The safety of posters and billboards in rural areas is doubtful. They may not be very effective in the coming years.

f. Exhibitions & Fairs:

Exhibitions and fairs organised in rural areas have a tremendous scope. Agricultural universities and institutes have started taking active part in advertising at exhibitions and fairs.

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ii. Market:

The market in rural areas has been expanding since 1951, more particularly after the Green Revolution. The purchasing power of farmers has increased, and they have adopted modern tools and techniques of cultivation. As a result, the scope of industrial and consumer advertising had vastly increased.

Farmers now have adequate information on the markets where they can sell their products at remunerative prices. The traditional market has been replaced by the new markets. Wholesalers, retailers and semi- wholesalers had been exploiting the formers.

The expansions of markets in rural areas and government initiatives have now changed the old market­ing patterns. The pattern of change will continue to maintain an upward trend and improvements will be effected in rural areas as a result of advertising.

Advertising has created new demands in rural areas. The social and psychological environment has changed. It has expanded the demand. New food processing techniques have made the market more attractive. Potatoes, tomatoes, groundnuts, etc., which used to be damaged in the summer seasons, are now preserved in cold-storage with the food-process­ing companies. The market has now become uniform. Fluctuations in price, i.e., the lowest price during harvesting and the highest price during the slack season, have now been controlled.

Communication facilities have assisted in increasing farmers’ produc­tivity as well as the marketability of their produce. Farmers now get remunerative prices. The consumers in rural areas have also started adopt­ing the modern way of life. They purchase the latest goods and services for consumption and production purposes. Advertising has contributed to a rise in the standard of living in rural areas. Rural folk now have radio and TV sets which are a good source of advertising.

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The level of advertising in rural areas is very low at present. But it is expected to pick up quickly with the rise in income, education, production and market diversification. The economic development in rural areas has been faster in recent years than in urban areas. Many people have started setting up their businesses and production units in rural areas.

Rural markets have expanded rapidly with the availability of modern facilities. Infrastructures, banking, roads, schools, colleges, hospitals, electricity, merchandising, postal services and police stations – all these have contributed significantly to the development of rural markets. These are the inputs of marketing and advertising agencies.

iii. Motivation:

The Government of India has offered several incentives such as – fertiliser subsidies, inputs, machinery, pump-sets, etc. The subsidies and financial assistance offered by the subsidies and financial assistance offered by the government have assisted in the development of more inputs for production purposes. They have encouraged the producer.

The govern­ment also offers remunerative prices for their products. The production and market facilities provided by the government have been possible through effective advertising.


Types of Advertising – 3 Common Types: General, Retail and Business Advertising

Type # 1. General Advertising:

General advertisers are mainly responsible for wholesale advertising functions. Producers of many consumption goods have adopted modern advertising techniques. The general advertising is the responsibility of the advertising manager who may be known as the president. He is assisted by several advertising managers, a committee organisation, an advertising department organisation and the advertising agency.

i. Advertising Manager:

The advertising manager, like the marketing manager, performs several activities related to advertising. The position of the advertising manager depends upon the nature, size and age of the company. In a big company, he functions as an executive head of the advertising department with allocated funds from the marketing management department or from the chief executive.

He is accountable to the chief marketing executive. The advertising manager may be working as the head of a centralised department in a multi-divisional company. When the advertising job is decentralised, he may work as an operating head of a division.

ii. Committee Organisation:

The advertising department may work under a committee organisa­tion on which serve the heads of the departments of marketing, finance and personnel. This committee organisation formulates suitable strategies and programmes for advertising purposes.

The execution of advertising plans is vested in the advertising manager who is responsible for their smooth implementation.

iii. Advertising Department Organisation:

There may be several departments under the advertising department. Each department is given specific jobs to perform efficiently.

iv. Advertising Agency:

The advertising manager appoints an advertising agency for the ef­fective performance of advertising jobs when the advertising manager cannot perform these jobs very effectively by himself.

The advertising manager selects an appropriate advertising agency to meet the requirements of the company. The service, compatibility, creativity, effectiveness, cost, reputation, etc., all these factors are con­sidered while selecting the agency to meet the advertising requirement. Advertising agency is not a part of the organisation. It is an external agency with a contract to advertise the products of the company.

Type # 2. Retail Advertising:

Retail advertising unlike general advertising does not undertake regular advertising activities, though this may be done occasionally to meet certain specific requirements. The advertising message is prepared from time to time to advertise a specific product. If is helpful to the retail store because it can communicate the advertising message to the consumers.

The advertisement may appear in one month, and may appear again after a gap of long period. The job is only occasional. Since retail advertising is not regular, the services of advertising agencies are seldom sought. The personnel in the advertisement department or section perform the advertising functions.

Retail advertising differs from organisation to organisation, time to time and place to place. The main aim of a retail store is to persuade people to shop in the store. Retail advertising may relate to the selection of merchandise, the grant of higher credit and brand display at the store.

The retailer is interested in selling all the merchandise rather than only one brand. He adopts advertising techniques to popularise all the brands. Retail advertising is discussed under the classification of retail advertising as well as retail advertising and the marketing mix.

Type # 3. Business Advertising:

The advertising of consumer goods is generally accepted by people as an important tool for increasing sales. Business advertising meant for business people has no less importance in the business world. Advertising for marketers and business people is very useful for popularising industrial products, commercial products and agricultural products.

Business ad­vertising is analysed under- Classification, comparison with consumer ad­vertising, organisation, and promotion mix.


Types of Advertising – Depending Upon Nature and Characteristics 

The following are different kinds of advertising depending on the nature and characteristics of advertisements:

i. Product advertising – Here the emphasis is on using a product than a particular brand of a manufacturer. It creates a primary demand for the product.

ii. Institutional advertising – Here the advertisements focus on a company to project its image and services. The aim may be to build-up a company’s goodwill among shareholders, creditors and also consumers.

iii. Primary demand advertising – When a novel or a new product is introduced, advertising concentrates on creation of primary demand for such products. In the introductory stage of new products, this type of advertising is common.

iv. Competitive advertising – Here, the advertisements emphasize merits of a producer’s brand over those of competitors. Minor differences in price, quality, etc., are highlighted.

v. Comparative advertising – Specific comparisons of cut­throat nature may be made with competing products to gain business at each other’s cost. For example, the bitter publicity war between “Nirma” and “Surf” highlights this method.

vi. Shortage advertising – When a product is in short- supply, appeals may be made for its conservation and avoiding wastage, for example, petroleum products in India.

vii. Cooperative advertising – If producer, wholesaler or dealers carry on combined advertising, the names of dealers and producers are used in combination, highlighting the distribution outlets. This method is widely practised in automobile selling.

viii. Commercial advertising – This is also called as business advertising and meant for increasing the sales or business.

Professionals like chartered accountants, lawyers, doctors use this method. Also, selling farm inputs like fertilizers, pesticides, farm implements, etc., and selling for industrial products, this type of advertising is adopted. The commercial advertising is confined to selected segments and can be called as selective advertising.

ix. Non-commercial advertising – Advertising by charities, educational institutions, etc., falls under this category. They are not meant for business purpose but to collect donations or attract students.


Types of Advertising – Top 12 Types: National, Local, Co-Operative, Trade, Industrial, Financial, Corporate, Public Service, Political, Outdoor and a Few Others

1. National Advertising:

National advertising identifies a specific target audience and attempts to create an image for the product. For example—the car Mercedes—E class is targeted for super affluent class in India, and so Tanishq Jewellery. The national advertisers may sometimes select local newspapers, regional TV/Radio broadcast to take advantages of local language. The real message in national advertising is “Buy our brand”.

2. Retail (Local) Advertising:

The retail ads encourage patronage by consumers and build store loyalty. The relative is not particularly concerned with any specific brand. Thus general approach in retail advertising is “Buy at our Store”. The sale of any specific brand is not the concern of retailer.

The advertiser must convey the image of the type of store to particularly attract certain types of consumers. The retailer works in a narrowly limited geographic market. This allows him to focus his advertising messages to the likes, preferences and buying habits of targeted consumers.

3. Co-Operative Advertising:

Manufacturers of consumer durable goods or speciality products often show special interest in their dealer’s advertising. To help identify the dealers in different geographic markets, dealers put the ads in local media under their names. The manufacturer and the dealer share the cost of ad and hence the name “Co-operative Advertising”.

4. Trade Advertising:

Trade advertising is used to promote products to re-sellers encouraging them to stock the product. Manufacturers emphasise the profitability to retailers and the consumer’s demand that will ensure the high turnover of the product. In case of mass distributed products, the manufacturer is interested in increasing the number of retail stores that stock the brand. The objective is to achieve maximum distribution. In this situation the advertisement is aimed at creating brand awareness among re-sellers, which is followed by sales people or by offering some trade incentives.

5. Industrial Advertising:

These advertisements are Industry publications, Industry Trade Journals, direct mail, telephone, Internet and Trade fairs, which provide necessary information for manufacturers of products/services to buy necessary equipment, machinery, raw materials and consumables for producing finished products/services.

Industry advertising is directed at a specialised and relatively small sized target audience. This helps reduce personal selling costs, efforts and speeds-up of industrial products.

6. Financial Advertising:

These advertisements are made on print media, electronic media and others on financial matters, i.e., the Public Issue of Tata Consultancy Services in August 2004, which was oversubscribed over three times were advertised heavily in above media.

7. Corporate Advertising:

Corporate or Institutional advertising is an extension of public relations function and does not promote any specific product or service. Corporate advertising aims to build and maintain the image of a company or Institution sponsorships by ITC, Pepsi and Coca- Cola in various sports events in India for Cricket are aimed at image building for the sponsors. The largest groups of corporate advertising are most often customers, stockholders, employees, financial institutions, political leaders and government.

The objective of a corporate advertisement may also be to counter negative attitudes towards a company or industry and arouse social or public interest cause.

8. Public Services Advertising:

This is a kind of Institutional advertising through which the advertiser aims to create an image on public support and social services etc.

“The Pulse Polio” immunisation programme for children below 5 years which is advertised in print media and electronic media is very often supported by popular movie star or sports personality.

9. Political Advertising:

This is a type of non-commercial advertising sponsored by a political party releasing popular slogans in Print Media, Electronic Media and through posters. Such advertisements are made before elections.

10. Product Advertising:

This aims at selling a particular product and is divided into following categories:

(a) Primary Advertising (Pioneer):

This is a type of advertising used at the stage of introducing a new product to the market with the aim to inform details. For example, motor cycles, washing machine etc.

(b) Selective Advertising:

This type of advertising is used when the market is loaded with similar products (i.e., substitutes). There will be stiff competitions among the products. This generally happens in the growing stage of a product’s life cycle. Since competition is there, the advertisers aim to capture the market by influencing the demand for a specific product, probably supported by promotion activities. This type is also known as Competitive Advertising. For example, Titan Watches, Prestige Pressure Cookers, Hero Cycles etc.

11. Push and Pull Advertising:

A Push Promotion strategy calls for using the sales force and trade promotion to push the product through dealers and retailers. The Producer aggressively promotes the product to dealers who aggressively promote the product to retailers who in turn aggressively promote the product to consumers. A Pull Promotion strategy calls for spending money on advertising and consumer promotion to build up consumer-demand.

If the strategy is effective, consumers will ask their retailers for the product, the retailers will ask their dealers and the dealers will ask the producers for the product. There are two types of promotional blends. While a Push Promotional blend emphasizes personal selling, a Pull promotional blend emphasises on impersonal selling, i.e., advertising and sales-promotion campaign.

12. Outdoor Advertising:

Outdoor advertising passes the message to those people who are moving audience. Generally, almost all the people go out on some purpose. The outdoor advertising has the best effect of advertising. It is a low cost medium and is effective in crowded places in Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi and Chennai etc. These are Posters, Buses, Trams, Trains, Taxis, Electric Display, Sky-Advertising, Hand Bills, Travelling Display etc.


Types of Advertising – Classification on the Basis of Geographic Spread, Target Group, By Type of Impact and Non-Product Advertising

Type # 1. On the Basis of Geographical Spread:

Geographical Spread may be taken as a variable against which the advertising could be classified. This is done on the extent of geographical area addressed through the advertisement.

On basis of geographical spread, advertisement could take any one of the following three forms:

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 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 localise 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.

Examples – Big JO’s and Ebony in Delhi, and Akbarallys in Mumbai advertise their shops as selling clothing, gift items, etc.

Beside retailers, large firms may also go in for local advertising usually at the time of market-testing of a product. This happen especially in case of a soft launch consumer product in selected area before embarking promotional campaign at a national level.

Example – DAB antacid was advertised locally in Delhi alone at the time of market-testing; which was later taken nation.

Thus, principally, local advertising makes use of local media to announce the availability of products and service to the local audience.

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 Web 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.

Type # 2. On the Basis of Target Group:

i. Consumer Advertising:

This is also called end product advertising. Such advertisement are primarily directed at consumers. These are the advertisement 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 advertisement are intended to promote sale of the advertised products by appealing directly to the buyers for consumers 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. Consumer advertising aims at directly meeting the needs of the target segment to promote the sale of the advertised product.

The importance of consumer advertising could be understood by looking at any newspaper or magazine at random and checking out for the number of consumer advertisements.

ii. 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.

For example, the industrial advertiser has a product such as ball bearings or an electric motor that might become a component or part of some other consumer appliances, such as a washing machine or a refrigerator. A supplier of road construction equipment advertises to reach to those who buy such equipment.

This type of advertising is done in industrial publications and is quite unlike consumer advertising. The target audience of this advertising are the purchasing officials in a specific industry. Since they are experts in their own fields, the advertising contains technical details that only specialists in the relevant field can understand.

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.

iii. 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 those 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. Therefore, the objective of trade advertising is to promote sales by motivating the distribution channel members to stock more or to attract new retail outlets. It also stresses on the consumer demand that will create high turnover of the product for the consumer.

Direct mail and specialised business publications are the most commonly used media for trade advertising.

iv. 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 but 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 are not aware of how professional advisors decide on the various brands of professional products and services they recommend. However, the same can be used effectively by the marketer to communicate with decision influencers in professional fields about products and services. Firms operating such market segments, therefore direct their advertising to these decision influencers and even decision makers, at times, who are professional people.

v. 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-approach advertising. This type of advertisement is sometimes aimed at general audience to explain a company or institution and to suggest its positive attributes.

Type # 3. By the Type of Impact:

Advertising may be classified on the basis of the type of impact it may have. The impact could be in terms of the demand influence level or in terms of the timing of response.

i. Advertising Based on Demand Influence Level:

(a) 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 its an organised 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.

For example, some year back, advertising for mineral water was done by Bisleri. It emphasised on the health platform of consuming mineral water. Not much emphasis was laid on the brand name ‘Bisleri’, because there was not much competition and the task before Parle, the marketer of Bisleri was to educate the consumers to buy bottled water for hygienic purposes.

(b) 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 users of brand ‘X’ into users of the brand of the advertiser.

For example, Coca Cola advertising of Kinley mineral water aims at stimulating the demand of mineral water towards its own brand.

Advertisement for Onida KY Thunder, Rin Supreme, Reynolds, Color Plus, etc. aims at stimulating the selective demand.

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.

ii. Advertising Based on Timing of Response:

(a) 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 in order to avail a limited time offering.

Direct action advertising aims at generating behavioural action directly through exposure and attention to a given brand.

(b) 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 or services. The main objective of such advertisement is to build up the reputation or goodwill of the brand in the marketplace and to enhance vulnerability of the branded product offered through building mental associations relating to them. Such advertisements aims at attaining long- term objectives.

Though the ultimate aim of the advertiser in this type of advertising is increase sales of product and services but it is not always aimed at the immediate future.

Such advertisement aims to increase awareness level of the target customers about a brand, increase the level comprehension of the brand by them or to build a positive attitude towards the brand. No doubt, sales or action is aimed at by the marketer, but that is usually expected to be result of awareness and attitude. Such advertising assumes that a positive attitude and a higher level of awareness should lead to the sale of a product.

For example, the advertisement of Pepsi does not aim at stimulating immediate sales. Its aim is to develop the awareness and a positive attitude for the brand which shall ultimately lead to sales.

However, practically the advertiser, in most of the cases, combine the two types of advertising – direct action and indirect action advertising. Such advertising has dual objectives – one, to present a message which will help build desired mental associates about a brand and second, to get immediate response of some kind, in the form of further queries, an order or a request for more details, etc.

Type # 4. Non-Product Advertising:

Till now, we have discussed the advertisement for products or the intangible goods. 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.

i. Idea Advertising:

Not all advertising is designed to sell a product or service. Both companies and non-profit organisation 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 organisation or government or social service institutions. It seeks to promote important social issues. It is credit to promote greater awareness of public causes.

ii. 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. They generally keep the same slogan, theme or identifying mark for long time, to increase consumer awareness. In the case of a few services like doctors, lawyers or accountants, advertising may be legally regulated.

The advertisements for the ATM (Automated teller machine) service of State Bank of India, ICICI etc., is the example of service advertising.

Personalised services like laundry, hair grooming, beauty salon, automotive repairs, when advertised, place greater emphasis on the institution offering it. They may talk about congenial environment, quickness and promptness of service, economy, exclusiveness, status significance etc.

Luxury hotels and airlines, when advertising their services, attach greater importance to service with a simple, courtesy and thoughtfulness. For example, recent advertisement campaign run by Virgin Atlantic Airlines highlights giving body massage and drinks on the flight.

iii. Financial Advertising:

An organisation 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. These 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 specialised magazines. Mega-issues may be promoted even on T.V. or outdoor media.

The copy of financial advertisement gives the highlights of the project, details of the issue, Crisil rating, management’s perception of risk factors, closing date of the issue, lead manager’s names and addresses, promoters name and the name and address of the company. Apart from these routine things, the investing public is motivated to invest by suitable copy matter — a slogan, a promise of dividends or returns and the profit of the product being advertised.

Mudra attempted to advertise brand Reliance Petrochemicals issue —Khazana, way back in 1987, which was the first attempt to market an issue. The trend has caught up today with the firms.

Most of the agencies, have now started offering communication package including direct marketing, press and broker conferences, brochures preparation, personnel relation to clients in this area etc.

There is generally a legal angle to these advertisements. Advertisers have to seek permission from the concerned authorities before announcing any schemes or going to primary market. It is a highly specialized field and some advertising agencies develop expertise in this regard.

Some of the major advertising agencies which are into financial advertising in India include the Pressman Advertisement Agency, Sobhagaya Advertising Services and Clea Advertising. A thorough knowledge of the capital market, investor psychology, stock exchanges and the functioning of the Registrar of Public Issues, SEBI etc., is needed before venturing to undertake such advertising.

Financial advertising looked mundane as a matter of fact, till the West Coast Breweries used cine star Pooja Bhatt in swim suit in its financial advertisement, drawing the adverse attention of the SEBI. In order not to hoodwink the gullible prospect, SEBI no more approves of glamorous advertisements using celebrities, smart headlines, unsubstantiated claims. SEBI exercises control over financial advertising indirectly through merchant banks, who manage various issues.

iv. 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.

These are the four broad categories in which the advertisement could be classified with the categories containing further classification at a micro level. Despite these classifications, let’s take a quick look at the classification given by some of the eminent authors.


Types of Advertising – 2 Main Types: Product and Corporate or Institutional Advertisement

Type # 1. Product Advertisement:

This relates to promoting every product or a group of products individually. Product campaign does not require as much money as the corporate campaign would. It tries to sell a product. It may be aimed at the end user or at potential representatives and distributors.

Product advertising may be further classified as:

i. Pioneering Advertising:

Pioneering advertising tries to develop primary demand which is demand for a product category rather than a specific brand. It is required in the early stages of the adoption process to inform potential customers about a new product.

ii. Competitive Advertising:

Competitive advertising aims at developing selective demand for a specific manufacturer’s product rather than a product category. This is usually the situation in a mature market.

iii. Reminder Advertising:

Here, the advertiser may use “soft-sell” advertisements that just mention or show the name of the product so that it serves as a reminder. Reminder advertising may be thought of as maintenance for a product with the leadership position in the market.

iv. Infomercials:

An infomercial is a long-format television commercial, for five minutes or longer duration. The word “infomercial” is a portmanteau of the words “information” and “commercial”. The main objective in an infomercial is to create an impulse purchase, so that the target sees the presentation and then immediately buys the product through the advertised toll-free telephone number or website.

Infomercials describe, display, and often demonstrate products and their features, and commonly have testimonials from customers and industry professionals. For example the home shopping channels on cable network are selling jewellery, apparel, health equipment etc.

v. Radio Advertising:

Airtime is purchased from a station or network in exchange for airing the commercials. While radio has the limitation of being restricted to sound, persons doing radio advertising often cite this as an advantage. Radio is an expanding medium that can be found on air, and also online. A very large population can be reached through radio advertising.

vi. Online Advertising:

Online advertising is a form of promotion that uses the Internet and World Wide Web for the purpose of delivering marketing advertisements to attract customers. For Example contextual ads that appear on search engine results pages, banner ads, in pay per click text ads, Social network advertising, online classified advertising, advertising networks and e-mail marketing, including e-mail spam.

vii. Domain Name Advertising:

Domain name advertising is most commonly done through pay per click search engines; however, advertisers often lease space directly on domain names that generically describe their products. When an Internet user visits a website by typing a domain name directly into their web browser, this is known as “direct navigation “, or “type in” web traffic. Domain name advertising was originally developed by Applied Semantics, one of Google’s early acquisitions.

viii. Product Placements:

It is a form of Covert advertising, where a product or brand is embedded in entertainment and media. For example, in a television serial or film, the main character can use an item of a brand, for example, the protagonists in most TV shows are seen working on an Apple laptop or using an i-phone. Similarly, product placement for Omega Watches, Ford, VAIO, BMW and Aston Martin cars have featured in James Bond films.

ix. Press Advertising:

Press advertising describes advertising in a printed medium such as a newspaper, magazine, or trade journal. This encompasses everything from media with a very broad readership base, such as a major national newspaper or magazine, to more narrowly targeted media such as local newspapers and trade journals.

A form of press advertising is classified advertising, which allows private individuals or companies to purchase a small, narrowly targeted ad for a low fee advertising a product or service.

x. Billboard Advertising:

Billboards are large structures located in public places which display advertisements to passing pedestrians and motorists. Most often, they are located on main roads with a large amount of passing motor and pedestrian traffic; however, they can be placed in any location with large amounts of viewers, such as on mass transit vehicles and in stations, in shopping malls or office buildings, and in stadiums.

xi. Mobile Billboard Advertising:

Mobile billboards are generally vehicle mounted billboards or digital screens. These can be on dedicated vehicles built solely for carrying advertisements along routes preselected by clients. The billboards are often lighted employing spotlights. Some billboard displays are static, while others change; for example, continuously or periodically rotating among a set of advertisements.

Mobile displays are used for various situations in metropolitan areas throughout the world, including – target advertising, one-day and long-term campaigns, conventions, store openings and similar promotional events.

xii. In-Store Advertising:

In-store advertising is any advertisement placed in a retail store. It includes placement of a product in visible locations in a store, such as at eye level, at the ends of aisles and near checkout counters.

xiii. Coffee Cup Advertising:

Coffee cup advertising is any advertisement placed upon a coffee cup that is distributed out of an office, cafe, or drive-through coffee shop. This form of advertising was first popularized in Australia, and has begun growing in popularity in the United States, India, and parts of the Middle East.

xiv. Street Advertising:

This type of advertising first came to prominence in the UK to create outdoor advertising on street furniture and pavements. This helps to get the message to reach the public in a big way. Besides, the cost is low.

xv. Sheltered Outdoor Advertising:

This type of advertising combines outdoor with indoor advertisement. It is done by placing large mobile, tents in public places on temporary basis. The large outer advertising space aims to exert a strong pull on the observer so that the product is promoted indoors, where the creative decor can intensify the impression.

xvi. Celebrity Branding:

This type of advertising focuses upon using celebrity power, fame, money, popularity to gain recognition for their products and promote specific stores or products. Advertisers often advertise their products, for example, when celebrities share their favourite products or wear clothes by specific brands or designers.

Celebrities are often involved in advertising campaigns such as television or print adverts to advertise specific or general products. For example Amitabh Bachaan endorsed ‘chotu maggie’ and Akashay Kumar endorsed ‘Thumps Up’. The recent ‘anti road rage’ campaign by ‘Radio Mirchi’ is also done by Akashay Kumar.

xvii. Customer-Generated Advertising:

This involves getting customers to generate advertising through blogs, websites and forums, for some kind of payment, gifts or through campaigns. For example,’ Maggie’ involved consumers to share their experiences and the best one would get printed on the packet of the product along with the photos of the sender.

xviii. Aerial Advertising:

Using aircraft, balloons or airships to create or display advertising media. Skywriting is a notable example. It is not very popular in India. In the USA & UK, this mode is very popular.

xix. Digital Signage:

It is poised to become a major mass media because of its ability to reach larger audiences for less money. Digital signage also offers the unique ability to see the target audience where they are reached by the medium. Technological advances have also made it possible to control the message on digital signage with much precision, enabling the messages to be relevant to the target audience. Digital signage is being successfully employed in restaurants and malls.

xx. E-mail Advertising:

It is another recent phenomenon. Unsolicited bulk E-mail advertising is known as “e-mail spam”. This is a relatively immature market, but it has shown a lot of promises since advertisers are in a position to take advantage of the demographic information the user has provided to the social networking site.

xxi. Unpaid Advertising:

It is also called “publicity advertising”, it can include personal recommendations such as “bring a friend or equating a brand with a common noun for example, Kleenex”-tissue, “Vaseline” -petroleum jelly, and “Band-Aid”- adhesive bandage.

xxii. Niche Marketing:

Another significant trend regarding future of advertising is the growing importance of the niche market. In the past, the most efficient way to deliver a message was to reach the largest market audience possible. These advertisements are targeted to a specific group and can be viewed by anyone wishing to find out more about a particular business or practice, from their home.

This causes the viewer to become proactive and actually choose what advertisements they want to view. For instance Google AdSense is an example of niche marketing. Google calculates the primary purpose of a website and adjusts advertisements accordingly.

xxiii. Crowdsourcing:

These are user-generated advertisements which are created by people, as opposed to an advertising agency or the company, often resulting from brand sponsored advertising competitions. This trend has given rise to several online platforms that host user – generated advertising competitions on behalf of a company.

xxiv. Global Advertising:

Advertising has gone through five major stages of development – domestic, export, international, multi-national, and global. For global advertisers, there are four, potentially competing, business objectives that must be balanced when developing worldwide advertising – building a brand while speaking with one voice, developing economies of scale in the creative process, maximising local effectiveness of ads, and increasing the company’s speed of implementation.

Type # 2. Corporate or Institutional Advertisement:

This is an objective of business where the marketer promotes the company as a brand so that any type of product can be sold under the same brand. It tries to develop goodwill for a company, rather than selling a specific product. Its objective is to improve the advertiser’s image, reputation, and relations with the various groups the company deals with.

This includes not only end-users and distributors, but also suppliers, shareholders, employees, and the general public. Institutional advertising focuses on the name and prestige of a company. It is also used to link a company’s other products to the reputation of a market-leading product.

For example the company TATA, Birla group, Reliance are few of the many companies which have focussed on advertising the company rather than an individual product. Therefore, such companies are able to sell every product with the same customer trust.