Communication Objectives of Advertising

Communication Objectives of Advertising

Normally, advertisements have one or more communication goals, which are processes your mind will be going through before purchasing a particular product.
According to Percy and Rosenbaum-Elliott there are 4 communication objectives of advertisements:
1. Need for the category: before buying a particular product, a person must be interested in the product category, at least to some extent.
2. Identification of the brand: in order to buy a particular good, it is necessary to be able to identify the brand of the product. Two types of brand identification exist:
2a. Recognition: a person recognizes the brand at the moment he or she is purchasing.
2b. Recall: a person identifies the brand on his own, before purchasing it.
3. Brand attitude: of course awareness of the brand is not sufficient. For a purchase to occur, one must have a positive attitude towards the brand, otherwise the product will not be bought.
4. Brand purchase intention: “I think I’d like to purchase this” or “let’s try this product” are examples of thoughts reflecting the intention to purchase a particular brand. This effect follows from the previous effect, brand attitude.
It is important to mention that these four communication objectives do not necessarily have to be present in each advertisement for a particular brand. While the identification of the brand and brand attitude will always serve as communication objectives, the other two will only be present in particular circumstances. For example, the need for a category will not be part of an advertisement when assuming that that this need already exist.
Source: Percy, L. and Rosenbaum-Elliott, R. (2009). “Strategic Advertising Management.” Oxford University Press.