Institutional and Commercial Advertising

Advertisements that intend to promote a company, corporation, institution or other similar entity, is called institutional advertising. These type of advertisements will not attempt to sell anything directly, but instead informs the audience about what the institution is doing for the society and community in different forms. This may involve forms relating health and employment or literacy, as they are matters that will likely concern and interest the audience. Institutional advertising most commonly come in radio, television, print or digital, where the producers can clearly communicate their message through the dialogue. An institutional advert can also be when the advert promotes another industry that already ensures to help society in a way. 

There are many examples of institutional advertising where the producers will target a social issue to grasp the audience's eye. In return, the company can improve its brand image by communicating and doing something the audience are concerned about. An example of this is when 'Adidas', a renowned sports company that has inspired me produce my own advert promoting football boots, started the campaign to donate 10% of their sales to poor orphans in Africa. This portrays 'Adidas' as a generous and caring company which will further appeal to the audience that buys their products. The audience will be more motivated to buy their football boots as they know they will be partly contributing to a cause. As well as this, audiences that are not 'Adidas' customers will be motivated to buy their products in order to help the company in its mission. This will ultimately boost their sales revenue as they are also reaching out to a social cause and this perfectly shows how institutional advertising can improve the brand image and populate them as they are generating goodwill and improving public relation. Thus, institutional advertising is important for companies that want to obtain a good image and wish to access a different target audience by answering to their social concerns.

This advertisement by 'Coca Cola' is an animated form and can be regarded as institutional advertising, despite the brand product being the focal selling point. The advert involves animated polar bears opening up a coke bottle and sharing their happiness with the audience. The advert may seem innocent and straightforward, but 'Coca Cola' discreetly communicates the reality of the nearing extinction of polar bears. In doing this, the advert raises awareness of growing pollution without evading the brand product. This makes the company seem that they are aware of this and the audience will feel that they want to do something about this.