No product is sold without advertising backup. Advertising is a powerful tool in the hands of a marketer. In developing the marketing communication strategy of a marketing firm, an advertising agency plays a vital role. Marketing firms which are small and medium in size cannot afford to set up their own advertising departments or divisions.
Moreover, advertising is increasingly becoming the job of specialists—copy writing, art- directing, cinematography, film shooting, editing, sound effect, animation, media planning, scheduling etc. Hence, marketing firms use the services of advertising agencies. Even large sized companies such as MNCs, nowadays, use the services of advertising agencies for the advertising campaigns.
As a result, advertising has emerged as a major industry and at present, there are more than 430 agencies in India. As an industry, advertising has grown and developed phenomenally since independence. In the 1960’s, the number of agencies had shot up to 280 with a total turnover of Rs 35 crores. The 1970’s witnessed the birth of Vividh Bharati, a commercial programme on the All India Radio, and, at the turn of the same decade, Doordarshan came to exist.
Television became a major medium for commercial advertisements. At the end of 1980, the press medium had a 80 per cent share and Radio and Television had a share of 15 per cent in advertising. The 1990’s saw further growth in the advertising industry. Many periodicals and a lot of magazines made their appearance both in English and in many other regional languages.
Technology in advertising has brought sophistication in the field of creativity. In order to retain clients, advertising agencies have dedicated service-cum-creative groups which are made available to a marketing firm (client) at call and they fully participate in all aspects of the firm’s product— planning, product research, test marketing and advertising campaign planning.
