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Advertising is a form of visual, written, or auditory communication whose main function is to inform, disseminate, and persuade the consumer about a product or service , introduce a new brand or product into the consumer market, improve a brand 's image , or reposition a product or brand in the consumer's mind. This is accomplished through advertising campaigns disseminated through the media following a pre-established communication plan and strategy.

Through research, analysis, and the study of numerous disciplines, such as psychology , neuroanatomy , sociology , anthropology , statistics , and economics , which are found in market research , it is possible, from a seller's perspective, to develop a message suitable for a specific segment of a medium's audience. This precisely defined segment of people is known as the target audience .

Terminology

Advertising differs from two other activities also aimed at influencing people's opinions: public relations and propaganda .

The terms advertising and propaganda are used interchangeably in some Spanish-speaking countries, but at a professional and academic level, both terms refer to two distinct concepts. [1] [2] The main difference lies in the type of behavior that is intended to be modified. In the case of advertising, the aim is to influence a person's consumption behavior through advertising campaigns or actions in different media and with different objectives ( product launch , brand positioning , brand recall, etc.) so that the consumer makes a purchase in the short or long term. Propaganda , on the other hand, seeks to get a person to adhere to an ideology or belief.

On the other hand, the terms publicist and advertiser are also differentiated. A publicist is someone who is dedicated to publishing articles for dissemination, such as in a magazine; while an advertiser is responsible for creating and disseminating advertising as their primary activity. [3]

Brand awareness

Brand awareness is one of the main ways advertising can stimulate demand for a particular type of product or even establish it as a distinct brand name. Examples include products such as textile adhesives, women's lingerie, toilet paper, adhesive tape, glue sticks, firelighters, music players, soft drinks, and household appliances. Brand awareness can be established to a greater or lesser degree depending on the product and the market. When a brand has built enough value to attract buyers even without advertising, it is said to have achieved brand awareness. The highest brand awareness occurs when the brand name is so prevalent in people's minds that it is used to describe the entire product category. Kleenex , for example, can be identified as tissues or as a label for a product category; that is, it is frequently used as a generic term. One of the most successful examples of brands achieving brand recognition is Hoover , whose name was for a long time synonymous with vacuum cleaner in English-speaking countries. A legal risk for manufacturers of brand recognition is that the name can become so widely accepted that it becomes a generic term, losing trademark protection. An example of this would be the trade name for acetylsalicylic acid, aspirin.

Sometimes, certain products gain prominence due to advertising, not necessarily as a result of an intentional campaign, but simply because they receive significant media coverage. On the internet and in digital technologies, unsolicited advertising or spam refers to the sending of electronic messages, such as emails , text messages , or other forms of communication, without prior request, and usually in massive quantities. However, the internet is a common medium for developing interactive advertising campaigns that do not infringe on privacy; on the contrary, they bring traditional advertising to new spaces where it can be implemented.

Advertising industry

Advertising, as a business activity, involves different actors in the task of conveying an idea about a product or service to its target audience.

Advertisers

Virtually every company in the modern world has advertising needs, from those that simply put up a poster on the street to those that want to be present in newspapers, radio, or television. As a result, the advertising world has grown into a major industry that generates hundreds of billions of euros globally each year. Within a country like Spain, according to one study, total advertising investment in 2014 was €10.461 billion, across both traditional and non-traditional media. [4] The largest advertiser that year was Procter & Gamble (with €122.4 million), followed by L'Oréal, El Corte Inglés, and several telecommunications companies such as Movistar and Vodafone. In 2021, the largest advertisers in Spain were Procter & Gamble (€66.6 million), Orange (€59.5 million), Línea Directa (€53.4 million), El Corte Inglés (€50.5 million), Telefónica (€48.9 million), Volkswagen (€46.2 million), ONCE (€44.2 million), and the Spanish government and Samsung tied at €42.6 million each. By October 2022, the Spanish government had already spent €85.2 million, making it the largest advertiser in the country. [5]

Advertising agencies

Advertising agencies , media agencies , and media buying agencies (graphic design firms, creative boutiques , production companies, etc.) are often involved in advertising development, which is shaped by several factors. The most important of these is the brief , which contains the initial ideas for developing the advertising product. The brief is a document that specifies all the characteristics of the product or service itself, the company's history, an analysis of the competition (direct, indirect, or generic), and a description of the target audience, which is generally based on hard variables such as socioeconomic level , age, gender, geographic location, and family life cycle. In addition, the brief may include a history of all previous campaigns; this history is usually added when the advertiser decides to change advertising agencies.

Media

Advertising reaches the public through advertising media , which can be mass media or alternative media. Media outlets broadcast advertisements in exchange for a pre-agreed fee to acquire advertising space, as outlined in a sales contract between the advertising agency and the media outlet. For example, on television, a network broadcasts the advertisement during its programming at a time previously determined by the agency (a task known as media planning ); this contract is called a broadcast or distribution agreement.