ROLE OF ADVERTISEMENTS IN THE COMMERCIAL WORLD

  

FROM SAMPATH’S DESK:

 

 

ROLE OF ADVERTISEMENTS IN THE COMMERCIAL WORLD

   

There is a saying that any fool can paint a beautiful picture but it takes a wise man to be able to sell it. Here, the idea is not to undermine the beauty of the picture painted by the artiste, his ability, or the article’s value, but only to underscore the art and significance of marketing, advertisement, and campaigning capacity of an intelligent person to sell it. I have always strongly believed that however meritorious, skilled, talented, knowledgeable, intelligent, and industrious one may be, still he/she needs a ‘God Father’ to introduce him in a field, give him or make him get an opportunity, or recommend him/her for placement/assignment(s) - in short, a ‘stepping stone’ or a launch pad to showcase his talents in whatever field he/she is in. Human beings being social animals as well as political beings none can grow on their own or in isolation in the society, as humans, you need catalyst forces around to help you with an opening. No over-emphasis is, therefore, needed for the necessity of advertisement and marketing strategies in the commercial world with ever-stiffening and cut-throat competition always looming large. Nowadays, even if you produce quality products, you need to highlight their salient good feature in order to convince the prospective consumers/customers to buy them.

 

The marketing and advertisement strategies have undergone a lot of transformation over the years. Once restricted to mere pamphlets, leaflet, handouts, handbills, posters, literature, hoardings and banners - big, medium and small – nowadays, they have assumed never-before-seen multi-dimensions and gigantic proportions, the idea being to somehow or the other convince and reach out to the prospective buyers to push the products and services.

 

One of the modern techniques on the subject adopted is to make eminent persons, celebrities, youth, and small children endorse products. This strategy is mostly resorted to, as the viewers and prospective buyers are clearly convinced into believing that whatever the products endorsed by these special categories of persons in the society should be reliable, credible, creditable, and purchase-worthy. While in the yesteryears, the print media played a big role in the arena of marketing of products through mind-catchy advertisements, later, audio and visual media pitched in, in pushing the products to the consumers by their own ingenuity with beautifully designed and worded advertisements to catch and grip the mindset of a good chunk of consumers into believing and opting for the products on being satisfied and convinced of the creditworthiness of the products, the advertisements regarding which they happened to see.

 

With radio/transistor becoming a household norm, radio jingles were very attractive to people which prompted them into going in for the goods and services advertised. To add attraction, the jingles were beamed at such particular times that encouraged people into believing that such timings were synonymous with the products thus proving to be a value addition to particular products. For example - radio jingles for particular tooth brushes and tooth pastes in the morning hours when people brush their teeth - aptly attract particular brands of products about which they hear the commercials. This has a great sentimental value for people to opt for such brands, psychologists opine. I particularly remember two such radio jingles in the morning during my boyhood in the 1960s – (1) Binaca (Cibaca) tooth-paste and tooth brush at 6.30 AM, and (2) Prestige Pressure Cooker at 7.00 AM. In the evening, there were radio jingles for beddings, fans, music gadgets including radios/transistors, and other music systems, which latter included Audio/Video tapes, CDs, DVDs, Home theatre, etc.

 

Once upon a time, a cute baby’s picture was used for the advertisement for the Murphy radio that caused ripples and grabbed the attention of all.

 

Of course, today, a smart phone/i-Phone is a mind-blowing, breathtaking, path-breaking, and rip-roaring instrument containing all systems under the Sun in one’s hands revolutionizing the ways we worked, interacted with others as may be needed, relaxed and entertained ourselves, etc. - all by soft touches on the buttons. The Online sales and e-commerce have opened new vistas in pushing the goods and services.  

 

In modern advertising, pieces are selected and served by automated systems based on the identity of the user and the content. 

 

Some old methods to increase the visibility of the products are to put up advertisement display boards - small, medium, and big - at vantage points or landmark places in the important/link roads or junctions including bus terminals and railway stations in cities and towns. They included glowing sign boards, flex boards, and other eye-catchy illumination-packed displays.

Of late, the TV channels and social media commercials are awash with innumerable advertisements promoting a variety of trends.

 

Here are some of the Modern Advertizing Methods:

 

·         Web Banner Advertizing

·         Digital or Online Advertizing

·         Mobile Advertizing

·         Bandwagon Advertizing (This is a propaganda advertizing technique which aims at convincing the user that everyone else is using the product or everyone in the customer base is in favour of the brand and so he must do so too.

·         Promotional Advertizing.

·         Surrogate Advertizing

·         Pixel Advertizing.

·         Contextual Advertizing.

·         Keyword Advertizing.

·         Blog Advertizing.

·         Public Relations Advertizing.

·         Guerrilla Advertizing.

·         Testimonials and Endorsements.

 

The trendy scenario obtaining of late involved and included -

 

Video Ads get shorter and shorter for the viewers to easily glimpse at without consuming much of their time.

 

Ads lose the sound – some people hate loud sounds and voices as they feel irritated – hence this method.

 

Advertisers capitalize on the popularity of Mobile Gaming, the most-sought-after entertainment in which we have the greater chances of reaching out to the prospective consumers/customers and convincing them into buying the goods and services concerned.

 

Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) has taken a prominent role in advertizing.

 

Consumers demand authenticity in Social Media Ads.

 

Some Pan-World organizations dominate the E-commerce Ad space like Amazon.

 

 

That wraps up the top trends driving the advertising industry today. Digital ad strategies are shifting quickly as consumers spend more and more time on mobile devices and social media. Look for AI (Artificial Intelligence) tools to help advertisers navigate these changes and make the most of their budgets in the future.

 

E-governance strategy:

 

This helps make public services accessible to the common man in his locality through common service delivery outlets ensuring efficiency, transparency, and reliability of such services at affordable costs to realize the basic needs and expectations of the common man.

 

Visibility of product advertisement display through increased glow sign boards, flex boards, vinyl boards/vinyl signage, etc. including in places of franchisees, DSAs, retailers, OSS, etc.

 

Marketing and advertising are an integral part of running a successful business. Of course, depending on the need(s), you do have the option to stick to conventional advertising methods or go for fresher, more modern advertising methods. With advertisers becoming and getting more and more experimental, they are coming up with creative, innovative, mind-pleasing and attention-grabbing ideas that truly rule the roost in this modern era.

 

Advertising is a powerful tool that businesses have used for ages in reaching out to prospective/potential customers to make them purchase their products and/or services, as well as reinforcing faith in the business of existing customers. In modern advertising, the advertisements themselves are selected and served by automated systems based on the identity of the user and the content. In the last three quarters of 2009, mobile and Internet advertising grew by 18 percent and 9 percent respectively. So you should dive deep into modern advertising in the new Digital/E-era to promote your brand.

 

 

(R.SAMPATH)

5/10/2023