Advertising – Functions

• Advertising performs a number of functions, which

are mentioned as follows:

1. Updating the target audiences about a new product

2. Helping the customers to know about the new uses of a
product
3. Rectifying the false impressions
4. Informing the target audiences about any change in price
5. Minimizing the fears of customers about faults in a product or
service
• 7. Building the brand image
• 8. Persuading the customers to buy the product
• 9. Convincing the customers to make a purchase decision
• 10Encouraging the customers to switch over the desired brand
• 11. Persuading the customers to be receptive for sales calls
• 12. Altering the perceptions of the customers about the attributes of a
product
• 13. Reminding the customers about the product
• 14. Making the customers aware about the seasonal role of products, for
example, the working of air conditioners
• 15. Making the customers memorize the place from where the product can
be purchased.
 Advertising – Objectives

• Advertising program as an integral part of the promotion

campaign may have one or more of the following specific
objectives:

• (1) Promotion of New Product:

• Advertising can make prospects at least aware of the entry of the new
product in the market.
 (2) Support to Personal Selling:

• Advertising can move the prospect nearer and nearer to the point of
purchase.
• Under favourable atmosphere, salesman’s job is easier and simple.
• Actual closing of sale is, thus, facilitated by advertising.
• Selling costs are reduced incidentally.
• It should be noted that advertising and salesmanship are really
complementary and in no way competitive tools of promotion.
 3) Brand Patronage:

• In the long run, effect of advertising on brands and

campaigns may be of great importance.
• The advertising programme can aim at consumer
awareness and attitudes.
• Buyers may be induced to purchase and re-purchase.
• If the trial is satisfactory, consumers may stick with the
brand.
• Thus, advertising tries to create and retain brand
 (4) Immediate Buying Action:
• Advertising may attempt to obtain immediate buying
action.
• For instance, mail order advertisement, direct-action
retail advertisement, price-deal offers, last-chance offers
are special advertisements persuading prospects and
securing prompt actions.
• Direct mail is the usual medium for coupons, samples,
and other forms of direct action advertising.
 5) Pre-Sold Goods:
• Well-advertised brands are pre-sold goods. Buyers are pulled by such
advertisements.
• Supermarket advertisers pull customers and goods are sold without active
help of counter sales force.

(6) Dealer Support:

• National or big firms advertise extensively and intensively to support
dealers and distributors so that they can assure accelerated distribution.
• Advertising alone can create mass markets for products which are
intrinsically sound and can easily fill the customers’ needs and desires.
Mass marketing brings about reduction in the cost of production as well as
cost of distribution.
 Advertising – Types
• The common classification of advertising is as follows:
• (1) Product Advertising:
• When the company tries to sell its products or services through
advertising, it may be referred to as product advertising.

• (2) Institutional Advertising:

• Where the advertising is to project the image of a company or its services,
it is known as institutional advertising. Institutional advertising is not at
all product-oriented, but is designed to enhance the image of the
company. Institutional advertisements are not aimed at consumers.
Whereas it is aimed at shareholders, creditors and various sets of public.
• 4) Selective or Competitive Advertising:
• When a product enters growth stage of the life cycle and when competition
begins, advertising becomes competitive and selective. Under this type of
advertising, information will be less and it will be more emotional. Pricing
also will be used as a key promotional weapon as products become very
similar.

• (5) Comparative Advertising:

• When there is severe intensity of competition, comparative advertising is
resorted to, comparative advertising stresses on comparative features of
two or more specific brands in terms of product/service attributes. This
method is adopted in the maturity stage when similar products are fastly
appearing in the market and constitute a stiff competition. Comparative
advertising “delivers information not previously available to consumers.”
6) Shortage Advertising:
• When there is short-supply of products shortage
advertising is resorted to. Example- oil crisis. In such kind
of advertising, new promotional objectives may be
incorporated such as-
• (a) Educating the people about the most economic use of
the product.
• (b) Making appeal to save resources.
• (c) To reduce customer pressure on the sales force.
• (7) Co-Operative Advertising:
• When manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers join and share the
expenditure on advertising it takes the form of co-operative advertising.
Such advertising would carry the names of all the parties involved. From
the point of view of the customers this is beneficial as they get the articles
directly from the authorised outlets.

• (8) Commercial Advertising:

• It is also termed as business advertising. Such advertising is only meant for
affecting increase in sales.
• 9) Non-Commercial Advertising:
• These are usually published by charitable institutions preferably to
solicit general and financial help e.g., collection of donations or
sale of tickets.

• (10) Direct Action Advertising:

• Advertising that stresses and persuades immediate buying of the
product is known as Direct Action advertising.
• Direct mail advertising is capable of achieving immediate action to
a greater extent.
Usually the following forms of commercial
advertising are recognized:

(a) Industrial advertising — this is exclusively meant for selling

industrial products.
• (b) Trade advertising — advertising relating to a trade.
• (c) Professional advertising — undertaken by professionals like
doctors, accountants, etc.
• (d) Farm advertising — exclusively used for selling farm
products such as fertilizers, insecticides, farm implements etc.
 Advertising – Advertising and Brand
Patronage
• Advertising is an important promotional tool in
order to establish brand patronage. Customer
preference toward brands indicate the following
tendencies:
• (1) Brand insistence- A buyer insists on purchasing only
one brand and will not accept a substitute.
• (2) Brand loyalty- A buyer has a strong attachment to the
brand and will not accept a substitute if the brand is
available.
• 3) Brand preference- A buyer favours the purchase of the
brand but will accept a substitute.

• (4) Brand acceptance- A buyer will buy the brand but has
an open mind to try another brand.

• (5) Brand awareness- A buyer is merely aware of the

existence of the brand but has limited knowledge about it
and has no particular emotional attachment to it so far.
He may or may not risk purchasing the brand.
 Advertising – Advertisability Criteria

• The proponents of advertising very often say that “it pays

to advertise, advertising can sell anything, advertising has
the miraculous powers of selling the goods, advertising
hypnotizes the readers to buy anything and advertising
process possesses supernatural powers and so on.”
• However, the dealer or producer should know how far his
product can be advertised or how advertisable his
products are or on what factors the effectiveness of an
advertisement depends.
 There are certain determinants of
advertisability:
• 1. The Product should have a Primary Demand:
• A product enjoys a primary demand when it is desirable.
The product should offer benefits to consumers,
otherwise advertisement will not succeed. Mere
flattering illustrations and glorifying descriptions are not
sufficient for making the people to buy.
• Advertising cannot push on to people merchandise that
is behind or ahead of fashion, unreasonable or, over-
priced.
• 2. Advertising must be Continuous:
• Infrequent advertising is not sufficient to win new
customers or to hold the favour of the old. The pitiful,
unsystematic advertiser has little chance to earn the
patronage of customers. Advertisement is a course of
treatment, not a shot in the arm. It is futile to recognise
that there is something like “love at first sight” in
publicity.
• 3. Greater Chances for Product Differentiation:
• Product differentiation is still another factor of
advertisability. The demand for a product can be
influenced by the technique of product differentiation. By
product differentiation we mean that the product is
differentiated by bringing about a change in colour,
name, shape, size, package, taste, etc. Product
differentiation makes the customers believe that a
product is superior to others.
• 4. Presence of Powerful Emotional Buying
Motives:
• An advertisement must provoke the emotional buying
motives of the prospects. The emotional buying motives
may be gains, saving, utility, pride, economy, prestige,
variety, etc. The buying motives are in the mind of the
people and not in the product.
• 5. Financial Capacity:
• Another criterion for advertiser ability is the financial
soundness of the company. If very little money is spent on
advertisement it will not have any effect. That is why
reputed concerns spend money on advertisement.
• 6. Price of the Product:
• The price should represent reasonable value for the brand
in the mind of a customer. That is, advertising must not
persuade the consumers to pay what a customer considers
an unreasonable price.

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