The Use of Media for Advertisment – Trend or Strategy?

Abstract

Advertising is one of the most common and frequently used means of communication of the supply side in order to address the demand side. It is not just dominant but more or less in line with sales promotion, fairs and exhibitions, sponsoring, direct marketing. All these instruments have their position within strategic scheduling of firms and serve both the general operational goals and addressing the target groups. Within the media branch two kinds of advertising are distinguished, on the one hand the classical style i.e. “normal” ads in newspapers, periodicals, in the public, and even in electronic media, and on the other hand new forms as SMS-ads, guerrilla marketing or sensation marketing.

In order to attract the attention of target groups and to intrude into the minds of consumers modern media have developed unconventional methods, and nonconformist contents. These forms of advertising comprise Ambient Media, Tattoodvertising, Foodvertising, Sandvertising, Advergaming, Mobile and Pixel Advertising. Another challenging way of advertising “ even within a classical framework “ is advertising with a sexual appeal or messages that hurt religious feelings or social norms.

The present contribution intends on the one hand to highlight modern, unconventional ways of advertising, and on the other hand to discuss in how far they fit in a strategic concept.

Keywords: advertising, unconventional advertising, above-the-line, below-the-line communication