Advertising is paid form of communication. It is mostly persuasive. To begin with it used mass media but these days it uses interactive media. Advertising is by an identified sponsor.

Advertising was targeted to the audience of potential customers. Either it covers the whole audience or small targeted or segmented groups. Advertising can now be customised, one-to-one advertising. It was formerly non-personal but is now changing to being personal on account of interactivity.

Advertising uses persuasion. It could be through emotional appeals or rational appeals.

Each advertising message is based on a strategy. A detergent advertising can decode that stain removal of the product would be our strategy. Advertising objective could be the improvement in current sales. The strategy is translated into a message , say a school returning child’s shirt is stained by mud splash and on returning home, the mother puts the shirt into the washing machine with the detergent being advertised. The shirt comes out bright and is totally stain free. This message can be put through print, outdoor and TVC. You can also use digital media. The whole thing will be managed by the Agency who gets compensated by commission received from the media.

After running the advertisement for some time, it is time to evaluate it. It is to be seen whether it improved the sales.

Advertising in formal sense coincided with the emergence of printing which could print commercial messages on handbills and posters. Before print advertising appeared, there were sign-boards and town-criers. Newspapers came on the scene in the 18th century, and started accepting classified advertisements.

In 1848, the first ad agency Volney Palmer was set up in Philadephia. In 1864, J. Walter Thompson was set up. In 1868, N.W.Ayer started the commission system for placing the ads. The JWT created the post of account executive — a link between the agency and the client.

Advertisers expected the messages to work for them and that paved the way for professionalisation of advertising. Slowly, advertising theory crystallised. Albert Lasker called advertising as salesmanship in print in 1880’s.

McCann agency called advertising ‘truth well-told.’ By the end of the 19th century, the practice of commodities being branded became prominent.

Advertising’s visual quality was much emphasised in Europe. To begin with only artists, and illustrators worked for advertising. In the 20th century advertising, we created the position of art director.

Television commercials appeared in the early 1950s. They were rated by Neilsen rating method (1952).

Marketing practices such as product differentiation, market segmentation, positioning ( Ries and Trout, 1969) evolved over a period of time.

Advertising in the 1960s and 1970s focused on creativity. Ogilvy relied on brand image and brand claims.

Advertising has to deliver results. It should be accountable. Advertising, therefore, must be effective. This was emphasised in the 1970s. There was testing and measurement of advertising in the 1980s and 1990s. Advertising, must be socially responsible too.

Late 1990s ultimately ushered in the digital era. The new concept of integrated marketing communication was widely adopted. In the early part of the new millennium, the social media era emerged. Communication became interactive. Consumers too generate brand messages. Organisations and consumers can have one-to-one talk.

In digital advertising ,both the client and the agency do not give representation to the creative people. The big consulting firms have technology, big data and platforms. However, they lack ideas and the creative people. These days media agencies hire techies. Similarly, consulting firms feel they will hire creative people. Media agencies are in competition with the consulting firms. And consulting firms command a premium. Creative excellence is secondary, and first comes the algorithms, the rising costs, the techies creating videos for the price of the pack of salted peanuts. There is focus on mobile screens weaning away the TV audiences. There is perception that you need youngsters to create communication for the millenial. There are AI applications. In all this, creative excellence is put on the backburner. Creative people too will have to adapt to the new environment. They will have to master new skills. They will have to be fast to deliver the ideas. They will have to learn how to create a post that leads to maximum engagement. In digital world, consumer processes brand information in a matter of seconds. Creative people can experiment, as the price of failure is low. Yes creative people can retain their insights and observations and moorings. They can have India-focus. At the same time they will have to blend their traits with the new context of longer formats, GIFs, interactivity and customised copy.

The new creative team will be crusader out to win respect back for advertising . They will have to care genuinely for the client’s business. They will have to establish contact with the CEOs who know where their company is headed. They will have to develop the contacts with the media so as to get the opportunities to contribute to the popular culture. No digital campaign has affected national consciousness.

Today, digital has reduced itself to the deals and discounts. Media companies have to build solutions around client’s business. That is not happening. They have just become agents again, rather than drivers of growth.

Digital business has prolific output. Every minute 46200 posts are uploaded on Instagram. It is rich content. Every minute 4,52,000 tweets are created. Millions of YouTube videos are viewed, and thousands are created every minute. Digital is a black hole, with the ability to hold unlimited amounts of content. Content creation is democratised. Here, you must have a piece of content that stands out in this clutter. It is much more challenging.

In advertising, there is now competition between big media agencies and tech companies. Both behave differently. A global pitch tends to go big media companies,

There is competition between ad agencies and consultancies. Consultancies specialise in project work and analytics. Agencies will have to develop deep relationships with clients by understanding the strategies to be adopted by them for their business. Agencies must have good talent profile to do so.

A tech company has an advantage over an agency. A lot of people could serve a client. The client executives know the domain. They organise verticals so that they coalesce.

Some agencies are reactive but this depends on agencies. Though they are not a tech company, they too are driven by data and technology and tools.

Clients have become sophisticated. They have a good understanding. They have in-house teams, Agencies have to add value and they have to reinvent.

Digital too is measurable. It is as measurable as you set it up to be. In search, the digital metrics are clear. To get the effectiveness of display and video, and thereafter trading online and offline, the measurement should take notice of these. First understand what you are measuring.

It is desirable that agencies move away from briefs and campaigns but it is difficult to do so. It is easier for the right talent profile.