Trade advertising has become increasingly international. More than ever before, corporations are looking beyond their own country's borders for new customers. To opening new markets and selling their products in many regions of the globe, they needs advertise their products in any regions. Many experts believe that trade advertising has important economic and social benefits. Most tarade advertising is designed to promote the sale of a particular product or service. Some advertisements, however, are intended to promote an idea or influence behavior.
Trade advertising spending worldwide now exceeds $350 billion per year. To reach the consumer, advertisers employ a wide variety of media. In the United States alone about 6,000 advertising agencies help create and place advertisements in a variety of media, including newspapers, television, direct mail, radio, magazines, the Internet, and outdoor signs. To run commercials on television, advertisers buy units of time known as spots. The standard units of time are 15, 30, or 60 seconds in length. These spots are purchased either locally or from a national network. Because of the high cost of national network spots, ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions of dollars, only large national advertisers can afford to run network television spots. Organizations that frequently spend large sums of money on advertising that sells what is not, strictly speaking, a product or service include political parties, interest groups, religious organizations, and military recruiters.