Informative and Persuasive Advertising

Typically any advert is informative and persuasive. It informs the public of the product’s existence, its particular uses or/ and modifications. In the UK, the highest spender on advertising is the government. Most government advertising is aimed at giving information to the public. This passing on of information is a very important part of advertising. Examples include new postal charges, changes in a city’s phone codes, the dangers of smoking cigarettes, etc.

Most adverts, however, try to do more than just inform the public. Manufacturers spend almost as much money on advertising as the government, and their advertisements are blatantly designed to attract people to buy their products.

A persuasive selling message is one that promises a desirable and believable benefit to the people to whom it is addressed. There are many different types of advert that can be used to persuade, including the following:

- adverts showing a ‘personality’ using the product

- adverts comparing one product with other products

- adverts using sex appeal.

Advertising media

The medium is concerned with where the advertisement is to be placed. Some commercial advertising media include: television, radio, newspapers, direct mail, cinema, billboards/ hoardings, printed flyers, web banners, catalogues, brochures and leaflets, skywriting, bus stop benches, magazines, town criers, sides of buses, taxicab doors and roof mounts, musical stage shows, stickers on apples in supermarkets, the opening section of streaming audio and video, the backs of event tickets, etc. Any place an "identified" sponsor pays to deliver their message through a medium is advertising. Covert advertising embedded in other entertainment media is known as product placement.

The TV commercial is generally considered the most effective mass-market advertising format and this is reflected by the high prices TV networks charge for commercial airtime during popular TV events. The advantage of using television for advertising is that the advertisement can be shown throughout the country or only in some regions. It can use colour, sound and movement. The time chosen can suit the audience. (prime time) For example, toys can be advertised during children’s programmes. The annual US Super Bowl football game is known as much for its commercial advertisements as for the game itself, and the average cost of a single thirty-second TV spot during this game has reached $2.3 million (as of 2004).

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. E-mail advertising is another recent phenomenon. Unsolicited E-mail advertising is known as "spam".

Some companies have proposed to place 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.

Unpaid advertising (also called word of mouth advertising), can provide good exposure at minimal cost. Personal recommendations ("bring a friend", "sell it by zealot") achieving the feat of equating a brand with a common noun ("Hoover" = "vacuum cleaner") -- these must provide the stuff of fantasy to the holder of an advertising budget.

Advertising agencies

Running an advertising campaign is very expensive, and firms need to make sure that their money is well-spent. Generally firms will use an advertising agency to carry out the campaign. For advertising to be successful it must:

• reach the right audience

• be attractive and appealing

• be cost-effective in relation to the extra sales.

The agency will carry out market research, decide the medium and techniques to be used, create the advertisement and book space for it.

Advertising techniques

Advertisers use several recognizable techniques in order to better convince the public to buy a product. These may include:

Repetition: Some advertisers concentrate on making sure their product is widely recognized. To that end, they simply attempt to make the name remembered through repetition.

Bandwagon: By implying that the product is widely used, advertisers hope to convince potential buyers to "get on the bandwagon."

Testimonials: Advertisers often attempt to promote the superior quality of their product through the testimony of ordinary users, experts, or both. "Three out of four dentists recommend..." This approach often involves an appeal to authority.

Pressure: By attempting to make people choose quickly and without long consideration, some advertisers hope to make rapid sales: "Buy now, before they're all gone!"

Association: Advertisers often attempt to associate their product with desirable things, in order to make it seem equally desirable. The use of attractive models, picturesque landscapes, and other similar imagery is common. "Buzzwords" with desired associations are also used.

To be effective advertisement must appeal to the consumers’ self-interests, arouse their curiosity and offer them news. They frequently sell the benefits of products instead the products themselves. An ad does not sell encyclopedias, but “knowledge” or “your child’s future”; not a house in the mountains, but the “good life”; not fire insurance, but “protection for your family”. A good ad attracts attention, stirs up interest, creates desire, assures belief, and impels action.

Control over advertising

There is always the danger that advertising can mislead consumers by making statements which are not true. Advertisers cannot just say anything they like when preparing an advert.

• They must keep within the law. The goods advertised for sale must be as they are described (e.g. a ‘waterproof’ watch must be waterproof).

• The advertising industry has its own Code of Practice, which advertisers must obey. This is a voluntary agreement by firms in the advertising industry to keep their adverts up to certain standards. It covers newspapers, magazines, cinema adverts, leaflets, brochures, posters and commercials on videotape, but not TV or radio advertising.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is responsible for ensuring the standards of non-broadcast advertisements in the UK. The adverts goes on to say that if you have any complaints about adverts in the paper, you should write to the ASA, who will take up your complaint and force the advertiser to make changes if necessary.

Following up the 1990 Broadcasting Act, the Independent Television Commission (ITC) was set up to replace the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA). It now exercises control over television advertising.