BA (JMC) 202 – Basics of Advertising

Unit 1: Concept of Advertising

Advertising: Meaning and Purpose

Advertising is a form of communication that utilizes several types of media for the
promotion of goods, services, and ideas. The objective of this chapter is to introduce the
concept of advertising and its definitions. The chapter will also discuss the functions served
by advertising as a tool for marketing.

Introduction
The word ‘advertising’ finds its origin in a
classical Latin word ‘Advertere’. It is an
amalgamation of two words Ad (meaning - to/
towards) and Vertere (meaning - to turn).
Collectively, the meaning of advertising is to
turn towards something; rather to turn one’s
attention towards something. The English word
‘Advertise’ is also linked to the old French
word ‘Advertir’, which means “to (take) notice
(of something).”
According to the American Marketing Association (AMA),

"Advertising means any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas,
goods, or services by an identified sponsor."
Let us break this definition into separate parts to decode the meaning and characteristics of
advertising.

1. Any Form: An advertisement can be in any form implies that it could be a print ad in
a newspaper or billboard, an audio ad on radio, an audio-visual commercial for
television or any of these on online platforms. One form of ad can also be adapted or
replicated for another form of media.

2. Paid communication: Anyone who is trying to communicate with the masses by

means of an advertisement (known as the advertiser) has to pay the owners of mass
media such as television channels, radio, newspapers, websites and hoardings etc. In
exchange for this payment, the advertisers are provided with space in the particular
media channel which reaches the masses.
 3. Non-personal form of presentation: There is no one-to-one communication between
the advertisers and the potential customers. An advertisement communicates to its
entire audience in one go without addressing any particular individual. Other tools of
marketing such as direct selling and word-of-mouth marketing use a more
personalized approach for the sales and promotion of a product.

4. Promotion of ideas, goods or services: The primary objective of any advertisement

is to promote goods, services and ideas. Here, goods can be products of daily use or
occasional use such as food, electronic objects, grocery items or industrial equipment;
services can vary from salon services to car repairs to travel assistances; and ideas can
be about encouraging the public to vote, to keep their surroundings clean, to use
proper contraceptives, or to discourage harmful practices such as smoking or use of
tobacco. Advertisements may also promote personalities such as during the time of
elections and events such as concerts and book fairs.

5. Identified Sponsor: The advertiser pays for the advertisement and is, therefore, its
sponsor. The sponsor is clearly identifiable as the name, logo, and other trademarks of
the brand are included in the advertisement. In some ads, the contact details and
address of the advertiser are also plainly mentioned. This is done for the promotion of
particular outlets such as malls, retail shops and service providers.
Other characteristics of advertising, aside from those mentioned above by AMA, are:
6. Marketing Tool: The practice of marketing refers to the promotion of goods, ideas
and services in the market through any means. It includes market research, door to
door promotions, direct selling, and delivery of products amongst others. Advertising
is also one of these tools working towards the same objective but in an impersonal
manner, as mentioned above.

7. Creative Process: Advertising involves the use of imaginative and creative ideas for
effective promotions. It requires brainstorming to develop new and interesting
concepts which would attract the attention of potential customers and persuade them
to respond favourably. Creative ads are more memorable and help achieve the
advertising goals.

8. Requires Planning and Preparation: An advertisement is an investment that should

yield results in the form of sales or acceptance of ideas from the potential customers.
Like every other investment, this too, should be meticulously planned prior to its
execution. Before making an advertisement, the makers should be clear about its
objectives. There should be clarity about who are the potential customers and what
would appeal most to them. Advertising messages have to be drafted with careful
consideration of each word, image and graphic in order for it to have the desired
impact.
Functions of Advertising
The quintessential purpose of an advertisement is to inform, educate and persuade the masses
to respond to their call to action.
Informing refers to creating awareness about the product, service or idea or its ongoing offers.
Educate refers to giving detailed information about the pros and cons of its use.
Persuade refers to convincing people to respond in the manner desired by the advertiser.
Call to action can refer to any of the following:

 To purchase a product or avail a service.

 To invest in a project.
 To adopt a lifestyle or practice.
 To attend or participate in an event.
 To travel to a specific location
amongst others…
The functions of advertising are not limited to the aforementioned. It also helps in the
following:
1. Generating demand: Any product in the market, especially one that has been
recently launched, needs to develop, maintain and improve its sales. Advertisements
help spread knowledge about the product which, if done effectively, directly results in
increasing demand. It may induce new customers to buy an existing product by
informing them about its superior qualities.

2. Product Differentiation: Markets are filled to the brim with products and service
providers in stiff competition with each other. They are competing for higher sales
and a larger chunk of the market share. Advertisements help in differentiating one
product from its competitors. Brands such as Coca Cola and Pepsi, Surf Excel and
Ariel, Axe and Wildstone, Colgate and Pepsodent are similar to each other but the
consumers are able to differentiate between them because of their advertisements.

3. Increase Brand Preference

and Loyalty: Advertisements
often establish emotional
bonds with the consumers
such as through campaigns
like Meri Maggi. Ads also
project their brand as superior
to their competitors and often
associate the use of their
product as means to gain
respect in the society.
 4. Public Image: Advertisements help companies become brands. Prior to advertising
and marketing efforts, companies are often not recognized by customers and therefore
not trusted. Ads help the companies create a brand image for themselves in the minds
of the public. Some are perceived as luxury brands and some as economical brands
through their advertisements, much before the customers become aware about their
prices.

5. Support to Media Channels: The relationship between advertisers and media

channels is symbiotic. Media channels offer space to advertisers for promotion of
their products and services in exchange of payment. This payment or advertisement
expenditure by companies becomes the biggest source of revenue for media channels.

6. Brand Reminders: Companies advertise themselves and their offerings despite

having steady sales and market share. This is to ensure that people are reminded about
the brand’s continued presence in the market. Out of home ads on hoardings and
billboards often serve this purpose.

Summary
Ads, today, are all pervasive. We come across them anywhere we go, from our televisions to
mobile phone to social media platforms and out of homes on billboards and public transport.
It is an indispensable task for promoting any product, service or idea in today’s excessively
competitive scenario. It offers multiple benefits to advertisers, sellers, media outlets,
consumers and several other stakeholders by performing its marketing, communication and
economic and social functions.
BA (JMC) 202 – Basics of Advertising
Unit 1: Concept of Advertising

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 Selective
To vote during elections To vote for a particular party
To use contraceptives against STDs Ads for Manforce or Durex
To invest in mutual funds or other schemes Ads for ICICI or HDFC
To wash hands with soap To promote Dettol or Lifebuoy
BA(JMC) 202- Basics of Advertising

Advertising Models: AIDA & DAGMAR

ADVERTISING MODELS: AIDA AND DAGMAR

Models help in simplify concepts. AIDA and DAGMAR are two very important models of
Advertising which help in understanding the steps for creating effective advertising. We
will study both the models with the help of various examples for easy comprehension

What are Advertising Models?

Advertising models help in delivering messages and crafting an effective marketing strategy.
Models help in understanding the concepts, create discussions, enhance explanations and
provide representations of concepts.

AIDA MODEL:

AIDA Model is considered essential for the success of Marketing, implementation of the four
steps specified in the model results in effective advertising strategy. The model identified the
steps that an individual goes through while making a purchasing decision. It is essential that
advertisers and marketers ensure that all four steps of the model are followed for successful
results.

AIDA the acronym stands for:

 Attention: To attract the attention of the

consumer or creating awareness about the
product or service, sometimes the best way to
generate attention is by disruption. Attention
of the consumers usually can be attained by
placing ads on prominent location or shock
factor, there are various innovative ways, for
instance- AIRCEL- Save the Tiger Campaign
instantly generated awareness amongst people.
  Interest- the attention in the product or service
has been generated, now you need to keep their
interest. To encourage interest in the consumers you
will highlight the benefit being offered or anything
additional which will lead the consumer to further
research about the product. It is difficult to generate
Save The Tiger Campaign. Image Credits:
Google interest in the product particularly when your product
isn’t interesting. For example- Insurance, Banking,
Furniture, Housing ads. For instance- The Policy Bazar Health Insurance
advertisement featuring Pankaj Tripathi hilariously portrays the benefits of insurance
 Desire- Generate desire by offering a
benefit that no other competitor is
giving or by creating an emotional
bond with the consumer, show your
brand personality, the consumer should
want your product. The preference
shifts from liking to wanting it.
Highlight what your consumers will Image Credits: Google Images

miss if they don’t buy the product

or
services. For example- tempting images of food items being offered at affordable
price packages or one plus one offers
 Action: This is the final step which influences the traget audience to take action, the
action can be in the form of the consumer downloading the brochure searching further
for the product.

This model is implemented by the tele caller brands which first grab your attention with the
product then they interest you with the benefits being offered followed by offering some
freebies with the main product and then generates action by setting a timer and constantly
reminding about the benefits of the product. The model is not limited to just advertising, it is
a marketing model being used in various spheres. It is used by Movie Producers to pique
interest in their movies and generate action

KAHAANI: AIDA MODEL

Kahaani(2012) starring Vidya Balan was a Hindi film mystery movie, the movie
generated a lot of interest because of the promotions, let us understand it through the
frame of AIDA model:
 Attention: The poster was released on
social media followed by trailer of the
movie where a pregnant woman is searching
for her husband, the script looked fresh and
generated curiosity
 Interest: Vidya Balan used to attend
all press conferences, public appearances,
events with a baby bump. Everyone was
intrigued by the baby bump.
 Desire: Vidya Balan used to go to
every event and highlight that the mystery
will be revealed on the date of movie
release. Besides, the producer kept sharing
songs and snippet from the movie
 Action: Naturally the audience was
hooked, they awaited the release and the
Image Credits: Google Images
movie was worth the hype.

DAGMAR MODEL

DAGMAR, the acronym stands for Defining Advertising Goal for Measured Advertising
Results. The model indicates a marketing approach for measuring advertising results. The
model outlines steps for effective advertising campaign. The model suggests that consumer
goes through five phases about the product- unaware, aware, comprehension, conviction and
action. The model also signifies the importance of target audience and setting up of a
measurable objective to evaluate the success of the campaign. The model was proposed by
Russell Colley in 1961. The following stages suggested in the model are mentioned below:

 Awareness: The most important task of advertising strategy is to make the consumer
aware about the product. The awareness
should not be taken for granted as in a
product parity market brands keep
advertising. The brand needs to keep the
consumer aware about its presence in the
market. For example- Coke advertises
Image Credits: Google Images frequently despite being the top of the mind
brand and dominant in the aerated beverage
segment.

Objective: Generate awareness amongst the target audience by April 2020

 Comprehension: Apart from generating

awareness, the advertisers need to
reinforce the consumers about the
benefits being offered by the product.
As awareness itself is not enough to
motivate the consumer to purchase the
product. For example- FOGG,
advertisement which focuses on the
Image Credits: Google Images
benefit of offering deodorant and not
gas.
Objective: To inform about the benefits and USP of the product by April 2020

 Conviction: Advertisers have to establish that

the product is meant for the consumer and they
should absolutely have it. The customer is aware
about the different products and their benefits,
customers should be motivated to try this
product
Image Credits: Google Images
 at the next purchase.Advertisers should offer something not being offered by the
competition.

Objective: To create favourable image for the brand compared to competition by April 2020

 Action- The customer is motivated to purchase the product. For example- Sabse sasta
Wednesday by Big Bazaar

Objective: To motivate the consumer to purchase the product.

The goal is to motivate consumers to purchase the product, the company should identify
the target segment to market the product or services effectively. Post identification of
the target audience, the brands should implement the DAGMAR method. The objective
should be concrete, measurable and a specified time limit to accomplish the task.

References:

 Hidden Persuasion: 33 Psychological Influences Techniques in Advertising

 https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dagmar.asp
 https://www.marketing91.com/dagmar/
BA (JMC) 202 – Basics of Advertising

Unit 1: Models and Theories

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

The psychological theory propounded by Abraham Maslow discusses what motivates
humans. It has been used by marketers to understand consumer behaviour and designed
their strategies accordingly. This chapter will elucidate the theory and its relevance for
advertisers.

Introduction

Abraham Maslow, a specialist in human behavioural psychology, propounded the theory of

Hierarchy of Needs in 1943 in his paper titled "A Theory of Human Motivation". It is a five-
tier model, often represented as a pyramid of needs. According to this model, the needs lower
down in the hierarchy must be satisfied before individuals can progress to needs higher up.

Cherry, 2019 notes,

"While some of the existing schools of thought at the time (such as psychoanalysis and
behaviourism) tended to focus on problematic behaviours, Maslow was much more interested
in learning about what makes people happy and the things that they do to achieve that aim."

Source: verywellmind.com
The image above describes the model as propounded by Maslow.

1. Physiological: These are the basic needs which any human requires in order to survive.
It includes food, water, air, shelter and clothing. Maslow also included homeostasis in
this level of the hierarchy since propagation of species is also necessary for its survival.
Examples of ads: ration schemes, affordable properties, basic food items.

2. Safety: Next in the pyramid is the need to be safe and secure. Humans require to feel
secure in financially, protect themselves against injuries and take care of their health
and wellbeing. This drives them to take up jobs, get insurance, save money, and live
in a secure neighbourhood amongst other things.

3. Social: Man is a social animal. This cliched phrase is cliched for a reason that it is true.
Once the above two needs are fulfilled, humans look for fulfilling their emotional needs
through their social surroundings such as finding love and friendship, having a family
and the feeling of belongingness with any community. These needs start to drive their
behaviour. Examples of ads: beauty and grooming products, tinder, ads for gift items.

4. Esteem: The fourth level in the pyramid, this refers to the need of feeling appreciated
and respected in a society. People want to accomplish things and get recognition for
them. Winning competitions, having luxuries, higher income and other
accomplishments are desired at this stage. Some people who are not able to achieve
anything in any field of life tend to develop low self-esteem which may even lead to
psychological issues like anxiety and depression. Examples: luxury items, cars,
expensive mobiles, Asian paints, Odonil.

5. Self-Actualization: At the top of the pyramid is the need for self-actualization. It refers
to achieving one’s maximum potential, full exploitation of one’s talents and indulging
in activities to please oneself. This is the stage where a person is self-aware and
concerned more with personal growth than the opinions of others. According to
Maslow, this need is achieved only by a few people in their lifetime. Examples of
ads: Red Bull, travel destinations, Mountain Dew etc.

Relevance for Advertisers

The examples mentioned above with each need are talking about fulfilling the desires of
their target audience.

Understanding the needs of people is the first step towards determining the target audience
for any advertiser. Would a man dependent on daily wages, fighting for the survival of his
family need grooming products? Or would an undergraduate require housing schemes? The
answer to these questions leads correct segregation of target audience. Advertisers also need to
be aware of what other things motivate the people in order to tailor make the advertising
strategies. Those aspects can be turned into selling points for a product or idea.
Paper: BA (JMC) 202: Basics of Advertising

Unit: Unit 1 (Concept of Advertising)

Writer’s Name: Ms Deepa Zutshi

Ethical and Regulatory Aspects of Advertising: ASCI & AAAI Code

Introduction: The word 'ethics' has been derived from the Greek word 'ethikos', which refers to
one's moral character and the way one should behave in the civilized society. Similarly
businesses also have ethics and theses ethics govern the way that a business behaves. It is a
behaviour that a business must adhere to in its daily dealings with the external world and internal
public. The ethics of a particular business can be diverse. They apply not only to how the
business interacts with the world at large, but also to their one-on-one dealings with a single
customer.

Ethics in Advertisement: Morally good advertising is that advertising that seeks to move people
to choose and act rationally in morally good ways; morally evil advertising seeks to move people
to do evil deeds that are self-destructive and destructive of authentic community. Means and
techniques of advertising must also be considered: manipulative, exploitative, corrupt and
corrupting methods of persuasion and motivation.

Specific Moral Principles in Advertising

1. Respect Truthfulness- An advertisement should always respect the concept of truthfulness
of every individual. It should never be deceiving and should never intend to deceive the
audience/viewers. Neither should advertisements be untrue.
Never distort the truth by implying things that are not so or withholding relevant facts.
Every advertisement should respect the dignity o each human.
An advertisement should never exploit our "lower inclinations" to compromise our capacity to
reflect or decide either through its content or through its impact: using appeals to lust, vanity,
envy and greed, and other human weakness.
An advisement should show utmost care to the weak and vulnerable: children, young people, the
elderly, the poor, and the culturally disadvantaged. A special care should be taken of these while
making an advertisement. All advertisements should respect social responsibilities and make sure
the advertisements don’t hurt any sentiments.
Example: Concern for the ecology—advertising should not favour a lavish lifestyle which wastes
resources and despoils the environment.

Advertising is a highly visible business activity and any lapse in ethical standards can often be
risky for the company. Some of the common examples of ethical issues in advertising are given
below:
Vulgarity / sexually suggestive used to gain consumers’ attention
 Misleading information and deception
 Puffery
 Stereotypes
 Racial issues
 Controversial products (e.g. alcohol, gambling, tobacco etc)
 Use of women
 Targeting kids
 Subliminal advertising
 Targeting health
 Hitting vulnerable minds – youth

Advertising standard council of India (ASCI)

Established in 1985, is a self-regulatory voluntary organization of the advertising industry in
India. It is a non-Government body. ASCI is committed to the cause of self- regulation in
advertising ensuring the protection of the interest of consumers. ASCI seeks to ensure that
advertisements conform to its Code for Self-Regulation, which requires advertisements to be
legal, decent, honest and truthful and not hazardous or harmful while observing fairness in
competition. ASCI looks into complaints across all media such as Print, TV, Radio, hoardings,
SMS, emailers, Internet / web-site, product packaging, brochures, promotional material and point
of sale material etc. ASCI’s role has been acclaimed by various Government bodies.
The four main constituents of advertising industry viz advertisers, advertising agencies, media
and allied professions came together to form this independent NGO. The aim of ASCI is to
maintain and enhance the public's confidence in advertising. Their mandate is that all advertising
material must be truthful, legal and honest, decent and not objectify women, safe for consumers -
especially children and last but not the least, fair to their competitors.
When an advertiser is creating an ad, the consumer is his audience. The feedback from a
consumer is important to the advertiser so he can be assured if his message has been correctly
conveyed. If a consumer feels that a particular advertisement is in bad taste or is false in its
claims, they need a body or council to whom they can air their grievances and who will take any
appropriate action, if necessary. ASCI as a self-regulatory body governing advertising content is
the ideal medium as its purpose is to serve both the advertisers as well as the consumers.

Mission of ASCI: To maintain and enhance the public's confidence in Advertising.

Goals of ASCI:
1. Truthful and honest: Truthful, fair and non-derogatory to competitors.
Advertisements should not be misleading and plagiarized.
2. Non-offensive to public: Within the bounds of generally accepted standards of
public decency and propriety.
3. Against harmful product/unsafe situations: Not used indiscriminately for the
promotion of products, hazardous or harmful to society or to individuals
particularly minors, to a degree unacceptable to society at large.
4. Fair in competition: Ensure that Advertisements observe fairness in competition
so that the consumer’s needs to be informed on choices in the market place and
the canons of generally accepted competitive behavior in business are both served.

Codes prescribed by ASCI:

• Ensuring truthfulness and honesty of representations and claims made through
advertising and safeguarding against misleading advertising.
 • Ensuring that advertising is not offensive to generally accepted norms and standards
of public decency.
• Safeguarding against indiscriminate use of advertising for promotion of products or
services which are generally regarded as hazardous to society or to individuals or which
are unacceptable to society as a whole.
• Ensuring that advertisements observe fairness in competition and the canons of generally
accepted competitive behavior.
Official website of ASCI:
https://ascionline.org/

Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI)

Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) is the official, national organisation of
advertising agencies, formed in 1945, to promote their interests. The Association promotes
professionalism, through its founding principles, which uphold sound business practices between
Advertisers and Advertising Agencies and the various media. AAAI today is truly representative,
with a very large number of small, medium and large-sized agencies as its members, who
together account for almost 80% of the advertising business placed in the country. It is thus
recognised as the apex body of and the spokesperson for the Advertising industry at all forums –
Advertisers and Media owners and their associations and Government.

Official website of ASCI:

https://www.aaaindia.org/advertising-codes/
BA (JMC) 202 – Basics of Advertising
Unit 1: Concept of Advertising

Target Audience
Refers to the group of people who are intended recipients of an advertising message. The
objective of this chapter is to understand what is target audience, how is the audience
categorized and its relevance for advertising.

Introduction
Imagine that a young student has some gossip about one of his classmates. He calls his
parents living in another city to tell them about it. Their response is minimal and
unenthusiastic as they are not too familiar with his friends, the subject matter of the gossip is
not very valuable to them and they are more interested in knowing how his studies are going.
In this scenario, the boy has wasted his time and money on communicating an information
which was not relevant to the audience. Selection of the right audience is, therefore, very
crucial for a message to have the desired effect.
The same is applicable to all mass media messages including advertising messages. While it
is not possible to exactly identify the people, who would be interested in a type of message, a
classification of audience on some factors is possible. This classified set of audience for
whom the message is intended is known as the Target Audience.

In the context of advertising, target audience refers to the group of people that are potential
customers of a product or service. They are the people most likely to be interested in that
offering. For instance, women in the age bracket of 15 to 45 can be the target audience for
sanitary napkins but they may not be the target audience for a motorcycle brand. The same
stands for ideas too. A person residing in a gated urban society has no relevance for an
advertisement promoting the development and use of lavatories in homes.

Importance of identifying the target audience for ads

1. Cost Effectiveness: The cost of reaching a greater number of people is high. This cost
also needs to be effective. An ad might reach millions of people but only some would
pay attention to it, most wouldn’t. The target of every advertiser should be to
maximise people in the former category. Advertising to people who have slim to no
chances of acting upon the message is an unnecessary expenditure that would yield no
results.

2. Creation of Suitable Ads: Knowing one’s target audience guides the advertisers to
create the most appealing advertisements for them. An ad aimed at children tends to
use simple language and expressions and often features cartoon characters or
superhero figures that would immediately grab their interest. Whereas, an
advertisement for adults
 can include sarcasm or complex words in the copy and feature celebrities of their age
and above.

3. Determining the Media Plan & Schedule: Ad advertisement has to be placed in

media channels that are preferred by most people of the target audience. While the
youth can be reached through social media, older people are likely to prefer
newspapers and television. The media habits of target audience also help in
scheduling when an ad would appear. A general perception is to schedule ads for
working urban men during the prime time on news channels, and for homemakers the
ads can be scheduled as per the timings of television programs preferred by them.

Identifying the Target Audience

1. Demographic information: This includes the objective and statistical aspects about
the audience such as age, gender, income, ethnicity, marital status and so on. This
information is easier to gather as it does not require any analysis. The facts are plain
and simple and so is the classification. There is no use of advertising a luxury product
to people who cannot afford it or even aspire to afford in future.

2. Geographic Information: This refers to the place of domicile of a person. It can take
into account whether the person is located in an urban or rural area, defining the exact
city or state, and understanding the climate and culture of the region. For instance, a
person living in a coastal area does not require warm clothes and hence, there would
be less outlets offering such products and therefore, less advertisement for it in the
region.

3. Psychographic Information: A very crucial classification for any advertiser, it refers

to understanding the psychological and sociological aspects of a person. This includes
the tastes and preferences, hobbies, lifestyle, values and attitude of a person. For
instance, a middle-aged man earning in crores through his business can afford
clothing from luxury brands and fits into the demographic segmentation. But if he
prefers wearing only cotton kurta-pyjamas, he cannot be classified as the target
audience of a luxury apparel brand.

4. Behavioural Information: This refers to the behaviour of a person as a consumer.

The frequency of purchases, preferred outlets for purchase (online or in-store) and
what
 drives them to make a purchase are some of the questions that need answering in order
to determine whether that person is the target audience of an advertisement or not.

Once determined, target audience guides the path of an entire advertising campaign along
with other factors, needless to mention. Target audience for an advertisement is almost the
same as the target market identified by the marketing team of a company. It is, however,
more specific in nature. While the target market is decided based on demographic,
geographic and psychographic differentiation, determining target audience additionally
considers their habits with respect to media use and their behaviour as consumers.

References

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-target-audience-consumers-37173.html

https://clevertap.com/blog/psychographic-segmentation/