Being a vast field with myriad contexts, advertising has been divided into various types to eradicate any sorts of confusion that could be a result from its motley nature.
The types of advertising are namely brand advertising, retail or local advertising, political advertising, directory advertising, direct-response advertising, business-to-business advertising, institutional advertising, public service advertising and interactive advertising.
While brand advertising is the conventional advertising of products and services, retail or local advertising deals with promotion of retailers or retail outlets and sometimes even those manufacturers who sell their merchandise in a particular area. Then comes political advertising, which is incorporated by politicians to persuade the voters to vote for them or to communicate their political campaign. Directory advertising is normally a guide, which people consult to buy a product or service. As for direct-response advertising, its mechanism is such a one where the customer could respond to the advertising through a specific medium and come in contact with the advertiser to purchase the product or service. Regarding business-to-business advertising, there is no involvement of general consumers in the target market of this advertising – it is only meant for channel members like dealers, wholesalers and retailers etc. As for institutional advertising, this advertising is promoting a particular organization or enterprise rather than goods and services, focusing on creating a corporate image. Public service advertising is not meant for any profit. It rather delivers messages to the public on public issues and edify them about information that they need to be aware about. The last type is interactive advertising that is accomplished through the medium of the Internet.
