Which term refers to any form of sponsor-identified, impersonal paid mass communication?

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Advertising Definition

Advertising is one of the promotion techniques categorically used to impact the demand for product in the market. The word ‘advertise’ originates from the Latin word ‘advertere’ which means to turn towards or to take note of something. When the marketer decides to transmit the message about a product through some mass information directed media and impart a frame of mind for reference at the time of actual product purchase in the market – it amounts to advertising.

Learn about the definitions of advertising as given by various authors and experts.

Definitions of Advertising by Eminent Authors and Marketing Experts

Advertising Definition

The term ‘advertising’ is derived from the original Latin word ‘advertise’ which means ‘to turn the attention’.

It has two meanings:

i. It is a macro concept which represents the entire advertising industry and is an institution.

ii. It is micro-managerial concept standing for the specific managerial function of any organization intending to send the information to other members of the society.

“Advertising is a paid form of non-personal presentation of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor” – American marketing Association.

“Advertising is the foot on the accelerator, the hand on the throttle, the spur on the flank that keeps our economy ever going forward.” – Robert w. Sarnoff.

“Advertising is a form of communication intended to promote the sale of the product or service, to influence public opinion, to gain political support or to advance a particular cause.” – Britannica.

Marketers use various techniques to affect demand for their product. Adding new features to the product, quality improvements, price adjustments, opening new channels of distribution, and celebrity endorsement are some of the techniques used by them to bring the desired change in the product likeability and, hence, its demand.

These techniques relate to the broad decision categories of product, price, place and promotion and are commonly referred to as 4P’s of marketing. In a given situation, a mix of these techniques relating to 4P’s is used to increase, decrease or maintain the demand state for the product.

Advertising is one of the promotion techniques categorically used to impact the demand for product in the market. The word ‘advertise’ originates from the Latin word ‘advertere’ which means to turn towards or to take note of something. When the marketer decides to transmit the message about a product through some mass information directed media and impart a frame of mind for reference at the time of actual product purchase in the market – it amounts to advertising.

Advertising aims at selling things persuasively and creatively as the primary goal of advertising is to increase the probability that those exposed to an advertisement will behave or believe as per the wishes of the advertiser. The visual and verbal messages – that are a part of advertising – are intend to attract the attention and produce some response by the viewer.

Advertising can be very simple or complex. Posters (probably the first form of advertising) announcing an event, are the simplest way to advertise. In its complex form, advertising involves a great amount of resources and creativity to make the messages persuasive in their content and appeal. This happens mainly because the advertiser recognises the need to generate demand for the product and begins to mix images and words and adopts the techniques of language and layout that we are familiar with today.

The form of advertising that we experience today began in the early twentieth century when psychologists recognised that advertising was an important form of communication and applied the theories and methods of psychology to its study. The application of psychological theories to advertising provides an understanding of how consumers process advertising messages and make purchase decisions. Theories of attention, information processing, attitude formation, and decision-making all are relevant to understanding how advertising affects consumers.

Individuals such as Harlow Gale conducted experiments which were designed to determine the power of individual advertisements to attract attention and persuade consumers to buy the product. In the year 1903, Walter Dill Scott of Northwestern University wrote the book. The Theory of Advertising, which sought to build a theoretical understanding of advertising based on the principals of psychological science. Scott suggested that advertisers should develop certain fundamental principles on which to construct a ‘rational theory of advertising’.

Stanley Resor of the J. Walter Thompson Agency and other advertising professionals noted the work of these psychologists and in 1912 they commissioned a study of the demographics and purchasing patterns of consumers to understand the queries regarding what motivated consumers to buy and how to persuade those same consumers in a better manner.

Over the years, advertising, as a field of study, has been immensely explored by the researchers and practitioners to understand how advertising works and generates various effects. There are a number of advertising theories developed over a period of time which are widely referred and used to understand the nuances of making advertising process effective and efficient in its purpose. For example, Krugman’s theory on low involving nature of television as advertising media has contributed immensely to the understanding of information processing behaviour of consumers.

As low involving situations are characterised by gradual shifts in consumers’ perceptual structures, repetitive advertising through low involving media like television could result into changes in behaviour and, at times, in attitudes . Theory of central and peripheral route to persuasion contributed by Petty and Cacioppo explains that in differently involved situations different elements of advertisement may work as routes to persuasion.

Use of model building approach originating from the field of operation research and statistics is a recent change in the direction of taking advertising decisions thereby making it more accountable for its performance. The Indian Entertainment and Media (E&M) Industry Report (2006) envisage ‘convergence’ in the Indian entertainment and media industry.

According to this report, though opportunities for the consumers to access and manipulate content and services will be abundant, consumer time and attention will be limited. Therefore, pushing exclusive content through non-linear channels or networks of mass or segmented audiences will no longer guarantee the competitive advantage. The knowledge and use of ‘consumer activity’ data in advertising models and advancements in audience measurement technology will be the basis of competition in the market.

American Marketing Association- “It is any paid form of non- personal presentation of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor.”

New Encyclopedia Britannica- “Advertising is a form of communication intended to promote the sale of the product or service to influence public opinion, to gain political support or to advance a particular cause.”

Some features:

i. It’s a mass communication device installed in every company which reaches to millions of people all over the world.

ii. It is informative in nature and so announces every aspect of the company to its target market.

iii. Persuasion is the prime aspect or nature of advertising which creates demand for the product.

iv. It’s a process of Attention, Interest, Desire and Action.

v. It is paid activity and therefore very important to look for.

vi. No personal element is attached in advertising. It is more general in nature and reaches thousands of people without discrimination.

Advertising Definition

Advertising drives the success story of a brand as visible in the case of Nano. Despite its low cost, wide segment, a trustworthy company, advertising was one of the strong factors which helped the brand pull in the market.

Advertising has become a part and parcel of our modern day life. It is difficult to assume how the state of society would be without the advertising activity happening in any form whatsoever. Probably, it will be like the age-old transaction less society where people used to survive in craft system depending on self-only.

The transaction based systems, where the relationship between two basic economic units-production and consumption-progresses beyond the craft system to the centralized system of production for distribution to distant markets, need to supply the product related information to those who are seeking information to know about product availability and to have more informed choices.

Advertising in any form is found capable of fulfilling the information needs of the market. In due course of economic development, as the information gap become more prevalent, advertising becomes the integral economic force and is considered as a pervasive form of communication both for the sender and the receiver.

A number of people take up different advertising related activities and pursue them continuously to find efficient ways to supply the information in more effective and efficient manner to their audiences. We, as an audience, are also the part of the advertising process as we seek for right information at the right time.

However, the way one experiences advertising means different to different people. It is a source of information for housewives planning for their household purchases. For children, advertising is a kind of entertainment that they see on television. To the television broadcasting house or newspaper agency, advertising is a source of revenue which helps them to meet their broadcasting and publishing expenses. To manufacturers and retailers it allows them to communicate simultaneously with masses.

The term advertising, therefore, has connotations differing in different contexts and as it has general familiarity also, it lends itself to misconceptions, misunderstandings, and lack of precise definition.

The term advertising and also its relation to other promotion tools, its nature and scope. The discussion on the importance of advertising is taken up next.

Advertising and other forms of promotional activities should be viewed as a means of implementing a communications strategy. Unlike personal selling and some sales promotion and public relations techniques, advertising is an impersonal means of communication. It is an impersonal communication to groups that is paid for by an identified sponsor.

It focuses upon groups of persons, rather than upon individuals. Marketers cannot tailor advertising messages to the peculiarities of individual consumers, but aim at the group. In addi­tion, the advertisement feedback mechanism is not as precise as it is in personal selling. Advertising is impersonal and is addressed to groups.

An identified sponsor pays for advertising. Each advertising message indicates who the sponsor is. Further, this means of promo­tion is paid for. Unlike publicity, it is not free. Advertising is a means of reaching groups. It is a form of mass communication. This method of promotion enables the marketer to address large numbers of target consumers at a low cost per consumer contacted.

Advertising is only one element of the promotion mix, but it often takes special prominence in the overall marketing mix design. Because of its high visibility and pervasiveness, it is an important social and economic topic in Indian society.

Promotion may be defined as “the co-ordination of all seller- initiated efforts to set up channels of information and persuasion to facilitate the scale of a good or service.” The bulk of promotion is directed toward facilitating and enhancing specific products and brands.

Thus, promotion is most often intended to be a supporting component in a marketing mix. This does not mean that it is any the less important than the product or other marketing decision areas. Rather, promotion decisions must be integrated and coordinated with the rest of the marketing mix, particularly product/brand deci­sions, so that it may effectively support an entire marketing mix strategy.

The promotion mix consists of four basic elements:

(i) Advertising, which is the dissemination of information by non-personal means through paid media where the source is clearly identified as the sponsoring organization;

(ii) Personal selling, which is the dissemination of information by non-personal, usually face-to-face, contacts between audience members and one or more employees of the sponsoring organization. The source of information is iden­tified as the sponsoring organization;

(iii) Sales promotion, which is the dissemination of informa­tion in a very broad sense through a wide variety of activi­ties, including free samples, gifts, coupons, point of purchase signs and displays, stamp programmes, reduction sales, contests, shows and exhibitions, demonstrations, and various non-recurrent efforts not made in the ordinary course.

In other words, sales promotion includes those marketing activities other than personal selling, advertising and publi­city which stimulate consumer purchasing and dealer effectiveness;

(iv) Publicity, which is the dissemination of information by personal or non-personal means and is not directly paid by the organization and for which the organization is not clearly identified as the source.

The word advertising originates from a Latin word advertire, which means to turn to. The dictionary meaning of the term is “to give public notice or to announce publicly”. Advertising may be defined as the process of buying sponsor-identified media space or time in order to promote a product or an idea. It is perhaps the most visible of all the elements in the promotion mix, and is, there­fore, subject of much criticism from consumer groups. It is also subject to government regulation.

The American Marketing Association, Chicago, has defined advertising as “any paid form of non-personal presentation or promo­tion of ideas, goods or services, by an identified sponsor”.

Advertising, in its derivative sense, means turning anybody’s attention to anything. But, for business purposes, it has some specific implica­tions.

Advertising has been defined as “mass, paid communication, the ultimate purpose of which is to impart information, develop attitudes and in­duce actions beneficial to the advertiser”.

Another definition considers advertising as “any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of goods, services or ideas by an identi­fied sponsor”.

According to William J. Stanton – “Advertising consists of all the activities in presenting to a group, a non-personal, oral or visual, openly sponsored message regarding a product, service or an idea.” On the basis of above definitions, it can be said that advertisement is such an impersonal art of sale in which information regarding products, services and thoughts is given by an identified sponsor. A payment is made for these services.

An advertisement is, therefore, a paid means of communication. It is commercial in nature. An ad­vertisement has buyers as its target in general; its sponsor is identifiable and its object is to attract attention and induce people to buy a product or ser­vice or accept an idea.

Mass production of goods needs mass distribu­tion which necessitates advertising for mass com­munication. It is a potent and recognised means of sales promotion. With the minimum cost, it can reach the maximum number of prospects.

It is in­comprehensible for mass distribution of a product without first resorting to the technique of adver­tising because, without advertising, it is not possi­ble for a vast mass of population to know the exis­tence of a product. Advertising is, today, undoubtedly a powerful force for sales promotion because of its all-pervasiveness.

Advertising is not a new technique of market­ing. It had been in the past, it exists at present and it will remain in future because of its efficacy. The methods of advertising are changing but the ad­vertising, as such, has been continuing as before. However, ample opportunity for better advertis­ing still exists.

As a matter of fact, “advertisement as an instinct is innate in human nature”. With the expansion of market and the development of inter­national market, advertising has assumed a new dimension of importance and its indispensability is now a matter beyond any controversy.

It is to be observed that advertisement is not a mere publicity – it is something more! While publicity or propaganda for spreading certain doctrines does not take into account the cost factor, advertising must involve cost-consciousness because here the object is to maximise sales at the minimum cost.

Advertising Definition

When a marketer or a firm has developed a product to satisfy market demand, there is a need for establishing contact with the target market so as to sell the product. Moreover, this has to be a mass contact as the marketer is interested in reaching out to a large number of people. Naturally the best way to reach this mass market is through mass communication, and advertising is one of the means of such mass communication along with other means such as publicity, sales promotion and public relations.

The term ‘advertising’ is derived from the Latin word ‘advertere’ which means ‘to turn’ the attention. Today all around us we see advertising turning the attention of every one towards a particular product, service or area. Advertising is a means of mass communication and has made mass selling possible.

Advertising is a means of forceful mass communication, which promotes the sale of goods, services and ideas through information and persuasion. Here it should be observed that advertising only draws the public towards the particular product service or idea. Repeated sales will take place only if the consumer finds the product satisfactory. Thus advertising only helps in selling.

The most widely accepted definition of advertising is the one given by the ‘American Marketing Association’, which is “Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor”.

According to the committee on definitions of the National Association of Marketing Teachers – “Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation of goods, services or idea to a group.”

According to Wood – “Advertising causing to know, to remember, to do.”

These points highlights the following aspects of advertising:

1. Any Form – Advertising is any form of communication. It may be a symbol or sign, an illustration or an ad message in a magazine, or newspaper. It may be a commercial on television or radio, or a circular dispatched through the mail. Advertising can take any of these forms and others also.

2. Paid form – This means that advertising is a commercial transaction and has to be paid for.

3. Non-personal – This phrase in the definition excludes personal selling from within the scope of advertising. Advertising has to be non-personal, i.e. addressed to a mass audience. Thus person-to-person presentation is not advertising.

4. Identified sponsor – This means that the sponsor of the advertisement openly pays for it.

In other words advertising is a sales message directed at a mass audience, which seeks to sell goods, services and ideas on behalf of a paying sponsor through the use of persuasion.

In a nutshell, advertising is a mass communication process of persuading the prospects by convincing them to buy products or services with increased satisfaction to the consumers and profits to the sponsors.

Advertising Definition

The term advertising originates from the Latin word ‘adverto’, which means to turn round. Advertising thus denotes the means employed to draw attention to any object or purpose. In the marketing context, advertising has been defined “as a paid and non-personal form of presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor”.

There is not only an identified sponsor, but also an identified media and message behind every advertisement. Through an advertisement, the advertiser intends to spread his ideas about his products/offerings among his customers and prospects. Popularisation of the products is the basic aim of the activity.

In 1948, the Definitions Committee of the American Marketing Association developed what today is the most acceptable definition of advertising. Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsors.

A working definition hence could somewhat be – “Advertising is the art and science of building brands through persuasive communication and positioning them in consumers’ perception with a constant vigil on the market situation and consumer expectations.” This gives advertising a kind of flexibility of adapting to the changing paradigms, viz., social, economic and political.

“Advertising is a powerful communication tool directed towards specific target customers in order to carry the messages regarding a particular product, service or ideas, meaningfully and persuasively with a view to achieve certain specific objectives such as, to establish brand loyalty, expansion of the existing markets, increased sales volume, etc.”

Advertising is multidimensional. It is a form of mass communication, a powerful marketing tool, a component of the economic system, a means of financing the mass media, a social institution, and an art form, an instrument of business management, a field of employment and a profession.

The American Marketing Association (AMA) has defined marketing, “As any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods and services by an identified sponsor”. This definition indicates that advertising is a paid, non-personal communication.

In the words of Wheelar – “Advertising is any form of paid non-persona! Presentation of ideas, goods or services for the purpose of including people to buy. ”

It lays emphasis on presentation and promotion. The presentation of the sales message may be visual as well as oral. The sponsor has also been given importance under this definition. Advertising is an effective method of reaching people with product information. “Advertising is controlled, identifiable information and persuasion by means of mass communication media”.

It is considered controlled information because it has to use the time, space and content of the message effectively and economically. It is controlled because it is directed at a particular group. Advertising should not be haphazardly done to attract a number of persons without fruitful results.

It is identifiable because it identifies the product and the source of the product. The message should be definite and appealing to the target group. Persuasion is the main object of advertising. It is creative and information, and is designed to attract prospective buyers. It has been accepted by all the authors that advertising is mass communication.

Advertising management is different from mass communication by the producer. Advertising management is the main task of the advertiser who directs and controls the advertising activities. It covers analysis, and the planning, control and decision-making activities of the advertiser. Identification of markets and consumer behaviour are of vital parts of advertising management.

Advertising Definition

Consumers are the main source of demand of an industry. In this form each source that can influence the consumers, inspire them for the purchase of production keeps an importance in the sales system of an institution. The consumers, who have money for purchase of product and who are desirous of buying the product are called The Demand of the Business. These consumers are inclined to obtain maximum possible satisfaction from their limited money or means. On account of this, they buy the product of their need very cautiously. On account of this, the producer has a problem to inspire these consumers to buy his own product in comparison to other producers. As a mean to remove this difficulty, advertisement comes before him.

Advertisement is an important mean to influence the consumers. Advertisement is an important mean to impress the customers. It is not sufficient for a manufacturer to deliver his product which has been manufactured according to the choice of customers at the shop of retailers. The real sale of the product is not possible until the production doesn’t inspire the consumer by providing him sufficient information regarding the quality and characteristics of the product. This work is only possible through an advertisement.

This is the reason that a use of advertisement is regularly increasing and there is hardly any business concern by which advertisement is not given. The large industrial and commercial institutions incur several lakhs of rupees on it. Advertisement is a medium to inspire the consumers and others by explaining others to purchase a product by explaining the characteristic of the product and other allied facts.

Some important definitions to highlight the meaning at advertisement are as under:

1. According to John A. Sliubin – “Advertising is the art of disseminating marketing information through various media of communication (such as newspapers, magazine, radio etc.) at the expense of company (for the purpose of increasing or maintaining) effective demand and facilitating the sale of specific goods and services. ”

2. According to C. A. Krikpatrick – “Advertising is a mass communication of information intended to persuade buyer so as to maximize dollar profits.”

3. According to American Marketing Association – “Advertising has been defined as any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion by goods, services of ideas by an identified sponsor.”

4. According to Mason and Rath – “Advertising is a salesmanship without a personal salesman.”

5. It has been defined at context sponsored by advertising – The dissemination of information concerning an idea, service or product to compel action in interest of the advertiser.

Advertising Definition

Today we encounter thousands of commercial messages in a day. They may come to us as commercials, websites, and test messages or in the form of product placement in TV shows, coupons, event sponsorships, sales letters, e-mails or telemarketing phone calls. These are the tools of communication which companies employ to initiate and maintain contact with their customers, clients, and prospective customers.

These may be referred to as ‘Advertising’. In fact, these are market communications and advertising is just one type of marketing communication. Albert Lasker, who is regarded as the great thinker of modern advertising defined advertising as – “Salesmanship in print, driven by a reason why.”

This definition was given long before Radio, Television and Internet were invented. At that time, nature and scope of advertising was quite limited. Today, a century later, our globe is a far different place as the nature and needs of business have changed, and so have the concept and practice of advertising. Today, the definition of advertising has different meanings for different sets of people.

Journalists may define it as communication, public relations, or persuasion process, business people see it as a marketing process, economists and sociologists see it as an economic societal or ethical concept. Consumers may define it as a waste. Each of these prospective has some merit but we take a structured definition of advertising as the most useful one.

Advertising is the structured and compassed non-personal communication of information, usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature, about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through various media.

The modern age is the age of competition. Acute competition has made it absolutely necessary for manufacturers to race the customers and to find out new buyers for their products. Demand creation has become an important function now-a-days. Advertising is one of the important activities through which a manufacturer firm conveys persuasive communications to the target buyers.

Advertising is nothing but a paid form of non-personal presentation or promotion of ideas, good or services by an identified sponsor. In the present day marketing, advertising has become an inseparable part of the business marketing activities. Hardly there is a business in the modern world without advertising. However, the form of advertising may differ from business to business.

Advertising has been defined differently by different persons.

Some are:

“Advertising is any form of paid, non-personal presentation of ideas, goods or services for the purpose of inducing people to buy.” – Wealer

“Advertising is a paid form of non-personal presentation of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor’s.” – Ricard Buskirk

“Advertising consists of all the activities involved in presenting to a group, a non-personal, oral or visual, openly sponsored message regarding a product, services or ideas, this message is called as advertisement, is disseminated through one or more media and is paid for by an identified sponsor”. –William J. Stanton

Advertising Definition

Advertising is a paid form of non-personal communication between the company and the prospective segment. Advertisement is about informing buyers and developing positive attitudes, creating awareness, and transmitting information in order to develop consumer preference for a particular product.

Businessmen define advertising as a tool that helps to sell the product and build brand loyalty by conveying compelling information to consumers. Customers see advertisement as a communication that provides relevant and pertinent information upon which the customers acts.

An advertising message can have a variety of effects upon the receiver.

It-

1. Build awareness

2. Create brand image

3. Provide information

4. Provide incentives to take action

5. It acts as reminders of existing brand

Today, the job of advertising has become so complex, intensive and voluminous that in general no company wants to handle this function on its own. Instead, they seek out advertising companies and employ them to do advertising for their products. These advertising companies, which are specifically equipped to handle advertising jobs do the tasks of advertising such as planning of the campaign, execution and evaluation of the promotional campaigns.

In the words of Stanton, an advertising agency is defined as “an independent company rendering specialized services in advertising in particular and marketing in general.” These advertising companies are independent agencies which work as specialists, agents or consultants on behalf of the advertiser.

The advertising agencies perform all tasks right from preparation and development of advertising copy to the evaluation, assessment and analysis of the effectiveness of the advertising program and providing proper feedback to the advertiser.

Advertising Definition

In marketing, advertising is very important. No business can survive without advertising. So, advertising is a must. The aim of every business is to earn profits and this aim can be achieved by selling goods at reasonable prices. The sales are possible only if the target audience knows about the availability of goods and they are persuaded to buy them.

All this is possible through advertising which is a deliberate action to popularise a product or service. Thus advertising is commonly understood to communicate about a product or service. Actually, advertising includes all the activities performed by an enterprise to present goods and services to consumers and to motivate them to buy these goods and services.

In general term, Advertising is to announce publicly. Advertising is derived from the Latin word ‘adverto’, wherein ‘ad’ means towards and ‘verto’ means I turn. Thus, advertising means to turn attention towards a specific thing.

In other words we can say, “Advertising consists of all the activities involved in presenting to a group, a non-personal, oral or visual, openly sponsored message regarding a product or service or an idea. This message called an advertisement, is disseminated through one or more media and is paid for by the identified sponsor.”

In this era of mass production and mass distribution, where firms land up with similar kind of products, they face intense competition. To face competition, they need to publicise their products widely and try to portray their products as superior to those of their competitors. And this is possible through advertising.

Advertising Definition

Advertising is the form of non-personal communication of product, services or ideas by an identified sponsor. It includes attracting public attention. It provides information concerning to a products, services, ideas or business to the targeted customers. It is paid for and is persuasive in nature. The print media, electronic media and outdoor media acts as a medium between the advertiser and customers.

According to Albert Lasker, the father of advertising, “Advertising is salesmanship in print”. He offered the above definition at a time when the nature and scope of advertising was quite limited.

According to Kotler and Keller, “Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor. Advertisers include not only business firms but also charitable, non-profit and government agencies”.

According to the London Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, “Advertising presents the most persuasive possible selling message to right prospect for the product or service at the lowest possible cost”.

According to Webster’s New World Dictionary, “Advertising is to tell about or praise (a product etc.) as through print media, audio and visual, so as to promote sale; to make known and to call public to things for sale, for rent etc., as by printed or presented notice”.

According to the New Encyclopedia Britannica, “Advertising is a form of communication intended to promote the sale of a product or service to influence the public opinion to gain political support or to advance a particular cause”.

According to Britannica Dictionary, “A form of paid announcement interested to promote the sale of commodity or services, to advance an idea or to bring about other effect desired by the advertiser”.

According to John V. W., “Advertising like salesmanship is an attempt to influence the thoughts and action of people”.

According to Canor and Wichart, “Advertising includes those visual or oral messages in magazines, newspapers, movies and letters, over radio and television and on transportation vehicles and outdoor signs which are paid by their sponsors and directed to consumers for purpose of influencing their purchases and attitudes”.

According to Bovee (1992), “Advertising is the non personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media”.

According to Wheeler, “Advertising is any form of paid non-personal presentation of ideas, goods or services for the purpose of educating people to buy”.

According to William J. Stanton, “Advertising consists of all the activities which involves in presenting to a group, a non-personal oral or visual, openly sponsored message regarding disseminated through one or more media and is paid for by an identified sponsor”.

According to Wright, Winter and Zeigler, “Advertising is a controlled identified information and persuasion by mean of mass communication media”.

Advertising Definition

Mass selling requires quick and economical dissemination of information on a large scale to potential customers. Advertising is an effective means for this purpose. According to the American Marketing Association, Advertising is “any paid form of non-personal presentation or promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor.”

In the words of Stanton, “advertising consists of all the activities involved in presenting to a group a non-personal, oral or visual, openly sponsored message regarding a product, service or idea; this message called an advertisement, is disseminated through one or more media and paid for by the identified sponsor.”

Thus, advertising includes all activities required to prepare the message (advertisement) and to get it to the intended persons to induce action in accordance with the intent of the advertiser.

The main features of advertising are as follows:

(i) It is impersonal form of presentation or promotion of products, services or ideas. There is no face to face contact with the customers.

(ii) It is paid form of communication. The advertisements are communicated through various advertising media and the advertiser has to pay for the space or time hired to the owner of the media.

(iii) It is issued by an identified sponsor. The advertisement contains the name of the advertiser.

(iv) It is a form of mass communication. The message is directed to a large number of persons simultaneously.

Advertising Definition

Advertising is the use of paid media by a marketer to communicate persuasive information about its products, services, or organization is a potent promotional tool. Advertising takes on many forms (national, regional, local, consumer, industrial, retail, product, brand, institutional, etc.) designed to achieve a variety of objectives (awareness, interest, preference, brand recognition, brand loyalty).

Advertising decision making consists of objectives setting, budget decision, message decision, media decision, and ad effectiveness evaluation. Advertisers should establish clear goals as to whether the advertising is supposed to inform, persuade, or remind buyers. The factors to consider when setting the advertising budget are: stage in the product life cycle, market share, competition and clutter, needed frequency, and product substitutability.

The advertising budget can be established based on what is affordable, as a percentage budget of sales revenue, based on competitors’ expenditures, or based on objectives and tasks, and it may also be based on more advanced decision models that are available.

The message decision calls for generating messages, evaluating and selecting between them, and executing them effectively and responsibly. The media decision calls for defining the reach, frequency, and impact goals; choosing among major media types; selecting specific media vehicles; deciding on media timing; geographical allocation of media.

Finally, campaign evaluation calls for evaluating the communication and sales effects of advertising, before, during, and after the advertising.

Advertising and sales promotions are the most widely used forms of promotion. Because of the intrusive characteristic of these forms of promotion most consumers relate ideas of marketing to the use of advertising or sales promotion. The other main forms include public relations and personal selling. Retail promotion can be defined as any communication that informs, influences and prompts the target market about any aspect of the retail sponsor.

Advertising is used to achieve a whole range of objectives that may include changing attitudes or building image as well as achieving sales. Advertising is often, described as above-the-line promotion with all other forms of promotion being termed below-the-line. The difference between above and below the line is simply academic now as the emphasis is on both areas, for example sales promotion and advertising working together to achieve the greatest impact.

Moreover, in decisions over communication plans, it is the cost-effectiveness that matters most. The use of different combinations of what has traditionally been known as above and below the line has blurred the meaning of the terms and there are many promotional strategies which can be seen to erase the line or, as it is known, pass ‘through the line’. With direct mail being used to build awareness and TV being used to sell products direct to the consumer, there is a great deal more flexibility in the use of different promotional mediums.

Communication theorists have proposed several models to explain the way advertising works and each have some similarity. The basic underlying approach is to theorise that the individual will first move to a knowledge state or awareness state on the basis of information gained through experience and methods of communication.

Attitudes are then formed and the importance is to move the potential purchaser to a behavioural action phase of purchase through desire and conviction. One model known as the DAGMAR model (Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results) describes the sequence of stages through which the prospective customer has to move –

(i) Unawareness;

(ii) Awareness;

(iii) Comprehension of the offer;

(iv) Conviction;

(v) Action or inaction.

Through advertising, the retailer will make the potential customer aware of the store and its range of offers. As part of the advertising communication process, information has to be clearly transmitted so that it can be decoded and comprehended properly. The process is then to make the offer credible so that the potential customer can be moved to a favourable attitude to the store or product. The act of purchase may then follow.

Advertising has the potential to affect a large number of people simultaneously with a single message. The secondary effect of advertising is personal communications among consumers. This is known as the two-step flow of communication. The first step in the process is the communications flow from media to opinion leaders – the individuals whose attitudes, opinions, preferences and actions affect others.

The second step is word-of-mouth communications from opinion leaders to others (followers). This communication can occur through personal conversation between friends or with work colleagues based upon communication about the store or its offers. It can also occur through non-verbal communications when someone displays newly bought merchandise in their home or by means of the labels on or in their clothes. One implication of the need to achieve as much benefit as possible from the two-step model is the requirement to reach and influence opinion leaders.

Advertising Definition

Modern days are the days of competition. We must know how competition in the market makes it absolutely necessary for manufacturers to think of new markets for their products. Demand creation has become as important as the production of quality products. Mere production of good quality products or mere rendering of expert service is of no use. The goods so produced must be made known to the consumers or industrial users. Of the various means and devices employed for this purpose, advertising is the most out­standing and far-reaching approach.

Advertising refers to the supply of information about the products in order to acquaint the consumers with the merits of the products. Advertising implies an appeal to the consumers in order to create a desire in their minds and induce them to satisfy their wants by buying the products.

Advertising has been defined by Starch as ‘selling in print’ or presenting a commodity in print to the people in such a way that they may be induced to buy it. It is sometimes called printed salesmanship.

According to Hall, “Advertising is salesmanship in writing, print or pictures or spreading information by means of the written and printed words and the pictures”.

In the words Professor Albert Frey, “Advertising is the preparation of visual and oral massages and their dissemination through paid media for the purpose of making people aware of and favourably inclined towards a product, brand, service, institution, idea or point of view”.

The primary aim of advertising is thus to make known and build confidence in the goods to be sold by the advertisers. Therefore, the salesman’s job is made easier because he approaches a prospect who is already aware of the goods through advertising and who has the basic information about it.

American Marketing Association has defined advertising as – “any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of goods, services or ideas by an identified sponsor”.

Advertising Definition

Today, there is mass (i.e., large-scale) production in anticipation of demand. The mass production necessitates mass distribution. Further, these are the days of competition. Every manufacturer faces stiff competition from rival manufacturers. Again, this is the age of inventions. There are substitutes invented for every product in the market.

In these days of mass production and severe competition from rival manufacturers and more substitutes, no manufacturer can have mass distribution of his goods (i.e., can have wide markets for his goods) unless he employs effective and efficient methods of demand creation.

Advertising is one of the important and effective methods of demand creation. By serving as the best means of mass communication, advertising contributes to large-scale selling. Because of its useful service, advertising has become a sine qua non (i.e., a necessity) of marketing in these days. It has become so important and profitable that, today, it is employed not only by business organisations, but also by educational institutions, charitable institutions, religious institutions and even by Government institutions. It is considered a profitable as well as a dignified means of publicity.

According to some, the term Advertising’ is derived from the French word ‘Advertir’ which means to notify, to inform, to give notice of or to give public information or announcement of. But according to others, the term Advertising’ is derived from the Latin word ‘Advertere’ which means ‘to turn to, to turn the people towards it or turning the attention of the people towards a product.’ Whatever may be the origin of the word ‘advertising’, literally, advertising means informing the people of the availability of a particular product or service.

But in its real or practical sense, it means informing the public of the availability of a particular product or service, stimulating their desire for the advertised product or service and inducing them to buy the same. In other words, advertising is the dissemination of information about a product, service or idea sponsored (i.e., initiated) by a person (i.e., the advertiser) at his expense to create a demand for his product or service.

In short, it is a paid form of non- personal presentation of goods, services or ideas to the masses by an identified sponsor. This is clear from the several definitions of the term ‘advertising’ given by eminent authorities.

According to Prof. Starch, “Advertising is selling in print or presenting a commodity in print to the people in such a way that they may be induced to buy it.”

In the words of Prof. Albert Frey, “Advertising is the preparation of visual and oral messages and their dissemination through paid media for the purpose of making people aware of and favourably inclined towards a product, brand, service, institution, idea or point of view.”

According to S.R. Hall, “Advertising is salesmanship in writing, print or pictures or spreading information by means of the written and printed works and the pictures”.

According to the National Association of Marketing Teachers of America, “Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation of goods, services or ideas to a group, such presentation being openly sponsored by the advertisers”.

In the words of Prof. P. White, “Advertisement is a purchased publicity, directed according to a definite plan to secure, maintain and increase the distribution and consumption of a product”.

According to the Definition of the American Marketing Association, “Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor. It involves the use of such media as magazine, newspaper, space, radio, motion pictures, outdoor media, cards, catalogues, direct mail, directories and references, store signs, programmes and menus, novelties and circulars”.

In the words of William J. Stanton, “Advertising consists of all the activities involved in presenting to group of non-personal, oral or visual, openly sponsored message regarding a product, service or idea. This message called advertisement is disseminated through one or more media and is paid for by the identified sponsor”.

According to Wheeler, “Advertising is any form of paid non- personal presentation of ideas, goods or services for the purpose of inducing people to buy”.

Advertising Definition

The simplest definition of an advertisement is that it is a ‘public announcement.’ In earlier times, to ‘advertise’ meant merely to announce or to inform. Some advertisements today still do just that – provide information about ‘birth,’ ‘deaths,’ ‘engagements,’ with little or no intention to persuade.

The majority of classified advertisements provide useful information about jobs, accommodation, sales of second-hand vehicles and furniture, etc. Matrimonial advertisements, recruitment advertisements, and tenders, notices and similar types of public announcements also provide the public with valuable information, which would otherwise be difficult to obtain easily. The earliest advertisements in the first English newspapers published in India in the Eighteenth Century were little more than ‘public announcements’ about the arrival of ships and merchandise from abroad.

Basically, then, an advertisement is an announcement to the public of a product, service or idea through a medium to which the public has access. The medium may be print (such as newspapers, posters, banners and hoardings), electronic (radio, television, video, cable, phone) or any other. An advertisement is usually paid for by an advertiser at rates fixed or negotiated with the media.

An advertisement is a form of persuasive communication with the public. The communication is usually one-sided, in one direction from the advertiser and to the public. The members of the public are free to respond to it in their own way; the response is at an individual or family level. There is little or no dialogue with the public; advertising forces itself upon the public. At the same time, especially in a democracy with a market economy, such communication is required so that intelligent choices are made.

The American Marketing Association, Chicago, defines advertising as, “any, paid form of non-personal presentation of ideas, goods and services by an identified sponsor.”

An analysis of each element of this American definition follows:

Any Form, Advertising may be in any form of presentation. It may be a sign, a symbol, an illustration, an ad message in a magazine or newspaper, a commercial on the radio or on television, a circular dispatched through the mail or a pamphlet handed out at a street corner; a sketch or a message on a billboard or a poster. Any form of presentation, which an advertiser imagines will fulfill the requirements of an ad, can be employed.

Non-personal, this phrase excludes any form of personal selling, which is usually done on a person-to-person or on a people-to-people basis. If it is a person-to-person presentation, it is not advertising.

Other Definitions of Advertising:

John E. Kennedy who was a Canadian ex-Mountie formerly and was a copywriter at Lord and Thomas Advertising Agency described advertising as “salesmanship in print.” (1905). Sidney Bernstein (1990) reinforces Kennedy’s definition by describing ‘advertising as a substitute for the human salesman.’

Bob Isherwood, creative director, Saatchi & Saatachi, Australia, calls himself a salesman. According to him, a good advertisement is born out of selling on idea that has been seen somewhere. It is how well the idea is sold that makes the difference, he says.

What is any form of sponsor identified impersonal paid mass communication?

Which of the following is any form of one

Is any form of impersonal one

Which of the following refers to placing a sponsored paid message in a mass medium?