The history of advertising can be traced back to the lost city of Pompeii in 79

AD wherein the advertising messages were found in its ruins. The history of
modern advertising starts with the advent of the mediums of mass
communication and the first one among them was the printing press.
Printing press is said to be the beginning of the European renaissance and
enlightenment period due to which people were exposed to the thoughts of
the new age philosophers e.g. John Locke, Voltaire, etc. Along with bringing
new ideas to the public for enlightenment, it also paved the way for
capitalism. In 1472, the first paper bill ads was published by William Caxton
for a book and he tacked them to church dooRsSince then, advertising grew
with the invention of every new medium of mass communication i.e.
Newspaper, TV, Out of Home and Digital.

Nowadays, advertising is a huge business because of the rise of

transcontinental capitalism. The global spending on advertising for the year
2016 was worth $500 billion, which is more than Pakistan’s total GDP. And
if marketing expense is added i.e. market research, public relations, direct
marketing, etc, then it makes a total industry of worth $965 billion. Among
them, $214 billion were spent on TV and $160.2 billionwere spent on digital,
being the two largest mediums. The annual revenue of the Facebook in 2016,
which started in 2004 and for the google, the search engine giant, was $27
billion and $89.5 billion respectively. And the revenue model of both of these
digital giants only consists of advertising. Among the world’s biggest
advertisers are Procter and Gamble, Unilever, L’oreal, Toyota Motor
Corporation and Volkswagen.

The world’s biggest advertising markets are US, China and Japan. In US, the
multinational companies spend a whopping $180 billion on advertising. The
closest market, China is not even half of that. In China, the companies spend
85 billion on Advertising while the next biggest advertising market Japan is
again not even half of that with a combined spending of only $38 billion. The
other big markets are UK, Brazil, Germany, France, Italy, Australia and
South Korea with a combined spending of $140 billion. Interestingly, US
spending in advertising is more than the combined spending of the eight
countries among the world’s top 10 largest spenders, excluding China. This
also represents the strength of the US economy and its high per capita
spending as advertising is directly a function of the economy. Whenever the
economy performs better, the advertising spending of the companies
increases and whenever there is a slump, the advertising sector also faces a
downturn. Pakistan’s advertising industry is a tiny one, worth only $650
million while another country with almost the same population, Indonesia,
has an advertising market of $10 billion. Brazil, also having almost the same
population as us has an advertising industry worth $20 billion. But,
encouragingly, Pakistan’s advertising is also growing at an annual rate of 10–
12pc due to a rapidly emerging urban middle class, rising consumerism,
growing purchasing power, and an expanding economy. The highlights of
latest economic survey of Pakistan reveal that the services sector is the
highest growing sector of the economy which again reflects power of the
emerging urban middle class. According to Anwar Kabir, an advertising
industry executive, Pakistan is right now a hot market for multinationals as it
is growing at a very rapid pace due to which they are increasing their
advertising spend as well. Along with that we can also see the growth in the
local market in the form of new malls, local FMCG brands and emerging
retail brands.
In Pakistan, TV remains the biggest medium for media spend with Rs30
billion spending while interestingly outdoor, instead of print, comes at the
second with a spend of Rs9 billion. It was Rs11 billion in 2015 but due to
removal of 3,000 billboards in Karachi, the media ad spend was reduced to
Rs9 billion. In Pakistan, the top spenders are Procter and Gamble, Unilever,
Nestle, Pepsi Cola, Coca cola, Reckitt Benkister and telecom companies. In
OOH advertising, Pepsi remains at the top with a spending of Rs71 crore
while Nestle comes at second with a spending of Rs63 crore. In retail
clothing brands, Khaadi spent a whopping amount of Rs27 crore only on
OOH advertising.In the TV sector in Pakistan, the top five advertisers
wereUnilever (20pc), P&G (7pc), Reckitt Benckiser (6pc), Pepsi Cola (6pc),
Coca Cola (5pc) and Nestle (4pc).

In the OOH (out of home) domain, budgets are being shifted towards digital
out of home media. It is interesting to note that brands are paying much more
in the domain of bill boards than an average consumer can think of. If you
have even been to Lahore, you will see a huge digital bill board of Coke
while entering or exiting DHA. This bill board has been purchased by Coca
Cola for one whole year at a whopping cost of Rs6–7 million per month.
Similarly, the digital streamers installed at the Lahore’s famous MM Alam
Road, cost a brand, Rs5 million per month just for a 15 seconds slot in a 90
seconds loop. And any large bill board in any good location in Lahore does
not cost a brand less than a million rupees.

Overall, the brands’ budgets are shifting towards digital media at a fast pace
and according to Magna Global, an affiliate of the global conglomerate IPG
group, it is expected that the digital media spending will surpass TV media
spending by 2018. Among digital, mobile advertising is the fastest growing
medium and is expected to have 72pc of the sales of the digital ad spend. The
reasons for this great shift to digital are manifold. One is that consumers now
spend more time on digital media, particularly on mobiles, compared to TVs.
This is particularly true for the Generation Z, those who were born in or after
1990s.

The second reason is better and efficient targeting. A senior executive of

Procter and Gamble USA said that they have increased their Brand’s digital
spend to more than 30pc because it gives you much better targeting options.
Third reason is most accurate data and result measurement in real time and a
better attribution modelling for the consumer journey. Fourth is the power of
brand engagement instead of just brand awareness. Fifth reason is its low
cost. And the sixth and the most important reason is the two way relationship
between brand and the consumer, which is not possible in any other media
form. At digital and social media, you can gave ratings, comments on your
brand’s products and consumers can become active advocates of a brand
giving it an organic reach unlike any medium. Ironically, in Pakistan the
digital ad spend is still hovering in between 2–3pc. One of the primary
reasons is that we are very inflexible. The second reason is our traditional
mindset that digital marketing is just about making a Facebook page and then
updating it while in reality digital media is much more than that. However,
some multinationals in Pakistan have doubled their digital advertising
budgets for the year 2015–16 which is indeed a positive sign.
 Android