Who’s involved? - Participants

Advertising can be thought of as a five-part business.

Advertisers

Advertisers are a varied lot- producer, retailers, wholesalers, service organizations, distributors, labor unions, associations, schools, churches, governments, politicians, individuals, and many more.

 Advertising by producers of consumer good and/or services to reach individuals for selling purposes.
 Advertising by producers of consumer goods and/or services to reach retailers and wholesalers for selling purposes.
 Advertising by producers of business goods and /or services to reach other businesses for selling purposes.
 Advertising by producers of consumer and/or business goods and/or services to reach individuals, groups, government, and their own employees for “public relations” purposes.
 Advertising by producers of consumer and/or business goods and/or services in international distribution to reach individuals, business, and governments for selling and/or “public relations” purposes.
 Advertising by retailers to reach individuals for selling and/or “public relations” purposes.
 Advertising by individuals to reach other individuals for selling or buying purposes.
 Advertising by governments, organizations, and special interest groups to reach individuals, governments, and groups for selling and/or “idea” purposes.

Advertising Agencies

To be formal, advertising agencies have been defined as “independent businesses composed of creative and business people who develop, prepare, and place advertising in media for clients seeking to find customers for their goods and services.”

Basically, agencies offer potential clients a collection of specialists. For example:
 Copywriters.
 Art director.
 Television and radio producers.
 Media buyers.
 Specialists in mechanical reproduction, selection of printing and broadcasting processes, type selection, and the like.
 Researchers.
 Advertising planners.
 Public relations experts.
 Merchandisers.

If you associate advertising with glamour and a certain tuning-fork excitement, it is probably because of the stereotype of the advertising agency that has emerged in novels and films over the years.

Support organizations

As already noted, there’s great deal more behind the typical advertisement than simply a writer and an art director. Modern advertising particularly television advertising often calls for a highly complex cast of specialists not employed by either the advertiser or the agency. Specialists in casting, cinematography, film/tape editing, sound effects, musical scoring, and the like are common fixtures in the production of many radio and television commercials as are photographers and artists in the print media of magazines, newspapers, and direct mail advertising.

Media

Advertising people watch and listen to television and radio programs and read newspaper and magazine articles, even as you and us. In their business roles, however, they tend to regard the mass media as vehicles for the delivery of advertising content of the station, newspaper, or magazine. Thus, magazines, newspapers and television and radio stations generally attract audiences with their non-advertising content so the audience the can be addressed by advertisers. Other media however, must rely solely on the advertising message itself to attract an audience. In this capacity, direct mail, billboards, posters, car cards, and point-of-purchase material also ply an important role as a link between advertisers and potential customers.

Consumers

Advertising is repetitive. Not only do we see advertising for the same advertiser again and again, but we also see exactly the same advertisement many times. This is, of course, the advertiser’s intention