Advertising is one of the best known and recognized areas of the marketing communications mix.
Unfortunately, it is a term widely used, mistakenly so, to refer to all types of marketing.
To avoid confusion with other promotional tools, it is best to limit its definition to highlight its essential features, which are that it is paid for, non personal and uses the mass media (TV, radio, cinema, press, posters and internet).
Communication via a recognizable advertisement placed in a definable advertising medium, guaranteeing delivery of an unmodified message to a specified audience in return for an agreed rate for the space or time used.
Advertising is also known as above the line promotion because it uses the mass (or above the line) media.
It is a phrase used because the mass media pay published commission rates to advertising to advertising agencies and these are seen as being ‘above the line’ on contrast to all other forms of promotion in which the mark-ups are unknown or ‘below the line’.
How advertising actually works is something that is hotly debated, some believing that it has direct effects on sales and others who believe that the effect is significant but more subtle by primarily influencing awareness and predispositions.
In this way, sales are achieved by advertising working with the other elements of the marketing communications mix.
It is best to think of advertising as having a number of roles and effects and working differently in each.
It can be simplified to three:
- Persuasion (to take action, to buy)
- Publicity (to make familiar and remind)
- Association (to increase the perceived value through semiotic associations)
Advertising and Marketing Communication
