The design and development of advertising follows the AIDA formula. The effectiveness of advertising depends upon to what extent the advertising message is received and accepted by the target audience.

Research has identified that an advertisement to be effective has to

(i) Attract Attention
(ii) Secure Interest
(iii) Build Desire for the product and finally
(iv) Obtain Action.

All advertisements obviously do not succeed on these counts. This is one solitary reason behind the great divergence between the number of people exposed to the advertisement and those who ultimately take the purchase decisions. At this stage, however, other elements of the marketing mix, especially distribution become crucial.

Advertisement communicates an idea, a message or a belief. An advertisement would be effective only if the media audience accepts that message and is motivated to take the required action. Several models have been developed which have specifically identified the sequence of events, which must take place between receipt of the message and desired action.