• Addresses the question most frequently asked by the public and students in relation to this subject - how does advertising work?
• Explores the many different ways in which campaigns work (or fail to work)
• Explains the role of advertising in commerce and industry, in society, and in the media
• Covers the structure of the advertising industry; who are the advertisers?; the role of brands and branding; the key advertising media sectors; the creation of advertisements; the finances; research; controversial areas of advertising; and the benefits of advertising
• Part of the bestselling Very Short Introductions series - over three million copies sold worldwide

Readership: General readers interested in advertising, the media and communications, professionals engaged in marketing and advertising, plus students of business, marketing and media as well as potentially students of cultural studies (sociology of consumption) and psychology.

Winston Fletcher, Founder Chairman of the World Advertising Research Center. Vice President of the History of Advertising Trust and Visiting Professor of Marketing at the University of Westminster

1: What does advertising do?
2: The structure of the advertising industry
3: Advertisers: the paymasters
4: The media: blowing the trumpet
5: The agencies: (i) creating the ads
6: The agencies: (ii) spending the clients' money
7: Research, research, research
8: The good, the bad and the ugly
9: The benefits of advertising