definition

Advertising is a form of communication that typically attempts to persuade potential customers to

purchase or to consume more of a particular brand of product or service. Many advertisements are
designed to generate increased consumption of those products and services through the creation and
reinforcement of "brand image" and "brand loyalty". For these purposes, advertisements sometimes
embed their persuasive message with factual information. Every major medium is used to deliver these
messages, including television, radio, cinema, magazines, newspapers, video games, the Internet and
billboards. Advertising is often placed by an advertising agency on behalf of a company or other
organization.[citation needed]
Advertisements are seen on the seats of shopping carts, on the walls of an airport walkway, on the sides
of buses,and are heard in telephone hold messages and in-store public address systems. Advertisements
are often placed anywhere an audience can easily or frequently access visual, audio and printed
information.[citation needed]
Organizations that frequently spend large sums of money on advertising that sells what is not, strictly
speaking, a product or service include political parties, interest groups, religious organizations, and
military recruiters. Non-profit organizations are not typical advertising clients, and may rely on free
modes of persuasion, such as public service announcements.[citation needed]
Advertising spending has increased dramatically in recent years. In 2006, spending on advertising has
been estimated at $155 billion in the United States[1] and $385 billion worldwide[2], and the latter to
exceed $500 billion by 2010.
While advertising can be seen as necessary for economic growth, it is not without social costs.
Unsolicited Commercial Email and other forms of spam have become so prevalent as to have become a
major nuisance to users of these services, as well as being a financial burden on internet service
providers.[3] Advertising is increasingly invading public spaces, such as schools, which some critics
argue is a form of child exploitation.[4][5]
[hide]
 1 History
 1.1 Mobile Billboard Advertising
 1.2 Public service advertising
 2 Types of advertising
 2.1 Media
 2.2 Covert advertising
 2.3 Television commercials
 2.4 Infomercials
 2.5 Newer media and advertising approaches
 3 Effect on memories and behavior
 4 Public perception of the medium
 5 Regulation
 6 Future
 6.1 Global advertising
 6.2 Trends
 7 See also
 8 References
 9 Bibliography
 10 External links
 10.1 Vintage archives
2 Types of advertising

Commercial advertising media can include wall paintings, billboards, street furniture components,
printed flyers and rack cards, radio, cinema and television ads, web banners, mobile telephone screens,
shopping carts, web popups, skywriting, bus stop benches, human directional, magazines, newspapers,
town criers, sides of buses or airplanes ("logojets"), in-flight advertisements on seatback tray tables or
overhead storage bins, taxicab doors, roof mounts and passenger screens, musical stage shows, subway
platforms and trains, elastic bands on disposable diapers, stickers on apples in supermarkets, shopping
cart handles, the opening section of streaming audio and video, posters, and the backs of event tickets
and supermarket receipts. Any place an "identified" sponsor pays to deliver their message through a
medium is advertising.
Another way to measure advertising effectiveness is known as ad tracking. This advertising research
methodology measures shifts in target market perceptions about the brand and product or service.
These shifts in perception are plotted against the consumers’ levels of exposure to the company’s
advertisements and promotions.The purpose of Ad Tracking is generally to provide a measure of the
combined effect of the media weight or spending level, the effectiveness of the media buy or targeting,
and the quality of the advertising executions or creative. Ad Tracking Article
See also Advertising media scheduling and Advertising-free media

[edit] Covert advertising

Main article: Product placement

Covert advertising is when a product or brand is embedded in entertainment and media. For example,
in a film, the main character can use an item or other of a definite brand, as in the movie Minority
Report, where Tom Cruise's character John Anderton owns a phone with the Nokia logo clearly written
in the top corner, or his watch engraved with the Bulgari logo. Another example of advertising in film
is in I, Robot, where main character played by Will Smith mentions his Converse shoes several times,
calling them "classics," because the film is set far in the future. I, Robot and Spaceballs also showcase
futuristic cars with the Audi and Mercedes-Benz logos clearly displayed on the front of the vehicles.
Cadillac chose to advertise in the movie The Matrix Reloaded, which as a result contained many scenes
in which Cadillac cars were used. Similarly, product placement for Omega Watches, Ford, Vaio, BMW
and Aston-Martin cars are featured in recent James Bond films, most notably Casino Royale.

[edit] Television commercials

Main article: Television advertisement

The TV commercial is generally considered the most effective mass-market advertising format, as is
reflected by the high prices TV networks charge for commercial airtime during popular TV events. The
annual Super Bowl football game in the United States is known as the most prominent advertising
event on television. The average cost of a single thirty-second TV spot during this game has reached
$2.7 million (as of 2007).
The majority of television commercials feature a song or jingle that listeners soon relate to the product.
See Music in advertising.
Virtual advertisements may be inserted into regular television programming through computer
graphics. It is typically inserted into otherwise blank backdrops[11] or used to replace local billboards
that are not relevant to the remote broadcast audience.[12] More controversially, virtual billboards may
be inserted into the background[13] where none existing in real-life. Virtual product placement is also
possible.[14] [15]

[edit] Infomercials
There are two types of infomercials, described as long form and short form. Long form infomercials
have a time length of 30 minutes. Short form infomercials are 30 seconds to 2 minutes long.
Infomercials are also known as direct response television (DRTV) commercials.
The main objective in an infomercial is to create an impulse purchase, so that the consumer sees the
presentation and then immediately buys the product through the advertised toll-free telephone number
or website. Infomercials describe, display, and often demonstrate products and their features, and
commonly have testimonials from consumers and industry professionals.
Some well known companies in the infomercial business are Script to Screen, Hawthorne Direct,
International Shopping Network and Guthy-Renker.

[edit] Newer media and advertising approaches

Increasingly, other media are overtaking television because of a shift towards consumer's usage of the
internet as well as devices such as TiVo.
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 and the traffic that the website
receives.
E-mail advertising is another recent phenomenon. Unsolicited bulk 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 (see propaganda).
Unpaid advertising (also called word of mouth advertising), can provide good exposure at minimal
cost. Personal recommendations ("bring a friend", "sell it"), spreading buzz, or achieving the feat of
equating a brand with a common noun (in the United States, "Xerox" = "photocopier", "Kleenex" =
tissue, "Vaseline" = petroleum jelly, "Hoover" = vacuum cleaner, and "Band-Aid" = adhesive bandage)
— these are the pinnacles of any advertising campaign. However, some companies oppose the use of
their brand name to label an object. Equating a brand with a common noun also risks turning that brand
into a genericized trademark - turning it into a generic term which means that its legal protection as a
trademark is lost.
As the mobile phone became a new mass media in 1998 when the first paid downloadable content
appeared on mobile phones in Finland, it was only a matter of time until mobile advertising followed,
also first launched in Finland in 2000. By 2007 the value of mobile advertising had reached 2.2 billion
dollars and providers such as Admob delivered billions of mobile ads.
More advanced mobile ads include banner ads, coupons, MMS picture and video messages,
advergames and various engagement marketing campaigns. A particular feature driving mobile ads is
the 2D Barcode, which replaces the need to do any typing of web addresses, and uses the camera
feature of modern phones to gain immediate access to web content. 83 percent of Japanese mobile
phone users already are active users of 2D barcodes.
A new form of advertising that is growing rapidly is Social network advertising. It is Online
Advertising with a focus on social networking sites. This is a relatively immature market, but it has
shown a lot of promise as advertisers are able to take advantage of the demographic information the
user has provided to the social networking site.
From time to time, The CW airs short programming breaks called "Content Wraps," to advertise one
company's product during an entire commercial break. The CW pioneered "content wraps" and some
products featured were Herbal Essences, Crest, Guitar Hero 2, Cover Girl, and recently Toyota.