Introduction to advertisisng

Advertising is a form of communication intended to persuade an audience (viewers, readers or

listeners) to purchase or take some action upon products, ideals, or services. It includes the name
of a product or service and how that product or service could benefit the consumer, to persuade a
target market to purchase or to consume that particular brand. These brands are usually paid for
or identified through sponsors and viewed via various media. Advertising can also serve to
communicate an idea to a mass amount of people in an attempt to convince them to take a certain
action, such as encouraging 'environmentally friendly' behaviors, and even unhealthy behaviors
through food consumption, video game and television viewing promotion, and a "lazy man"
routine through a loss of exercise. Modern advertising developed with the rise of mass
production in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Mass media can be defined as any media
meant to reach a mass amount of people. Several types of mass media are television, internet,
radio, news programs, and published pictures and articles.[1]

Commercial advertisers often seek to generate increased consumption of their products or

services through branding, which involves the repetition of an image or product name in an effort
to associate related qualities with the brand in the minds of consumers. Different types of media
can be used to deliver these messages, including traditional media such as newspapers,
magazines, television, radio, outdoor or direct mail; or new media such as websites and text
messages. Advertising may be placed by an advertising agency on behalf of a company or other
organization.

Non-commercial advertisers that spend money to advertise items other than a consumer product
or service include political parties, interest groups, religious organizations and governmental
agencies. Nonprofit organizations may rely on free modes of persuasion, such as a public service
announcement.

Media and advertising approaches

Increasingly, other media are overtaking many of the "traditional" media such as television, radio
and newspaper because of a shift toward consumer's usage of the Internet for news and music as
well as devices like digital video recorders (DVRs) such as TiVo.

Advertising on the World Wide Web is a recent phenomenon. Prices of Web-based advertising
space are dependent on the "relevance" of the surrounding web content and the traffic that the
website receives.

Digital signage is poised to become a major mass media because of its ability to reach larger
audiences for less money. Digital signage also offer the unique ability to see the target audience
where they are reached by the medium. Technology advances has also made it possible to control
the message on digital signage with much precision, enabling the messages to be relevant to the
target audience at any given time and location which in turn, gets more response from the
advertising. Digital signage is being successfully employed in supermarkets.[17] Another
successful use of digital signage is in hospitality locations such as restaurants.[18] and malls.[19]
E-mail advertising is another recent phenomenon. Unsolicited bulk E-mail advertising is known
as "e-mail spam". Spam has been a problem for email users for many years.

Some companies have proposed placing messages or corporate logos on the side of booster
rockets and the International Space Station. Controversy exists on the effectiveness of subliminal
advertising (see mind control), and the pervasiveness of mass messages (see propaganda).

Unpaid advertising (also called "publicity advertising"), can provide good exposure at minimal
cost. Personal recommendations ("bring a friend", "sell it"), spreading buzz, or achieving the feat
of equating a brand with a common noun (in the United States, "Xerox" = "photocopier",
"Kleenex" = tissue, "Vaseline" = petroleum jelly, "Hoover" = vacuum cleaner, "Nintendo" (often
used by those exposed to many video games) = video games, and "Band-Aid" = adhesive
bandage) — these can be seen as the pinnacle of any advertising campaign. However, some
companies oppose the use of their brand name to label an object. Equating a brand with a
common noun also risks turning that brand into a genericized trademark - turning it into a
generic term which means that its legal protection as a trademark is lost.

As the mobile phone became a new mass media in 1998 when the first paid downloadable
content appeared on mobile phones in Finland, it was only a matter of time until mobile
advertising followed, also first launched in Finland in 2000. By 2007 the value of mobile
advertising had reached $2.2 billion and providers such as Admob delivered billions of mobile
ads.

Current trends

Rise in new media

With the dawn of the Internet came many new advertising opportunities. Popup, Flash, banner,
Popunder, advergaming, and email advertisements (the last often being a form of spam) are now
commonplace. Particularly since the rise of "entertaining" advertising, some people may like an
advertisement enough to wish to watch it later or show a friend. In general, the advertising
community has not yet made this easy, although some have used the Internet to widely distribute
their ads to anyone willing to see or hear them. In the last three quarters of 2009 mobile and
internet advertising grew by 18.1% and 9.2% respectively. Older media advertising saw declines:
−10.1% (TV), −11.7% (radio), −14.8% (magazines) and −18.7% (newspapers ).

[edit] Niche marketing

Another significant trend regarding future of advertising is the growing importance of the niche
market using niche or targeted ads. Also brought about by the Internet and the theory of The
Long Tail, advertisers will have an increasing ability to reach specific audiences. In the past, the
most efficient way to deliver a message was to blanket the largest mass market audience
possible. However, usage tracking, customer profiles and the growing popularity of niche
content brought about by everything from blogs to social networking sites, provide advertisers
with audiences that are smaller but much better defined, leading to ads that are more relevant to
viewers and more effective for companies' marketing products. Among others, Comcast
Spotlight is one such advertiser employing this method in their video on demand menus. 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 at any time, right from their home. This causes the
viewer to become proactive and actually choose what advertisements they want to view.[20]

[edit] Crowdsourcing

The concept of crowdsourcing has given way to the trend of user-generated advertisements.
User-generated ads are created by consumers as opposed to an advertising agency or the
company themselves, most often they are a result of brand sponsored advertising competitions.
For the 2007 Super Bowl, the Frito-Lays division of PepsiCo held the Crash the Super Bowl
contest, allowing consumers to create their own Doritos commercial.[21] Chevrolet held a
similar competition for their Tahoe line of SUVs.[21] Due to the success of the Doritos user-
generated ads in the 2007 Super Bowl, Frito-Lays relaunched the competition for the 2009 and
2010 Super Bowl. The resulting ads were among the most-watched and most-liked Super Bowl
ads. In fact, the winning ad that aired in the 2009 Super Bowl was ranked by the USA Today
Super Bowl Ad Meter as the top ad for the year while the winning ads that aired in the 2010
Super Bowl were found by Nielsen's BuzzMetrics to be the "most buzzed-about".[22][23]

This trend has given rise to several online platforms that host user-generated advertising
competitions on behalf of a company. Founded in 2007, Zooppa has launched ad competitions
for brands such as Google, Nike, Hershey’s, General Mills, Microsoft, NBC Universal, Zinio,
and Mini Cooper. Crowdsourced advertisements have gained popularity in part to its cost
effective nature, high consumer engagement, and ability to generate word-of-mouth. However, it
remains controversial, as the long-term impact on the advertising industry is still unclear.
What is layout in advertising and what importance it has in print media.

The point of ads are to grab the readers attention, and you have to draw the eye to what you want them
to see. Most ads have a "Z" formation. This can be using pictures, pictures and text..etc. This allows the
viewers eyes to travel across the page the way the designer wants them to, and plaing the main points
of the ad where they kow the person will be looking. Other formatiosn you can use are "Y" and "X"
That’s the basics of it.

Layout is simply how the elements of an advertisement are placed on the page. The words, the
pictures, the logos.

To get this right is a skill – to make the ad look appealing, draw in the eye, but also to balance
the amount of information included in the ad to get across your message without making it
overfull or messy.

There are also some psychological factors to good layout – the fact that most people read from
left to right and from top to bottom is an important factor that many bad ads forget to include in
their layout considerations. If you want someone to find it easy to read your ad, don’t place your
text in odd places all over the page.

Layout is how the ad is designed, the placement of the text in relation to the artwork (the photos,
drawings, etc, anything that is not text)

Some of the major layout problems are:

Lack of an easily distinguishable message. Often, people will try to be clever, and the reader will
not put forth the effort to understand what the ad is about.

Also, if the ad is too jumbled, or not enough "white space", the reader will not try to figure the ad
out.

The art may not go with the message of the ad – for example, if you’re creating an ad for senior
citizens, you’re not going to use 30-something people in the ad.

Ad Layout and Design Strategies

Ads and sales fliers are common desktop-published documents. Whether designing ads for
clients or for your own business, you can improve the effectiveness of those ads with just a few
time-proven design strategies.

This success formula works regardless of the software you use. The examples are created in
Adobe PageMaker 6.5. Those of you using that program can get a jumpstart with the templates in
the sidebar which also contain ad design tips.
When readers look at your ad what do they see first? Research indicates that readers typically
look at:

1. Visual
2. Caption
3. Headline
4. Copy
5. Signature (Advertisers name, contact information)

in that order.

One method of making sure your ad gets read is to arrange elements in that order, top to bottom.
However, your ad should also lead with its strongest element. Sometimes the visual may be
secondary to the headline. In that case you may decide to put the headline first. A caption may
not be necessary at all times and often you'll want to include additional elements such as
secondary illustrations or a coupon box.

While this isn't the only way to design an ad, it is an easy to implement, successful formula for
many types of products or services. On the next few pages I'll show you the basic layout and
three variations on this format, also called the Ogilvy after advertising expert David Ogilvy who
used this layout formula for some of his most successful ads.

Advertising expert David Ogilvy devised an ad layout formula for some of his most successful
ads that became known as the Ogilvy. The illustration on this page is the basic design that
follows the classic visual, headline, caption, copy, signature format. From this basic ad layout,
other variations are derived.

Try changing the margins, fonts, leading, size of the initial cap, size of the visual, and placing the
copy in columns to customize the basic format of this ad layout.

1. Visual at the top of the page. If you are using a photo, bleed it to the edge of the page or
ad space for maximum impact.
2. For photos, place a descriptive caption below.
3. Put your headline next.
4. Follow with your main ad copy. Consider a drop cap as a lead-in to help draw the reader
into the copy.
5. Place your contact information (signature) in the lower right corner. That's generally the
last place a reader's eye gravitates to when reading an ad.

Coupons attract attention and can increase response to your ad. Even just the appearance of a
coupon - using the familiar dashed line around a portion of your ad - can have the same effect.
The illustration on this page is the basic Ogilvy ad layout design but with copy in a three-column
format and the addition of a coupon in the outside corner.
Make additional changes to this ad layout by changing the margins, fonts, leading, size of the
initial cap, size of the visual, and changing the column layout. Experiment with different coupon
styles.

1. Visual at the top of the page.

2. Caption below photo.
3. Headline next.
4. Place main ad copy in first two columns of a three-column grid. Place your contact
information (signature) at the bottom of the middle column.
5. In the third column put a coupon or a faux coupon. Placing the coupon in the outside
corner of your ad makes it easier to clip out.

Sometimes the headline carries more weight than the visual. The illustration on this page is the
basic Ogilvy ad layout design but with copy in a two-column format and the headline moved
above the visual. Use this variation when the headline is the more important element of the
message.

For more variation try changing the margins, fonts, leading, size of the initial cap, size of the
visual, and altering the column layout in this ad layout.

1. Headline first. When your headline packs a bigger punch or is more important than the
photo, put it up top to grab the reader first.
2. Visual next.
3. Caption below photo.
4. Place main ad copy in two columns.
5. Place your contact information (signature) at the bottom of the second column in the
lower right corner.

Illustrated on this page is the basic Ogilvy design but with copy in a two-column format and the
headline moved to the right side of the visual. This ad layout format equalizes the visual and
headline as well as makes more room for longer headlines or vertical images.

To further customize the look of this ad layout, change the margins, fonts, leading, size of the
initial cap, size of the visual, and alter the column layout. You might try a headline left variation
if the photo orientation is more suitable to that arrangement.

1. Visual first, to the left. If the visual lends itself to a more vertical arrangement or if you
want to equalize the importance of the visual and headline, try this.
2. Headline next, to the right of visual. When you break your headline up into several lines
like this, you'll probably want to avoid headlines that are too long.
3. Caption below photo.
4. Place main ad copy in two columns. You might want to use a drop cap as a lead-in.
5. Place your contact information (signature) at the bottom of the second column in the
lower right corner.
Proportional guideline:

 1.  Illustration  65 % 

 2.  Headline  10 % 
3.  Copy  20 % 
 4.  Logo   5 % 
     100 % of space allocation (20%+ white space)

Illustration
In most ads, the illustration is used to attract attention. Large, single illustrations attracted the
most attention (advertising recall studies by Starch). Though the headline may be the "stopper",
the illustration is the most critical element in the ad's success. It can also visually communicate
product benefits and concept, and lead the reader into the headline and copy.

Headline
The headline is used to attract attention, arouse interest, and make the ad more attractive and
readable. However, it should not be over 10 words and more than 15 % of the ad's total area.

Copy
Style of typeface used in the headline, subhead and copy will impact the mood and readability of
the ad. Mixed type should be either very similar or very different. Mixing more than two (or
three at most) different typefaces makes an ad busy and confusing.

Logo
Because we read left to right and top to bottom, the logo or company signature can be
strategically placed in the lower right hand corner of an ad. With this position, the logo is the last
element we see and most likely remember.

Direct the viewer's eye

from the page's top, down through the center and end at the page's bottom.
The eye sees the illustration first, then we read down from there (David Ogilvy). Headlines
located below the illustration pull 10% more readers (research by Simmons).

Emphasis
The optical center of an ad is in the center and two-thirds up from the bottom. This should be the
ad's focal point.

Proportional use of space

The proportional use of space in an ad is dependent upon the product and market target. Product
ads that try to communicate an image (perfume, jewelry, etc.) will have a greater proportion of
illustration and little copy. Conversely, an ad for a technical product will have more copy.

White Space
At least 20 % of an ad should be blank (white space). Ample white space helps gain attention,
create contrast, and unify the ad. According to Albert Books, white space is probably the most
underestimated element in advertisements.

Bleed and borders

Bleed
A page without a border is called a bleed because the ink bleeds through the surrounding white
border into the trim space. An obvious benefit of this technique is that the ad itself becomes
larger. Although most publishers charge extra for bleeds, this cost is often justified by the ads
extra impact. A bleed carries the implication of action, freedom and adventure and tends to make
the ad more lifelike.
In research by Fosdick, nearly half of all high readership ads used bleeds. Conversely, only 14%
of low readership ads used this technique.

Borders
In contrast, borders set up continuity, structure, and formality. Borders can isolate the ad from
surrounding copy and other ads -forcing you to focus on the ad. However, they tend to make the
ad appear smaller.

Future of advertising
[edit] 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. Born from the
evolutionary stages of global marketing are the three primary and fundamentally different
approaches to the development of global advertising executions: exporting executions, producing
local executions, and importing ideas that travel.[30]

Advertising research is key to determining the success of an ad in any country or region. The
ability to identify which elements and/or moments of an ad that contributes to its success is how
economies of scale are maximised. Once one knows what works in an ad, that idea or ideas can
be imported by any other market. Market research measures, such as Flow of Attention, Flow of
Emotion and branding moments provide insight into what is working in an ad in any country or
region because the measures are based on the visual, not verbal, elements of the ad.[31]

[edit] Diversification

In the realm of advertising agencies, continued industry diversification has seen observers note
that “big global clients don't need big global agencies any more”.[32] This is reflected by the
growth of non-traditional agencies in various global markets, such as Canadian business TAXI
and SMART in Australia and has been referred to as "a revolution in the ad world".[33]
[edit] New technology

The ability to record shows on digital video recorders (such as TiVo) allow users to record the
programs for later viewing, enabling them to fast forward through commercials. Additionally, as
more seasons of pre-recorded box sets are offered for sale of television programs; fewer people
watch the shows on TV. However, the fact that these sets are sold, means the company will
receive additional profits from the sales of these sets. To counter this effect, many advertisers
have opted for product placement on TV shows like Survivor.

[edit] Advertising education

Advertising education has become widely popular with bachelor, master and doctorate degrees
becoming available in the emphasis. A surge in advertising interest is typically attributed to the
strong relationship advertising plays in cultural and technological changes, such as the advance
of online social networking. A unique model for teaching advertising is the student-run
advertising agency, where advertising students create campaigns for real companies.[34]
Organizations such as American Advertising Federation and AdU Network partner established
companies with students to create these campaigns.