BA (JMC) 2014 – Basics of Advertising

Unit 1: Concept of Advertising

Sukriti Arora

Classification of Ads
Advertisements are made for various purposes, on various platforms and for various
audiences. The objective of this chapter is to understand the classification of ads based on
different factors. This would further be useful for giving a concrete direction to making of
ads and ad campaigns.

Introduction
Advertisements can be classified in the following ways:

 On the basis of Target Audience

 On the basis of Medium
 On the basis of Geographical Coverage
 On the basis of Purpose
It must be noted that one advertisement can fall into a combination of classifications. Let us
look at each of these in further detail.

1.

Target
Audience

Consumer Business
Advertising Advertising

Consumer Advertising: refers to advertisements where the target audience is the direct
consumer of that product or service. The ads focus on showing the benefits of personal
consumption or consumption by one’s family, friends or acquaintances. They can also be
focussed on promotion of ideas where the acceptance of an idea lies with the end consumer.
These ads can be categorized as B2C, that is, Business to Consumer. These are the most
commonly seen ads on nearly every type of media.
For example: all fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) such as shampoo, soap, tea, milk etc.
It also includes ads for jewellery brands, cars, perfumes, and network service providers to name
a few.

Business Advertising: refers to advertisements where the target audience is another

commercial entity such as a business or industry or professionals. These are B2B or Business
to Business ads where the companies influence the purchase of goods and services used in
various business situations. This kind of advertising appears mostly in business publications,
magazines, professional journals, trade shows and very rarely in mass media.

For example: ads for FedEx, agricultural products, machinery and professional equipment. Out
of home ads such as billboards calling out companies to advertise in that space are also
classified as business advertising.

2.

Medium

Print Electronic Outdoor Transit Digital

Print: amongst the oldest media for advertising, it refers to advertisements in the published
form such as in newspapers, magazines and journals. It also includes advertising through
brochures, yellow papers and pamphlets. Print ads can also be classified as classified (with
only brief text) and display ads (combination of illustration and words).

Electronic: also known as broadcast media, it refers to advertisements in television and radio.
These media can be classified separately also because of their distinct features and difference
in costs involved. These are amongst the most popular choices for advertising owing to their
wide reach.
Outdoor: refers to placing of ads in public spaces, also known as out-of-home advertising.
Some of the common examples are billboards on highways, banners and hoardings. They are
most useful for reminding the audience about the existence of a brand or product. Most outdoor
advertisements are read in transition and therefore, including too much information is not
feasible.
Transit: refers to ads placed in or on modes of public transportation or in public transportation
areas. These can be found on sides of buses, inside metro stations, panels inside buses and
metros. In Delhi, one might have noticed metro trains completely wrapped in advertisements
also. They help advertisers reach a wide audience throughout the route of the vehicle.

Digital: refers to advertisements placed on digital media platforms such as websites and social
media platforms. It is also known as internet advertising. These ads are very useful in targeting
the intended target audience by making use of online mapping tools and then re-directing them
to the page of the advertiser for making a purchase right away.

3.

Geographical
Coverage

Local Regional National International

Local: these ads are meant for local audiences and broadcast / published in media accessed
specifically by the audience of that locality. They are usually used for promoting local
businesses such as grocery stores, small and medium enterprises, local salons and service
providers, or for politicians of constituency etc. They can be found in the form of pamphlets,
local radio channels and banners in the area.
Regional: these ads are usually meant for an entire city or state. They use regional level media
channels such as city newspapers (Delhi Times, HT City) or FM channels catering to the
particular regions. Regional ads can be about state or city government schemes, regional
cinema, cultural events and educational institutes to name a few.

National: are the advertisements meant for a target audience spread across the country. These
ads use national level media outlets to reach their prospective consumers such as television
channels, and national dailies. Central government schemes and products of major brands such
as Tata, Airtel, and Hindustan Unilever advertise themselves on a national scale.

International: these types of advertisements are broadcasted throughout the world. They are
suitable for international issues such as creating awareness about global warming or
international agencies like UN, international sports events and international brands like KFC,
McDonald’s and Apple. Most of these ads, however, have to be glocalized to be effectively
understood by the target audience.
 4.

Purpose

Primary Demand
Goods v/s Non- Commercial v/s Action v/s
v/s Selective
Goods Non-Commercial Awareness
Demand

Goods v/s Non-Goods: Advertisements for goods are for tangible items such as clothing,
electronic items, jewellery, food, furnishings to name a few. The purpose of these ads is to
promote the sale of a product. Non-goods advertisements try to sell intangible ideas. These
include public service announcements, ads seeking donations to a charity or creating awareness
about a specific issue.

Commercial v/s Non-commercial: The former refers to the advertisements where the purpose
is to earn commercial gains / profits. These ads directly call on the consumers to purchase a
product or avail a service. Non-commercial ads, on the other hand, are published for generating
awareness, spreading information about a political gathering, promoting the followership of a
spiritual leaders, amongst others. The purpose behind such ads is to promote an idea and not
promote sale or gain profit.

Action v/s Awareness: Ads in the former category call upon the audience to act in a specific
manner. This action could be to purchase a product, to subscribe to a channel, to vote, to order
online, to attend an event and so on. The action may or may not be commercial in nature. The
latter category of ads focus on informing people about issues of relevance such as symptoms
of a chronic disease, awareness about global warming, generating awareness about consumer
rights etc.

Primary Demand v/s Selective Demand: Advertisements that promote the use of a product
without emphasizing on the brand that should be preferred are trying to generate ‘primary
demand’ whereas the ads promoting the use of a particular brand are generating ‘selective
demand’.

Primary
To vote during elections
To use contraceptives against STDs
To invest in mutual funds or other schemes
To wash hands with soap
Selective
To vote for a particular party
Ads for Manforce or Durex
Ads for ICICI or HDFC
To promote Dettol or Lifebuoy