Astonishing History of Advertising - Essay Example

History of Advertising Introduction Advertising is a way of conveying necessary information to the s [4]. There is a conflict in the exact origins of advertising. According to some sources, advertising began in the seventeenth century from the newspapers [1] and some sources say it is as old as 3000 B.C and emerged among the Babylonians. The advertising has its origins in the ancient ruins of Rome and Pompeii [5]. The advertising from its very beginning took a number of forms. That range from signs, word-of-mouth, and newspapers to print ads and graphical forms of advertising. Thomas Barratt, after making a series of ads of Pears Soap is known as the "Father of Modern Advertising" [1]. The First Forms of Formal Advertising The very first form of advertising that dates back to 3000 B.C was outdoor display of Signs. Then advertising was done in the form of Word-of-mouth or were done vocally. The graphical forms of advertising then came including the paper ads, print ads, and newspaper ads. The very first form of advertising was through signs. The signs that were painted and displayed on the walls of the buildings in the ancient Rome and Pompeii were the very first forms of advertising [5]. These signs were ads about any property for rent or the ads were to attract the travelers of one town to the taverns in the same or some other town. These signs also consisted of the any matches, for example circus matches [2] that needed to be advertised. Next, the advertising took the vocal form of word-of-mouth or street or town cries [5]. These street criers used to read public notices aloud or praised the products aloud for their advertising. These kinds of advertisements also included the announcements for the sales of any cattle and slaves [2]. These town criers were the predecessors of the announcers of the later radio and TV ads. Then the newspapers came in the seventeenth century. The newspaper ads initially included short ads of product descriptions and prices [1]. The color and headlines and all the complementary stuff came later. The first newspaper was printed in England by the name of "Weekly News" in 1622 [2]. The magazine ads then followed. When the company's' name emerged in the advertisements, the emergence of brand name in the history of advertising took place. In the 1700s pasted-up notices, brochures and posters came into existence [2] and a lot of advertising through posters began. These then lead to the billboards. In the 1800s, printed media ads arrived [3]. This was the time when advertising through billboards started and started to be used abundantly. A movable type printing press was invented by a German printer Johannes Gutenberg which made the distribution of posters possible [5]. After the emergence of radio, long time later, advertising through radio started. Then advertising through video and TV advertisements also started after the invention of TV, later in the 19th century TV advertisements started to come on TV and gained a lot of popularity among all other forms of advertising. Producing a Successful TV Advertisement Producing a successful TV advertisement requires some important steps and factors that need to be checked and need to be kept in mind. These are as stated as under: 1. The target audience [6] and the budget should be planned and kept in mind. Before making an ad you should know it very well that for whom are you making the ad and what are the needs and requirements of the customers. It is also important to know what financial standing or budget you need in order to deliver the target audience that is intended. 2. A well-conceived plan needs to be made that should cover the budget and all the necessary steps that are needed. The plan for advertising is really important as it is the basis on which you continue with your ad and also the success or failure of the ad depends on how appropriate is the advertising plan. 3. It is important to include in your TV advertisement the company's brand and the company's overall business objectives [7]. An understanding of the marketing plan is also important. 4. The script for the TV ad also needs to be as effective [7] as the visuals and graphic aids used in the TV advertisement. 5. It should be made sure that the people who are acting in the TV advertisement be the right people in the right place [7] as they are representing your company. 6. In addition to above, the equipment and all the machineries used for the making of the TV advertisement should be of good quality so that a best quality TV ad can be produced for the intended audience. 7. Continuous monitoring of the whole process of the TV ad making is also very important ant crucial The degree of success of any TV advertisements is judged through the response it gets and the results of the ad in the short-term as well as in the long-term. Therefore, the advertisement should be tested and necessary improvements should be made before it is aired on TV. Estimating Advertising Cost As mentioned earlier, advertising has different forms. Every form of advertising has a different cost of advertising associated with it. These costs include the people cost, machinery cost, land, labor cost, machinery costs and many other costs depending on the form of advertising that is being used. Estimating the advertising costs is a very complex process and involves including all kinds of costs that are involved in the whole advertising campaign. The cost of advertising is measured on the basis of the benefits that are incurred against those costs. The choice between the costs of different advertising forms is on the basis of the audience of the ads and the way through which you can reach them. For example, while advertising through TV is expensive but will be cost effective if the target audience is reached through the TV media only and gains a benefit that nullifies the cost that was incurred for the advertising. While advertising through newspaper although is very cheap as compared to TV but might become expensive if the audience is not reached through it and thus it incurs a loss. Video Production Tips For producing quality videos a number of things and factors need to be kept in mind. These tips are essential in order to produce videos that are not just worth looking at but also are videos with superior quality. The tips are as under: 1. There should be a variety in the video that attracts audience and keeps them sticking to and watching the whole video. 2. It is important to make a picture in mind prior to making the video about what your video will look like and how will it sound [8] as a final product. 3. For indoor videos, additional lighting should be used [8] and for noisy environments it is good to use an external microphone [9]. 4. The people who are being shot in the video must speak clearly and close to the microphone [8] so that the audio of the video has voice clarity. The use of different instruments such as an outside mixer can also be used for the purpose of voice clarity. 5. Focus on the subject that is being shot, but too much of a focus also does not produces very good results. The video should contain more than just the subject [9]. Everything needs to be just appropriate. 6. Shooting a scene using multiple shots generally results in best video [9]. This gives the video different perspectives and different angles from which the video can be viewed. But again it should be kept in mind that this technique should not be overdone. 7. Eye contact is a very important aspect of shooting a video. Establishing and maintaining a good eye contact is very important for a quality video. 8. The most important thing, lighting should be very appropriate in the video. Also the editing needs to be done very skillfully. 9. While doing editing, edit and remove anything that is irrelevant or makes the video boring [9] or is resulting in a loss of audience attention. 10. The final video should be up to the standards and improvements should be made if necessary. Most importantly, any video should have creativity in the videos that definitely attracts the audience for whom the video is being made. So the key to quality video is the creativity reflected in it. Emotional and Visual Appeal of TV No other form of advertising can have the emotional and visuals appeals expressed as effectively as the TV advertisements. The emotional appeals can be best displayed through the use of moving pictures, i.e. videos. TV advertisements are the best form through which advertisements with emotional appeals are used. Visual aids although now are being made better in every other form of advertising but in TV advertisements due to the moving picture of the visuals, the TV advertisements provide the best visuals and that is the reason why most of the people prefer TV advertisements on other forms of advertising. Conclusion: The history of advertising dates back to 3000 B.C. with the initial forms of advertisements being signs and word-of-mouth. Then the print ads that included brochures, paper ads and other forms of advertisements including newspapers came. The billboards also then became an effective source of advertising. And thus the trend continues. Producing a successful TV advertisement is not an easy job. There are a number of factors that need to be considered. Also video-making involves some tips that are crucial to making a quality video. TV advertisements are considered superior to most of the other forms of advertising nut again the cost of advertising are crucial in this decision. The visual and emotional appeals that can be best expressed in the TV ads make it one of the best forms of advertising. It has been long since advertising emerged but still there are improvements emerging in the forms of advertising. Bibliography 1. History of Advertising. Retrieved June 23, 2007, Website: www.mediaknowall.com/Advertising/history.html 2. David Wallechinsky & Irving Wallace. History of Advertising: Ancient History, Middle Ages and the Early Days 1975 - 1981. Retrieved June 23, 2007, Website: http://www.trivia-library.com/a/history-of-advertising-ancient-history-middle-ages-and-the-early-days.htm 3. David Wallechinsky & Irving Wallace. History of Advertising in the 1800s or 19th Century Part 1. 1975 - 1981. Retrieved June 23, 2007, Website: http://www.trivia-library.com/a/history-of-advertising-in-the-1800s-or-19th-century-part-1.htm 4. The History of Advertising. Retrieved June 22, 2007, Website: http://www.rzuser.uni-heidelberg.de/el6/presentations/pres_c2_hoa/ 5. Advertising. In MSN Encarta. Retrieved June 22, 2007, Website: http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761564279_5/Advertising.html#s21 6. Apryl Duncan. Ten Ways to Blow Your Advertising Campaign. Retrieved June 23, 2007, Website: http://advertising.about.com/od/smallbusinesscampaigns/a/badadcampaign_2.htm 7. TV commercial production. Retrieved June 23, 2007, Website: http://www.bluelinermarketing.com/commercial-production.html 8. Audio/Video Production Tips. The Annual Conservation Video Contest. Retrieved June 23, 2007, Website: http://www.e2management.com/contest/tips.html 9. Video production tips. Retrieved June 23, 2007, Website: http://www.cameratim.com/video-production/tips Read More