Advertising Management: Theory and Practice

Advertising simply put is telling and selling the product. Advertising Management is a complex process of employing various media to sell a product or service. Advertising is a means of communication with the users of a product or service. Advertisements are messages paid for by those who send them and are intended to inform or influence people who receive them. Advertising is always present, though people may not be aware of it. In today’s world, advertising uses every possible media to get its message through. It does this via television, print (newspapers, magazines, journals etc), radio, press, internet, direct selling, hoardings, mailers, contests, sponsorships, posters, clothes, events, colours, sounds, visuals and even people (endorsements). This process begins quite early from the marketing research and encompasses the media campaigns that help sell the product. Without an effective advertising management process in place, the media campaigns are not that fruitful and the whole marketing process goes for a toss. Hence, companies that believe in an effective advertising management process are always a step ahead in terms of selling their goods and services. As mentioned above, advertising management begins from the market research phase. At this point, the data produced by marketing research is used to identify what types of advertising would be adequate for the specific product. Gone are the days when there was only print and television advertising available to the manufacturers. These days apart from print and television, radio, mobile, and Internet are also available as advertising media. The advertising management process helps in defining the outline of the media campaign and in deciding which type of advertising would be used before the launch of the product. There might also be a mix and match advertising in which radio might supplement television advertising. It is important that through advertising management the image is conveyed that all the strategies complement each other. It should not look to the public that the radio advertising is focusing on something else while television on something else. The whole process should benefit the product or service. The role of people designing the advertising campaign is crucial to its success. They have been trained by seasoned professionals who provide the training in the specific field. Designing an advertising campaign is no small a task and the consumer behavior from the data collected from market research is a very important aspect of the campaign.This textbook is a critical introduction to the practices and perspectives of the advertising management.