Advertising

Advertising refers to one or more of three as follows: (a) distribution of those messages that are approved by someone who pays for that distribution, who can be called an advertising customer, (b) an enterprise that distributes those paid messages that can be called an advertiser, and/or (c) enterprise efforts to buy someone's delivery of messages to potential consumers.

Definitions

According to Juran's Quality Handbook by Defeo (7th edition),

Advertising. Any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor.

According to the Marketing Communications by Fill (5th edition),

Advertising. A non-personal form of communication that uses paid-for media to deliver messages to target audiences.

According to the ASME EMBOK,

Advertising. Mass media communications of a specific message (or set of messages) to potential buyers.

Forms

The world's oldest forms of advertising are, probably, vocal announcements and distribution of samples, especially, in public spaces. Published advertising is either posting messages on something like walls or billboards that people can physically see or distributing something like leaflets hand-to-hand. Radio and television are considered as traditional electronic media; while mobile and web are new ones.

Message production

Often, but not necessarily, advertising also entails creation of marketing messages. If so, their ownership depends on agreements.