What are the different Types of Advertising?

Advertisements can be classified in various ways, such as on the basis of:

i) Objectives,

ii) Media used,

iii) Geographical coverage

iv) Other types of advertisements.

Objective based advertisements are product related advertisements, public service advertisements, corporate or Institutional Advertisements and classified advertisements.

Product related advertisements focus on the product itself rather than the name of the company or manufacturers. For example the advertisements of chocolates, soft drinks, durables etc., to which the audience is exposed to most of the time.

They promote attitude and life styles by directly or indirectly persuading people to acquire and consume the product. They take audience to the fantasy world.

Public service advertising is also known as social service advertising or development advertising, which focuses on educating people regarding social or development issues such as importance of educating girl child, family planning and it’s methods, campaigns against AIDS, drugs, pollution and so on. Thus these advertisements sell ‘ideas’ and ‘messages’.

Corporate or Institutional advertising focuses on its activities in research, development and quality control and its contribution to developmental, educational, cultural and sports programmes. For example, Tatas, Reliance, Birla, Indian Railways have often created good image through social advertising.

Classified advertisements are those providing information in a dry matter of fact manner, such as, about employment market, engagements and marriages, change of names, accommodation and housing, availability of services such as tuitions, coaching classes, etc.

Media used: Advertisements also can be classified on the basis of medium used for advertising, i.e. TV ads, radio ads, magazine ads, etc.

Geographical coverage: Here, the advertisements are classified according to the area for which the advertising is done. For example, local, regional, national and so on.