Chapte

1 r
Introduction to Advertising
and a Brief History
Marketing-mix and Advertising
Marketing-mix is a major concept in modern marketing and includes everything
that a marketer uses to create a blend that would favourably influence the
demand for its products or services. Marketing mix is a set of controllable, tactical
marketing tools that the firm uses to achieve its objectives in the target market.
Popularly the 4Ps are used to represent the elements of marketing-mix. Each 'P'
stands for:

 Product

 Price

 Place (distribution)

 Promotion Cont….
"Promotion-mix" constitutes the specific group of marketing activities at a given
time concerned with the communications aspect with existing or potential
consumers, and the relevant public. It involves activities such as advertising,
sales promotion, personal selling, PR/publicity, direct marketing, packaging,
events, and sponsorships. The most important elements of promotion mix
(marketing communications mix) are:

1. Advertising

2. Personal selling

3. Sales promotion

4. Direct marketing, and

5. Publicity/PR
Cont….
 Four Ps of Marketing-mix (first row), and five major elements of Promotion-mix

Marketing mix

Product Price Promotion Place

Advertising Personal selling Sales promotion Publicity Direct marketing

Cont….
Advertising Defined: Many early attempts were made to formulate a definition
of advertising. One such attempt led to the following definition of advertising:

Several years ago (1963) the American Marketing Association proposed the
following definition of advertising:

"Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of

ideas, goods, and services by an identified sponsor."

John S. Wright, Willis L. Winter, and Sherilyn K. Zeigler have expressed

the following view about the AMA definition of advertising:

"... purists might well point out that the AMA definition actually describes an
advertisement, rather than advertising, these words deserve careful scrutiny."

Cont….
From these definitions, the reader can have an in-depth view of different aspects
that have been considered in defining advertising. The definitions have used
certain words or phrases that need some elaboration.
1. "Any paid form“
2. "Non-personal presentation and promotion“
3. "Ideas, goods, and services“
4. "An identified sponsor“
5. "Controlled“
6. "Mass communications media“
7. "Mediated“
8. "Persuasion“
Cont….
9. "It is not neutral; it is not unbiased"
Dainik Bhaskar included this Free Standing Insert (FSI) in its own issue
Product Life Cycle and Advertising
The developmental stage of a product determines the advertising strategy. As
products pass through various stages of their life cycle, the manner in which the
advertising presents the product to target audiences depends largely upon the
degree of a product's acceptance by consumers. Based on the concept of
product life cycle, one may differentiate three stages:

1. The introductory stage

2. The competitive stage

3. The reminder stage

Cont….
Brief History

Modern advertising is largely a product of twentieth century. However,

communication has been a part of selling process almost as long as there has
been the need to exchange goods from one person to another.

Before the invention of printing from movable type (about 1438 A.D) by Johann
Gutenberg, there were three forms of advertising:

1. Trademarks: Craftsmen in early times wanted to be identified for their skills

and placed their individual marks on goods they crafted. This led to
reputation building of particular artisans by word of mouth. Buyers learnt to
look for distinctive marks just as we look today for brand names and
trademarks on products.

Cont….
2. Signs: Phoenicians and other traders painted commercial messages on
prominent rocks along trade routes they travelled. These messages highly
praised the products that were for sale. This is an example of ancient
outdoor advertising. Archaeologists have revealed from excavations at
Pompeii that little shops had inscriptions on walls near the entrance to
inform the passers-by whether the shop sold pottery, wine, bread, or any
other goods.
3. Town criers: This system of town criers was perhaps present in all
developed civilisations of the ancient world. In Greece during the Golden
Age, town criers were paid to go around spreading news and making
announcements in the streets of Athens. Epics and history books about
ancient India reveal that the rulers used the system of town criers in India to
inform public of various public interest matters. Not long ago, in rural India,
town criers were used till 1950s. Cont….
Development of Modern Advertising

The fact is that advertising as we know it really had its beginnings in mid 19th
century. Volney B. Palmer was the first advertising agent who established an
office in Philadelphia. For a fee, he worked as an agent of the newspapers
numbering about 1,400. He sold space to advertisers throughout the country. He
did not provide any creative or planning services to clients, except the media
selection (Maurice J. Mandell, Advertising, Prentice-Hall, NJ: 1968. p 24).

Albert Lasker (generally regarded as the father of modern advertising) and

Claude C. Hopkins got together in the last decade of 19th century. Claude C.
Hopkins developed "Reason why" approach to advertising copy. Albert Lasker
made the ad agency a professional business that included the "Records of
Results." This was the counterpart of today's research department.
Cont….
 This poster (1887 - 1888) advertises a performing elephant act.
It was printed by Lithography, which was in use till early 20th century

Cont….
An agency, Lord and Thomas, had two remarkable copywriters, John E.
Kennedy (joined Lord and Thomas in 1898) and Claude C. Hopkins and enjoyed
a reputation for creative work.
Hopkins was particularly good at understanding the consumer and how
advertising should be integrated in the total marketing effort. John E. Kennedy
believed that advertising was "salesmanship in print." He tried to provide a
reason why customers should buy the advertised products.

Coca-Cola ads
depict the dresses
in fashion more than a
century ago in the USA

Cont….
Contemporary Advertising
Most of the growth of advertising has resulted after World War II. Excessive
mechanised production and serious efforts to rebuild nations and economies
were under way. Western Europe and the Far East began to compete in the
world markets and advertising became an essential part of this new economy.
Large corporations such as Coca-Cola, General Motors, and IBM had long been
active all over the world. After 1946, quite a number of medium and small
companies entered into the international market. Large advertising agencies of
the US, Western Europe, and the Far East began opening their offices in several
countries.
Specialists in market research, sales promotion, merchandizing, and public
relations were running the advertising industry during the 1950s. Creativity in
advertising was almost non-existent and ads were mostly "me too" type of
messages with great deal of worldly visualization and little copy. Cont….
Indian Advertising
It seems relevant to especially have a look at the development of Indian
advertising. Two British advertising agencies, J. Walter Thompson and D. J.
Keymer were the ones who laid the foundations of professional advertising in
India in the early 1950s. J. Walter Thompson is now HTA and J. D. Keymer
became the Ogilvy & Mather. Ibrahim Patel and Ratan Batra set up Ratan Batra
Pvt. Ltd. and co-founded Communications Artists Guild (CAG).
Advertising is rarely a stable business. It changes with business conditions, social
and cultural times, and technology.
The Advertising Club of Mumbai celebrated its silver jubilee in March 1980 and
there was a workshop on twenty-five years of Indian advertising. There are now
advertising clubs in all metropolitan cities and more than 500 advertising
agencies. There are professional bodies that represent the advertiser, advertising
agency, and the media. The names of these representative bodies are:
1. The Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA)
2. The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) Cont….

3. The Indian Newspaper Society (INS)

Advertising in the 21st Century

The last decade of the 20th century witnessed remarkable impact on advertising
due to rapid strides in technology. It is difficult to determine exactly what the
decades in this new century will bring. However, what looks certain is that there
will be much greater consumer involvement and control and some degree of two-
way communication.

With the opening up of economies, mass marketers will continue to increase their
operations on a worldwide basis. More and more global players will increasingly
adjust their strategies to a local market; country-based or region-based, and
advertising will increasingly acquire local colour. In this regard we are already
witnessing some interesting advertising campaigns by Coca Cola, Pepsi and
others.