Corporate vs. Product Advertising

Every company has either product or a service to offer to its customers. A company uses various methods to reach its customers of which Advertising is one. What is advertising? Advertising means promoting a product or broadcasting it in various media such as the newspapers, television, radio, magazines or even over the Internet. By doing so, companies make the public aware of their product or service. But this promotes the product the company has to offer but not the company itself. How does the management promote the company? Corporate Advertising is one of the fastest and easiest ways available to the management to promote the company.

Product Advertising is the paid use of the media to promote the particular product or service of the company.

Corporate Advertising is defined as the paid use media that seeks to benefit the image of the corporation as a whole rather than its products or services alone.

Corporate advertising is an umbrella message that a company can use to promote both itself and also its products. A product advertisement on the other hand promotes only the product and not the Company. Product advertisements are the responsibility of the marketing department of a company, whereas the corporate advertising is typically handled by the corporate communications department and is sometimes funded by the CEO’s office.

Why Corporate Advertising?

Corporate advertisements are “feel good ads” used to develop a favorable opinion on the company’s side. The globalization trend has forced companies to go in mergers with other companies or acquire smaller companies. When a company either merges with or acquires another company, they need to explain their new vision, mission and strategy to all the constituencies. Corporate advertising helps companies explain all the above to all the constituencies quickly and easily. Corporate advertising are used by companies to enhance the image and identity of the company and to build the reputation of the company. A good corporate advertisement also differentiates the company from its competitors. Corporate advertising creates goodwill and enhances the reputation of a company. Corporate advertisings are also used by companies to publicize their philanthropic activities. Philanthropic activities are taken up by companies to show their sense of social responsibility and that they aren’t just money-minting machines. Philanthropic activities enhances the reputation of a company among almost all constituencies and publicizing these activities using corporate advertisements lets the public know about the activities undertaken by the companies for the social good. Most of the time companies use the association technique to link their corporations with “good things” which the audience already likes.

(Above information taken from following link: http://webserve.govst.edu/pa/Advertising/Pitch/2-trust_me/corporate_image.htm )

Research has shown that corporate advertising can actually increase the price of the company’s stock. When an advertisement can have such profound effects in the minds of the public, it comes as little surprise that companies today are investing more and more in corporate advertising. Corporate advertising also allows companies to attract investments from investors. In addition CEO’s who can express the coherent vision of the company are preferred by analysts. Hence corporate ad’s targeting the financial community often feature the company’s CEO. Corporate advertising can also influence the sales of the products or services of a company. Corporate advertising can inspire confidence in the consumers. Companies use third party organizations and also celebrities and sports stars endorsements to promote the image and identity of the company. Such endorsements influence the buying habits of customers and hence can also influence sales.

Adidas is one of the leading manufacturers of sports goods, apparels and accessories. Cricket is one of the most influencing aspects in India. Sachin Tendulkar who plays for India is the best batsman in the world today with many records to his name. He is also my favorite cricketer. Lionel Andres Messi is a young, upcoming footballer who plays for Argentina and also the Barcelona Football Club and also my favorite football player. Co-incidentally both the sports stars are the brand ambassadors for Adidas. Provided below is a link to the corporate advertisements of Adidas which feature Sachin Tendulkar and Lionel Messi. Both of them have the same thing to say in the end “Impossible Is Nothing”. These advertisements have a strongly influenced me and I am more inclined to buy sports accessories from Adidas than from any other brands.
Sachin Tendulkar's Adidas Advertisement

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s5lCLGjFDs

A variant of corporate advertising called issue advertising or advocacy advertising is used by companies to influence the opinions of various constituencies. It is used by companies to respond to and also deal with controversies. Companies were very conservative and followed the “closed door policy” towards the media in the 1970’s and 1980’s. This led the media to speculate and publish various reports about companies, some of which had no veracity in them. Media hence were perceived by the companies to be anti-business. To deal with this anti-business media, companies resorted to issue advertising. Such type of advertising does have its drawbacks also. Different communities have different opinions about a company. Since is about dealing with threats and controversies and influencing opinions of the people, issue advertising can influence the opinions of one constituency in favor of the company, but at the same time can also influence the opinions of another constituency against the company.
Employees, among others are also an important constituency which companies must address to. Corporate advertising can give a sense of pride to employees about the organization that they are working for. Corporate advertising helps companies attract the best and the brightest employees both at the entry level and also to senior positions.

Product Advertisements promote the products of a company and can therefore be directly linked to sales. An increase in sales can therefore be correlated to a good product ad. Companies therefore need not think too much when investing in a product ad.

Corporate Advertising aims to bridge the gap between the Company and the Public. Some of the leading magazines even give away awards to companies which come up with the best corporate advertisements and which can have the most influence on the public. Corporate Advertising is a quick way to communicate and reach to public but can also be an expensive one. The relationship between corporate advertising and sales has not been clearly established. In a financially oriented company, corporate advertising can be a difficult decision to make. Management can issue corporate advertisements keeping in mind the long run of the company.

My Experience

Airtel is the leader in GSM services in India. It is also a major market player in landline telephone services, broadband internet services and is now also teaming up with Wal-Mart. Airtel has come up with some of the best corporate ads over the years which have touched me and also inspired me. The corporate ads are in line with the company’s tag-line “Express Yourself” by speaking about the Power of Human Expressions. Click on the link provided below to view one of the Airtel Corporate Advertisements. I am also a Airtel GSM user.



One of the product advertisements which I liked very much was one from textile major Raymonds. The advertisement links the history of the company and its excellent fabric with traditional Indian family values.