1.3 How does advertising contribute to society? Advertising is one of the tools of marketing which is the process of providing products and services to satisfy consumer needs. As a society we place a high value on convenience so having food delivered to our door is a service that meets this need. By establishing a brand image which differentiates it's product from competitors products advertising adds value to the company because they can charge more for brands so make more profit. This is also an economic benefit to society. Advertising also helps facilitate the exchange process which is when companies/organisation exchange what they produce (goods, services, ideas) for money (to make a profit) and deliver to consumers receive something - a good, service, experience - of value to them. This exchange process creates customer relationships leading to customer loyalty which is a benefit to the company, as they are assured of future sales with less effort and is also beneficial for the consumers because purchase decisions are easier and quicker. From the customer perspective it's the trade off between the time & effort involved in the purchase, the cost or price and any negative connotations the brand might have and the benefits the brand/product offers plus positive associations. This translates into the customer's assessment of value. The brand value for the company is increased profits and loyal customers; the brand value for the consumer is easier purchase decisions and knowledge that the brand will deliver. 1.4 Types of Advertising Agencies Types of Agency There are many different types of advertising agencies ranging from global organisations to small local businesses who offer a variety of services including marketing, branding, packaging, media purchasing, content creation and advertising. To better understand the industry it's useful to look broadly at the types of agencies and how an agency is paid for their services. The main categories are full service, media planning & buying; creative boutiques, specialist agencies and in-house. Full service agency typically offers advertisers a comprehensive range of communication services including creative; media planning and production and will typically have an account/client management team to liaise between the agency personnel and the client. Many clients prefer to
have one agency be responsible for all their marketing communications to ensure the brand has a consistent voice. However as the industry evolves, clients sometimes prefer to engage agencies focussed on specific skills such as social media; eDM, branding or even packaging. Media planning and buying agencies are the experts at the planning, buying and monitoring of the client's media activity. Based on the agency's understanding of their clients need these media companies are able to negotiate discounted rates which improves their client's ROI on their media spend. Since the explosion of social and online media, these organisations, with their focus on audience data and analytics, have flourished. Creative boutiques focus on generating new and innovative ideas to solve clients' communications problems. As creative boutiques don't offer fully integrated marketing communications they are often engaged for