Advertising

Image Advertising

Image advertising is undertaken primarily to enhance an organization’s perceived importance to a target market.  Image advertising does not focus on specific products as much as it presents what an organization has to offer.  In these types of ads, if products are mentioned it is within the context of “what we do” rather than a message touting the benefits of a specific product.  Image advertising is often used in situations where an organization needs to educate the targeted audience on some issue.  For instance, image advertising may be used in situations where a merger has occurred between two companies and the newly formed company has taken on a new name, or if a company has received recent negative publicity and the company wants to let the market know that they are about much more than this one issue.

Advocacy Advertising

Organizations also use advertising to send a message intended to influence a targeted audience.  In most cases there is an underlying benefit sought by an organization when they engage in advocacy advertising.  For instance, an organization may take a stand on a political issue which they feel could negatively impact the organization and will target advertisements to voice their position on the issue.

Public Service Advertising

In some countries, not-for-profit organizations are permitted to run advertisements through certain media outlets free-of-charge if the message contained in the ad concerns an issue viewed as for the “greater good” of society.  For instance, ads directed at social causes, such as teen-age smoking, illegal drug use and mental illness, may run on television, radio and other media without cost to organizations sponsoring the advertisement.