Ralph E. Hanson, Second Edition
HomeWeblogChaptersCh. 1: Living in a Media WorldCh. 2: The Media Business: Consolidation, Globalization, and the Long TailCh. 3: Mass Communication Effects: How Society and Media InteractCh. 4: Books: The Birth of the Mass MediaCh. 5: Magazines: The Power of Words and ImagesCh. 6: Newspapers: Reflection of a Democratic SocietyCh. 7: Sound: Music and Talk Across MediaCh. 8: Movies: Mass-Producing EntertainmentCh. 9: Television: Broadcast, Cable and BeyondCh. 10: The Internet: Mass Communication Gets PersonalCh. 11: Advertising: Selling a MessageCh. 12: Public Relations: Manufacturing the NewsCh. 13: Media Law: Free Speech and FairnessCh. 14: Media Ethics: Truthfulness, Fairness, and Standards of DecencyCh. 15: Global Media: Communication Around the WorldAbout the BookAbout the AuthorHelp
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Chapter 11: Advertising

Study

The incorporation of advertising into the media of the pre-industrial United States made cheap media possible. Numerous companies turned to newspapers as a means of building consumer awareness of their products. With so many products flooding this new market, it was important for companies to establish brand names, which would help them distinguish similar products from one another.

Direct action messages are used on a local level, in hopes of getting consumers to take action--go to an outlet and buy a particular product. Indirect action messages are applied on a national level to build the overall image of a product or idea. Advocacy advertisements are meant to draw attention to a cause or idea, while trade advertisements focus on business-to-business promotions.

Advertising campaigns require four elements: the client, agency, medium, and audience. Each group has specific roles and responsibilities. Some of those roles and responsibilities include identifying objectives, determining the target audience, choosing the media to best promote the message, and determining how the audience received the message.

Advertisers are constantly battling misconceptions about their practice, such as advertising makes things cost more, as well as keeping their audience interested. To grab the audience's attention and reduce the factor of clutter, advertisers use celebrities and non-traditional means to promote their products or ideas.

Advertising-dependent media such as television face numerous challenges in the future. New technologies allow consumers to delete or skip commercials running during pre-recorded programming, while some subscription-based media shield the consumer from all advertisements. Being fully aware of this, advertisers are becoming increasingly selective as to how they spend their money. Online advertising is still in its infancy, and the effectiveness of this form of advertising can be extremely difficult to measure. New and creative online advertising methods, such as utilizing search engine functionality, will become increasingly important to Internet advertisers in the coming years.

Learning Objectives

•  Know the definition of advertising.

•  Understand the differences between local, national, advocacy, and business-to-business advertising.

•  Know the functions of direct and indirect action messages.

•  Know what a brand name is, and how they developed historically.

•  Know the participants in an advertising campaign and their responsibilities.

•  Understand the advantages and disadvantages of the major advertising media.

•  Know the four common misconceptions about advertising.

•  Know what clutter is, and how advertisers combat it.

Review Questions

1. What is CPM?


2. In terms of usage, what is the difference between direct and indirect action messages?

3. Provide examples of cognitive, attitudinal, behavioral, and psychological media effects.

4. What is the big idea, and what does it seek to accomplish?

5. Who was David Ogilvy?

6. What is VALS and what is it used for?

7. What is product placement, and what are some of its challenges?