What is Advertising?
Advertising is one of the forms of promotion or marketing communications used by organizations. Advertising can be defined as any paid form of communication between an organization and the marketplace, which promotes the products, services or the organization itself.
Advertising is a very common form of promotion, used by almost all types of organizations: businesses, charities, political parties and other organizations.
Advertising can be delivered to the target market through mass media: television, radio, newspapers, magazines or through other forms of media: billboards, email, Internet pages.
Types of Advertising
There are four types of advertising: Product-Oriented Advertising, Image Advertising, Advocacy Advertising and Public Service Advertising
Product-Oriented Advertising
This is the most common form of advertising; most people are exposed to product-oriented adverting on a daily basis. Product-Oriented Advertising refers to any type of advertising that promotes the products or services of a company.
An example of product-oriented advertising would be a McDonald’s television advertisement which promotes a new burger.
In addition to information about a product, these types of ads may also offer direct or indirect comparisons between the product and similar products offered by competitors. This is referred to as comparative advertising.
An example of comparative advertising would be Apple advertisements that compares Mac computers to PC computers.
Image advertising
Image advertising refers to advertising that promotes the organization itself as whole, rather than specific products.
There are several reasons image advertising may be used:
- Increase brand awareness
- Enhance the reputation of the organization
- Associate the brand with positive images, values and lifestyles
- Combat any negative publicity surrounding an organization
Advocacy Advertising
(Also known as: public affairs advertising, public issue advertising, viewpoint advertising, opinion advertising, adversary advertising, and controversy advertising.
Advocacy advertising refers to advertisements that address particular issues of public interest.
Advocacy advertisements are most commonly produced by non-profit organisations and created with the intention to influence public opinion on a particular political or social issue.
Advocacy advertising is also used by businesses occasionally, for example a business may create an advocacy advertisement either in agreement or disagreement with legislation that may affect their business
Public Service Advertising
(Also known as public service announcement or a community service announcement)
Public service advertising refers to advertisements, which inform and educate audiences about particular social issues, rather than promote a product.
Public service advertisements refer to advertisements, which are created with the intention to improve public welfare. They are most commonly created by non-profit organizations and address particular social or political issue.
Public service advertisements differ from advocacy advertising in that they are permitted to run free of charge by the media.
An example of public service advertising would be a Red Cross advertisement promoting blood donations.
