ADVERTISING AGENCY Advertising is an organized method of communicating information about a product or service which a company or individual wants to sell

to people. It is a paid announcement that is conveyed through words, pictures, music and action in a medium which is used by the prospective buyers. To some, advertising is communication with express aim of selling a product or service. Advertising agency is a communication institution that organizations use. Its a facilitating institution of the advertising industry. It helps the advertiser in the creation and production of advertising. They provide a full range of services to advertisers, from the conception of an idea to the exposure of printing the advert. HISTORY Advertising history runs parallel to the history of mankind. Prior to the invention of the printing press (1450 AD), there were town criers who sold their goods through shouting. This simple method was supplemented by shop signs. The oldest written advertising is preserved in the British Museum (3000 years old). Albums (a place for writing on the wall) and stone tablets were the media. Placards followed this. With the fall of the Roman Empire, advertising died too, till 1400 AD. Over the next 300 years, advertising was often included in print media but were small, for instance classified ads. The first mass distributed ads are said to have appeared in German news pamphlets in the 1500s. Printing press invention (Gutenberg, Germany) gave a boost to writing and advertising. Towards the end of the 16th century all publications in Germany and Holland carried adverts. Periodical advertising on a regular basis began in the 17th century in England. A form similar to newspaper of today came 50 years later. Handbills are the forerunners of present day advertising. They appeared in the scene in the18th century. DEVELOPMENT It was not until the 19th century that advertising got really creative. Brand names became popular during the patent medicine craze of the Victorian era and salesmen began using logos and brand names to sell products. In 1892, the first advertising agency sprang up in London, (Reynell and sons). In 1841 in the USA, the first advertising was started by Volney Palmer. More agencies came up in the USA. In 1875, the first modern advertising agency was established in Philadelphia, 9(N.W. Ayer and son). Towards the end of the 19th century, creative advertisement was developed. Painting came to be used in advertising (1887). In the previous century, (20th), advertisement bloomed to its full form. More emphasis was laid on the advertisement copy. Art services, media selection and advertisement production became more important. By 1920, the agencies started planning campaigns. In 1917, the AAAA (American Association of Advertising Agencies) was founded. Volney Palmer started the first ad agency as a space broker in a newspaper in 1841. He acted as a simple agent selling space for clients in newspapers. Since then, the nature of an agency has changed considerably. Lord and Thomas was probably the first agency in the USA with a reputation for

creative work in advertising. Other agencies started adopting the new services and soon many of them had established departments for copywriting, artwork, layout design, media selection etc. Over the next several decades, the advertisement agency improved the quality of its services. Agency growth has grown in size and influence throughout the years. Towards the end of the first half of the 20th century, there were several large agencies. ORGANIZATION OF THE ADVERTISING INDUSTRY Advertising industry is an amorphous patchwork of different companies and specializations, broadly divisible into three basic sectors, usually called advertising tripartite. Advertising tripartite The advertising tripartite structure is now the basis of advertising industries throughout the world and though other ways of organizing advertising have been tried, this has been the best and most functional way to organize the creation and production of advertising campaigns. As in the 19th century, the three legs of the advertising tripartite are: the advertisers, the media and the advertising agency. 1. The advertisers Advertisers are the clients of an advertising agency. They include entities like retailers, manufacturers, finance companies, charities, governments etc. they pay for all the advertising but advertising is not their principle activity. For them, advertising is a means to an ends. It is one of the various means of marketing communication. For many, it will be the means where they spend a considerable amount of money. Famous brands like coca cola, British Airways, Samsung, Apple, LOreal, Toyota etc use mass media to advertise because their target audience is large. For others, advertising will be the smallest component in their marketing communication. Big or small, advertisers are the driving force of the advertising industry. They are the pay masters. They call the tunes and want to see the results. 2. The media Most often, the media dont see themselves as part of the advertising industry. T.V., print, radio, posters, the internet, etc, carry and publish advertisements in return for the advertisers money. Today they receive 90% of all money advertisers spend. Media display advertising. Print media and internet carry a mixture of display and classified advertising. TV, radio and posters are unsuitable for classified advertising this explains why the arrival f the TV did not decimate print media. Most media would not exist without the revenues of advertising, with the exceptions of BBC and the likes which gets total funding from the government. 3. Advertising agencies They create advertisements and buy space and time in the media. They are much the smallest sector in the advertising industry but wholly rely on advertising for their living. In the U.K., agencies employ

about 20,000 people far fewer than are employed by advertisers or media. Same is true for most countries. SOCIAL IMPORTANCE I. Existence of the press at the beginning of advertising, advertisement generally occupied odd nooks and corners of newspapers. But the present situation is reverse. Modern civilization is sustained by the press and the press is sustained by advertisement. Journals, newspapers, magazines, TV, radio etc, all look to advertisements for their support and sustenance. Now the whole press exists only through funds generated by advertising, cost of production of newspapers etc would have been much higher in the absence of income from adverts. Change in motivation advertising has changed the motive of human motivation. In the past people were much worried about the bare necessities of life and they lived and worked for them. Now the emphasis has shifted to provide for themselves the comfort, luxuries. Now the motive force of fear has been replaced by desire. Advertising helps the organization to portray its image to the public. By advertising, a company is able to show to the public who they really are. Advertising helps the organization to reach new segments or new population within the existing areas. Advertising helps an organization to build a reputation in the society for its services, reliability and research strength. Advertising helps to maintain relations between an organization and its publics. Better standards of living advertising creates a desire of possessing newer and better things through the education of buyers to for better standards of living. Encouragement to research and discovery of new products or new uses to existing products. Gainful employment opportunities. Encouragement of artists helps national creativity. Glimpse of national life.

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REFERENCES Vilanilam, J.V., Varghese, A.K. (2004). Advertising basics!: A resource guide for beginners. New Delhi: Response Books. Sissors, J.Z., Baron, R.B. (2002). Advertising media planning (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.