The Advertising Handbook provides a critical introduction to advertising and marketing practices today. Contributions from leading international scholars and practitioners offer extended coverage of the contemporary shifts and pressures reshaping the marketing communications (or advertising and marketing) industries and their relationship to the consumer. Profiles and case studies illustrate innovation and diversification among advertising, marketing and public relations companies. Discussion questions aid learning and encourage debate about the activities and influence of advertising today.

This Fourth Edition explores the growing significance of:

• the influence of ‘Big Data’ and automation in digital advertising;

• tracking and profiling users across digital communications for targeted and personalised marketing communications;

• the rise of media and advertising integration through sponsored content, product placement, native advertising and other forms of branded content;

• the dynamic shifts in ad spending and media–advertising relationships across legacy media, online and social media; and

• the complex profile of consumer behaviour that produces new challenges for brands and branding.

Fully revised and updated, this new edition of The Advertising Handbook is a comprehensive and accessible guide to contemporary advertising and marketing theory and practice, designed to meet the requirements, interests and terms of reference of the most recent generation of media and advertising students.