The world today is of innovation and creativity. Splashes of genius of the most obvious strike us every now and the n and make us smack our head at the sheer wonder of it. Innovation is again nothing but application of our well preserved common sense in uncommon situations to solve quite ordinary problems.
Creativity today is a shining presence in all fields- fright from something as boring as Human Resource Management to Grafitii on walls. It is just the courage to express ones thoughts.
Advertising is one such expression of creativity. By definition advertising is a paid persuasive means of communication through certain media sponsored by an identifiable client to express a message that the client wishes to convey.
The advertising agency is not only about ideators but also include photographers, creative people, web developers, digital network bureaus, colour film separators, visual film production houses, as also others who assist in the advertising agencies . the whole network further includes media buying agencies, media planning agencies and research organizations.
Advertising can be targeted at the local, national and even at the global level.
At the local level, advertising has a vast scope in its many forms. Newer developments in this sphere are coming up daily. Nowadays, retail advertising is in the most popular list. Many businesses besides retail stores use local advertising: banks, real estate developers, radio and TV stations, local politicians, etc. Product advertising , promotes a specific product or service and stimulates short term action while building awareness of the business. The 3 major types are:
- Regular Price Line
- Sale Advertising
- Clearance Advertising
There are also adverts and classified advertising – to recruit employees or rent space.
The most common media used in advertising are
- Electronic
- Ooh
- Internet
- Mobile
- Direct mail
Advertising today is not constrained to a specific place per se. it has spread boundaries and has become largely www.com dominated . as such, pay per click advertising, flash advertising as pop ups and similar kinds in all social network sites have become increasingly popluar today. This is more an example of cultural transmission due to the forces of globalization in what Samuel Hunter terms as “Clash of Civilizations.”
Advertising on the internet has grown by leaps and bounds and in these difficult times, it is emerging as the best way to market products at cheap costs to a larger, targeted audience.
The age of the Internet is just beginning. The means of accessing the power of the Internet are few and increasing. Online advertising involves the use of the Internet for marketing products online. According to Nielsen Net Ratings Internet Penetration as in 2008 is 21.9% and in the last eight years of the 21st century it has achieved a cumulative usage growth of 305.5%. This indicates the staggering growth that would be achieved in the years to come in terms of growing the user base of the Internet and hence the market for online advertising.
One advantage of online advertising is that the advertiser can actually select his target audience and show ads to the relevant users. This is demonstrated by Google in their advertising mechanism wherein the user is shown ads related to the topic of his search.
Also in online advertising, response to brand communication is instantaneous and conversion to business is also very high. This is because compared to conventional advertising, like television and radio, in online advertising the viewer decides to see the commercial. Because of this online advertising is not only cheaper for the advertiser but also yields richer dividends.
The comfort and ease offered by online transactions to the users also lends itself to increasing the scope of advertising on the web.
For the advertisers too, online advertising is a much better deal as compared to the conventional modes of advertising. They can actually advertise for small amounts of money also and yet reach out to their targeted audience. Whereas, as far as conventional advertising is concerned, it is far too expensive and ineffectual for the small and medium sized businesses.
Barack Obama’s victory in the general elections was attributed to his tremendous fundraising success, most of which was through donations made on the Internet. The only concerns for advertising on the web are slow speed internet and information security issues. Yet it cannot be denied that the Internet and the scope for online advertising are both increasing exponentially.
Apart from the internet, there have been very new and creative innovations in the sphere of outdoor advertising and even mobile advertising. Mobile advertising in fact is being touted as the next biggest thing to hit India. In Mobile In-Game Advertising service, the user expose to truly non-intrusive ads, which are dynamically embedded and changed within the game. The mobile in-game advertisements are targeted and segmented in real time according to users’ behavior.
Thus the sphere and scope of advertising is almost increasing daily. With the progress of science and technology and the launch of newer gadgets almost an everyday occurrence, for instance the i-pad recently, the whole gamut of advertising has become a global phenomenon, transcending the spatio-temporal dimension to a realm of the cyber age mainly and beyond. Henceforth, there have been a constant proliferation of the portfolio and the career choices. Life in the fast lane of the advertising world is thus streamlined no more.
