Unit 6. Adevertising. Brands

Warming-up

1. Advanced Learner’s Dictionary gives the following definition of the word “advertising” - the activity and industry of advertising things to people on television, in newspapers.

-Think of a memorable advert. Describe it.

-Have you ever bought something just because of an advert? When?

-Have any adverts impressed you? Which one(s)? Why?

2. Look at the following advertising activities. Can you add any?

- Liaising with the sales department

-Providing support for customer service

-Showing visitors around the company

-Writing press releases

-Presenting at a trade fair

-Commissioning advertising

-Creating advertisements

-Talking to customers

-Speaking to journalists

-Reading trade magazines

3. Answer the questions about you or people you know:

1. Are all of these activities done in your company? If not, which ones are outsourced?

2. Which of the activities are you responsible for? Which are most important in your job?

3. Who do you speak to in English? What about? What English texts do you read? What do you write in English?

4. What is the most difficult to do in English?

TEXT 1

Before you read

1. Read the passage and guess the meaning of the words in bold. Then use the words to complete the gaps in the sentences below

Advertising dates back well over 2,000 years, and for centuries, adverts simply gave information: one of the earliest surviving ones is a sign painted on a wall in ancient Rome showing property to let. The big change occurred in the late nineteenth century. Technological developments had made mass production possible, which meant firms could make products in large numbers, of roughly the same quality, and at roughly the same price. Companies then found they had to stimulate demand in order to sell these products. At the same time, in some countries, there were plenty of people with money to spend on luxuries and other inessential goods. This created opportunities for companies to make and sell these at a much greater profit. So a lot of advertising focused on luxury goods .Another reason for the change in the nature of advertising was that more and more businesses were set up, making similar products, and in the face of this competition, manufacturers needed to advertise in order to survive. This was really the beginning of advertising designed to persuade people to buy. And when Freud's theories about our subconscious began to be applied in the advertising industry in the 1920s, advertising became very effective.

It tries to make people want a certain item, let's say a car. If we only bought goods for practical reasons, manufacturers would soon go out of business. So they appeal to our emotions in their advertising, to make us believe that if we buy that particular car, we'll feel good, we'll be in the fashion, people will admire us. Instead of focusing on the car's mechanical properties, the advertising is about the benefits that we hope to gain.

1. Early advertising provided only ______.

2. In the late nineteenth century, manufacturers advertised because they needed to increase the ________ for their goods.

3. Companies were able to make a large _________ by selling luxury goods.

4. Increased ______ meant that companies risked going out of business if they didn’t advertise.

5. Persuasive advertising tries to involve people’s ______.

6. Persuasive advertising stresses the ______ of buying particular products.

Reading