Advertising agency

INTRODUCTION;
Advertising agencies are outside companies that provide for the marketing and advertising needs of other businesses and organizations. Advertising agencies offer a full range of advertising services and advice based on market studies, popular culture and advanced sales techniques. Because Advertising agencies produce logos, creating effective and attractive color schemes to draw the consumer's attention to their clients' ads. They also prepare slogans and brochures, and write descriptive copy for sales materials. They may produce public service announcements for charitable organizations and social programs as well, and issue press releases for new programs, events, and products. Advertising agencies use assorted forms of media to promote their clients' businesses or organizations, including magazine advertisements, newspaper ads, radio and TV commercials, websites, and even infomercials. Some also plan events, provide booths at conventions, and give away promotional items. they are independent from the client company, they can be objective about a client's promotional needs .The way advertising agencies work is by getting to know their clients' product or service well and determining which demographic provides the best audience for promotion. If a company sells designer handbags, an ad agency would likely try to position the company's TV commercials during women's programming or on a channel geared toward women. The look and tone of an ad campaign is also dependent upon demographics. If the company's target audience is mature adults, design elements should be more traditional than if the target were a younger generation

MEANING:
An advertising agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising (and sometimes other forms of promotion) for its clients. An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client's products or services. An agency can also handle overall marketing and branding strategies and sales promotions for its clients.

Typical ad agency clients include businesses and corporations, non-profit organizations and government agencies. Agencies may be hired to produce an advertising campaign

ADVERTISING AGENCY IN INDIA

The First World War created conditions for the growth of some of the Indian consumer industries. After the war, new British investment followed. The need arose for specialized advertising services. The British India Corporation, a British firm in Kanpur, with a relatively wide range of consumer goods, set up Alliance Advertising Associates Limited. This was probably the first advertising agency in India to provide a wide variety of services. In 1922, Mr. L.A. Stronach, a senior artist of Alliance Advertising, left to start his own agency in Bombay. Thus was born a new type of business enterprise in the service sector in India. The Indian advertising industry had a slow start and got its first boost during the Second World War. With the British personnel having to join the armed forces, opportunities opened up for Indians in this new talent-intensive business. Then followed a brief interlude of uncertainty in the years immediately following Independence. The launching of the First Five-Year Plan and more so the Second Five Year Plan, with the accent on rapid industrialization, gave an impetus to the growth of advertising agency business in India. By 1952 there were 109 advertising agencies in India with a total turnover of Rs 3.5 corer. By 1967, the number of advertising agencies had increased to 279 with a total turnover of Rs 35 corer. The Indian advertising industry has really
2

come' into its own with the growing liberalization of the economy since the mid-eighties. According to the fourth agency report of the journal Advertising and Marketing, the Indian advertising industry grew by 36.5 per cent in 1992 -93, far outpacing the growth of Indian industry. What is significant, however, is that three of the top four advertising agencies in India continue to be subsidiaries of international advertising agencies-Hindustan Thompson Associates and Lintas India being the first two, and Ogilvy & Mather being the fourth. What is more with the new interest of many national corporations in the Indian market, a large number of international advertising agencies have entered the Indian advertising industry in collaboration with leading Indian advertising agencies. This is the process of globalization of Indian advertising agency business. This is opening up new opportunities for Indian advertising to assume greater responsibility and serve everywhere in the world and gather experience of global marketing and advertising.

Types of advertising agencies;

Following are major types of advertising agencies that are currently serving the advertising industry

1. Full Service Agencies

A full service ad agency is one that provides a range of marketing services. A full services agency provides services that are directly related to advertising such as copywriting, artwork, production of ads, media planning etc. It also provides such services in respect of pricing, distribution, packaging, product design etc

2. Modular agencies
A modular agency is a full service agency that sells its services on a piece meal basis. Thus an advertiser may commission an agencys creative department to develop an ad campaign while obtaining other agency services elsewhere. Or, an advertiser may hire an agencies media department to plan and execute a program for advertising
3

that another agency has developed. Fees are charged for actual work undertaken.

3. In House agencies
Those companies, which prefer to have closer control over advertising, have their own inhouse agency. This type is owned completely by the advertiser. It performs almost all functions that an outside advertising agency would perform and thats why some people refer to it as fullservice advertising department of the advertiser. However, the difference between an in-house agency and an advertising department is that the in-house agency can undertake to serve several other clients, if the owner so desires, but an advertising department solely undertakes that work of its owner and not of outside clients. Secondly an advertising department may not be equipped the personnel and facilities, which an in-advertising schedule and costs, but also offers convenience for its owner, because it is just available in the same building as that of the head office of advertiser.

Such in-house agency also benefits the owner as it can bring revenue through agency commission that are offered by the media and by way of fees that are collected from outside parties for undertaking their advertising work. Such revenue increases the funds and profits of the company. There is another version of in-house agency whereby advertiser handles the total agency functions by buying service unit to buy time, space and place the ads. Such an In-house agency is an administrative center (under the direction of an advertising director) that gathers and directs varying outside for its operation use agency would posses. In-house agency not only provides control over

4. Creative Boutiques
These are shop agencies that provides only creative functions and not full-service. The specialized creative functions include copy writing, artwork and production of ads, they charge a fee or percentage of full service agencies, and as such most of them convert into a full service agency or merge with other agencies to provide a wide range of services.

5. Mega agencies
A significant of 1980s is the development of mega agency. Agencies worldwide merge

with each other serve their clients in much better way. It was in 1986, Saachi & Saachi, a

London based agency who started the movement and at present it is the third largest agency network in the world.

The Benefits of Using an Advertising Agency

Added Expertise Media Knowledge and Unbiased Advice Easier Administration Media Buying Quality Control Information Fending off the media And when things go wrong Cost Saving Time Saving

DISADVANTAGES OF USING THE ADVERTISING AGENCIES

A main disadvantage of using an advertising agency would be the communication factor. If an agency does not communicate or relay it's clients goals and creative wishes properly problems can occur within a contract and lawyers may have to become involved. Depending on the communicative skill of the agency, you may be prone to being blindfolded during much of the processes of your campaign leading to a lot of guessing and speculation. Another disadvantage would be the media buying discounts you may not be able to take full advantage of due to commission barriers within an agency, however an agency may have better negotiating powers than your company and save you more money in the long run anyways. There are far more advantages to having the right advertising agency than not.

The functions of an advertising agency:

To accelerate economic growth and create public awareness To provide a total, professional, experienced service which is very personal in its nature To take the advertiser's message and convert it into an effective and memorable communication

The Working of Ad Agencies

To begin with, the agencies started as one-man agents who booked space in the Media. Even today, in our country, there are so many one-man agents who book space in the media. Soon the space booking was handed over to the contact-man, and creative wordsmiths adept at sloganising undertook the actual construction of the ad. In the course of years, the ad agency became service-oriented, and was able to offer every possible service including marketing, market research (MR), and public relations (PR). Ad agencies have evolved over a period of time. These days we have mostly studiobased agencies, some industrial and specialized agencies, and hot-shops who only plan creative campaign by engaging the services of freelancers. At Madison Avenue, most of these large agencies of the world fiercely compete for new accounts, resulting in a shift of millions of dollars of billing from one agency to another. Advertising Age is an official publication of the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA).

In India, advertising business is worth Rs. 8,000 corers. There were only 62 advertising agencies in 1958, which increased to 168 in 1978, more than 2.5 times the numbers in 1958. There are more than 500 ad agencies today. The oldest and largest advertisement agency in India is Hindustan Thompson Associates Ltd. The second largest advertisement agency is Lintas.

Mumbai is considered to be the Mecca of Indian advertising. These days agencies are also being set up at Bangalore, Madras, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Delhi. In India the ad agencies are sole proprietary concern, partnership or private limited companies. It is better to operate agencies on professional lines, rather than as a family. It is good to install MBO (Management By Objectives). An agency must necessarily plough back at least 75 % of its profits into business.
7

The advertising agencies are shifting from the creative mode to the marketing mode. Today the onus is on the agency to supply the client with data on his industry; the days of the clients briefing the industry are almost over. The agencies are expected to maintain database. There is a leaning towards software for optimizing media usage, and computerization of studio functions. In India, the legal structure of ad agencies is that of a small proprietary concern or a big partnership. Sometimes, they are private limited companies, either big or small. Indian advertising is a fragmented business. There are over 733 agencies accredited to INS. The top 25 account for 50% of all billings. In addition, there are many accredited agencies. It is the top 25 agencies, most of which are headquartered in Mumbai, that set the pace and define the shape of the industry. Agencies like HTA, Lintas, Clarion and O & M have shaped the entire advertising industry in the country. Many Indians firms are coming up, by importing Western ad techniques

Advertising Agency's Role

Suppose you are a company with a product. It may be a totally new product. As a company with a product or service to sell, designing and making that item is only part of the battle. People are not going to beat a path to your door. You have to seek a channel of communication.

Ad agency need to consider, for example:

For whom is the product or service designed? Who would use it? Who is the "target group"? What's special about the product? In what way is it distinct? Unique? Different? What's its "position" in relation to other similar products? What do you want to convey to the public about your product?
8

How should your company contact the public? What medium should it use? Radio? TV? Newspapers? Magazines? Billboards?

Bus/subway ads? Direct mail? etc. How extensive a region should your company try to cover? How often?

Communication and marketing decisions involve specialized expertise. Many companies that design and produce products or offer services lack these specific capabilities. This is where advertising agencies fit in. Advertising agencies exist to help companies to communicate with the public, Market the company's product.

Company with a Ad Agency product or service Media Public

Services offered by ad agency

Total Advertising Services :Strategic planning, creative development and media services for advertising, particularly in television, newspapers, magazines and radio; providing the best creative designed to capture the imagination of consumers Marketing Services: Provision of services, number of advertising related market including sales promotion, marketing.

E-Solution Services : e-solution services, including system integration services, ebusiness consulting and customer relationship management (CRM), Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and e-promotions using the Internet and mobile.

Content Business: Sales of sponsorship, broadcasting and other rights, and the production and marketing of such media / content as sporting events, films, TV programs, animated content, music and other forms of entertainment.

Integrated Media Service: Bringing value to both clients and media-related companies by offering a wide range of media solution services Sales Promotion: Providing comprehensive sales promotion planning designed to complement mass media and other activities Event Marketing: Assisting clients by providing dynamic vehicles for their messages in the form of on-the-spot interactive communications Integrated Branding Service: Assuring clients the highest quality of branding services for their communication needs

TOP 10 ADVERTISMENT AGENCY OF INDIA

Adbur Pvt Ltd Akshara Advertising Mudra communication ltd Chaitra Leo Burnett Pvt Ltd Contract Advertising (India) Ltd Crayons Advertising and Marketing Pvt Ltd Creative Advertising Enterprise Nexus Communications Pvt. Ltd Euro RSCG Advertising Pvt Ltd Everest Integrated Communications Limited
10

11

12

13

14