Integrating advertising theories with conceptual models of services advertising

This paper examines two fields of research, services advertising theory and advertising theory. These two areas would seem to be obvious stable‐mates, yet an overview of the literature identifies very little commonality. The paper explores the reasons for this disparity and proposes that the integration of general advertising models into the services advertising literature may provide a useful underpinning for future research. To illustrate this point, the FCB grid is examined in the context of services. The grid provides a practical framework for classification and amalgamates a number of disparate fields of study. It also discloses subject areas which may be fundamental to our understanding of services advertising but have yet to be explored, such as the impact of involvement on advertising strategy and the similarities, which may exist, between certain groups of goods and services.