How advertising is not limited to commercial brands and service?

Is advertising meant to promote only commercial goods and services? The answer is no. Advertising is not limited to promote commercial brands and services. Public issues such as social issues, health issues, political issues etc also use advertising media to reach out to the masses. In the following paragraphs, let us find out how advertising caters to everyone commercially as well as non-commercially.

The availability of a certain product or service in the market is informed through an advertising campaign. Through the very ad campaign, the advertiser on behalf of the brand owner also encourages the target customers to buy or adopt the product or service. For this, the advertiser highlights the key features and benefits provided by the brand or service. Through television advertising, print advertising, outdoor advertising, radio advertising etc, advertisers connect with potential customers. An advertising network of a brand or service is indeed important to keep the business upfront and also to enhance revenue. Some of the main objectives of brand advertising are-

- To generate awareness about the presence of a product in the market

- To encourage customers to increase the usage of a certain brand to acquire more orders

- To invite new customers and letting them recognize the brand

- To indicate or announce the introduction of a new product or replacement of an old one

Advertising is a continuous marketing practice.  Goods and services in order to increase its sales need advertising practices. Advertising is mainly used as a tool for brand promotion; however, it doesn’t mean it is limited only to brands. Apart from promoting commercial goods and services, advertising is also used as a medium to educate or motivate public about a social issue. Providing powerful impact on customers, advertising is capable tool of reaching out to the far out masses. Social as well as health awareness campaigns use advertising as a tool to reach out to the masses. For example awareness campaigns of HIV, Malaria, Dengue etc use various advertising mediums to communicate with the masses. Thus, advertising is used also for non-commercial purposes.

Advertisers use various types of appeals in the brand commercials. Some frame the ad message on themes of emotions such a love, belongingness, security etc, some deploy humour as a tactic of providing the brand message through a funny motive. Humorous ads tend to be funny and simultaneously attract customers’ attention more easily.  This is one reason why humor has been used as one of the secret tactics of brand promotion by various brand advertisers.  In the following paragraphs, let us have a brief idea why a humorous theme/tactic is considered one of the secrets of a successful advertising campaign.

Any form of advertising is meant to inform, instruct, entertain and educate masses about a particular brand- its features & benefits. How the brand message is presented to these customers or target groups play an important role for an effective reach of the very communication. Advertising for the sake of informing customers about the brand through a mundane channel doesn’t provide the desired impact on target customers. Hence, it’s important to try out some tips, tactics or tricks that will enable an easy communication of the brand message without confusing target customers. A humorous appeal, theme or ad copy becomes a natural solution to provide a rich impact on target customers. After all, who loves to watch/read/go through a boring advertisement about the same old brand? Customers always look ahead for something new in the brand message – be it the style, media or technique of advertising. A humorous ad attracts their attention easily and informs them about the brand message.

Creativity is an asset for any advertising campaign. However, creativity needs a particular medium to display or exhibit itself.  A humorous ad display is the best mode to display the creative attributes of the ad professionals. Also enabling brand owners to position their brands with the right impact, humor in advertising is indeed a must input for every advertiser.