It feels strange to say this, but most of us have grown up on advertisements. The one that I remember from my childhood was the Kellogg’s cereal ad, with a bowl filled with colourful frosted flakes that I wanted to devour that instant. I am embarrassed to say, but I do recall myself gobbling down the same for breakfast, lunch and dinner for a week straight.
The advertising industry has changed tremendously since the ’90s. The ads have become livelier, more critical, more realistic and even more hilarious. In addition, there is an ad for everything. From schools and colleges to the carnival; from candy to the oven; these are everywhere. Recently, I was given a brochure which was endorsing installment loans for bad credit direct lender, and I did not even know they existed. Therefore, it was quite informative.
That is the primary purpose of advertising, to inform the prospective buyer about the existence of the business’ products. Some understand this as its only purpose and therefore, they misunderstand the essence of advertising. Here are the three most popular misbelieves about them.
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CONFUSING ADVERTISING WITH MARKETING
Many people think that advertising and marketing are one and the same, but they are wrong. Marketing is an umbrella term and advertising is just one part of it.
The purpose of marketing is to;
- Make a product that can earn a higher sales figure.
- Ensuring the packaging would be appreciated by the buyer and help lure him in.
- Set a price that will placate the buyer and the manufacturer.
- Finding the right place for production and sales.
- Promoting the product to make the consumer aware.
- Finally making sure the consumer comes back for more.
While advertising only focuses on promoting the product through the different channels available to the company. A good advertisement plan would;
- Talk about the product and its features
- Mention the convenience of using it.
- Show the results after its use.
- Moreover, excitingly do all of this without boring the customer.
Do you see how much advertising and marketing are not alike? They are similar on one ground only, so confusing them as synonymous would be a mistake.
THINKING TV COMMERCIALS ARE THE ONLY FORM OF ADS
When we hear the word ads, our brain automatically goes to those TV commercials that have a habit of interrupting whatever exciting thing we were watching. This sense as made us think that TV ads are the only ones out there. That is not the case.
If we divide the ads based on their medium of output, we will have three kinds.
- VISUAL ADS; these are the most viewed and the most expensive kind. These are telecasted on TV, YouTube and all the different channels of social media. Presently I have loved the latest Reebok commercial, have you seen it?
- AUDIO ADS; these are generally played on radio and podcasts. People only listen to these when they are driving.
- WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHIC ADS; these are the ads published on brochures, flyers, billboards, newspapers and magazines, and involve information that is written or picturised.
An ad is meant to promote a product or an idea. It doesn’t need only to make use of the TV to do so.
THINKING ADS CANNOT PROMOTE SOCIAL MESSAGES
People all over the world believe that the advertising world is only meant to promote the different companies it has as its clients. It is somewhat true. A significant portion of the ads is directed to promotions of the products and services. However, there is a high proportion of ads. They are merely issued for instilling a social message in the minds of the viewer.
The UN Women advertisement published by a Dubai based ad agency will make you think long and hard. The concept of the ad was to promote women empowerment by changing the existing mindset of people.
Kudos to the ad-makers for depicting the present and the needed change in one picture. The ad was a close-up picture of a woman, in place of her mouth was the Google search icon with words’ women need to’ and the drop-down cursor showed the most searched options which were;
- Be put in their place
- Know their place
- Be controlled
- Be disciplined
Then it says that “WOMEN TO BE SEEN AS EQUAL”.
Ads like these are what society needs more than anything else.
Pepsi tried something similar through its ‘Live for Now’ ad, but that only received criticism. A can of Pepsi can never possibly placate both protestors and the police.
WINDING UP
In the end, all I want to say is that an ad can be a very powerful thing, if it is used the right way. A business can avoid taking 100% guaranteed loans in the UK for its operation, but take one for its ad campaign to make the business so engulfed in profits that it won’t ever need to go their way again.
