These are messages and increasingly in contemporary terms, related media used to communicate with a market, i.e. they are messages from companies to the customers about the companies products, brands
or in the case of corporate communications about the company itself. In a very real sense all marketing
communication activity is a form of promotion, which is in one way or another it attempts to promote the interest of the brand, product range and/or company.
Traditionally interms of marcoms we differentiate above-the-line activity from below-the-line activity. where below-the-lineactivity is loosely classed as non-media advertising. Basically if an advertisement is submitted to a publication and a commission is paid to the advertising agency to feature the piece then this is deemed to be above-the-line communication. If no commission has been paid, for example in the case of a public relations press release, a trade exhibition or a sponsored sports event, this is referred to as below-the-line activity. This distinction is accepted by most and is the distinction adopted here.