Shift Happens

How does a change in consumer behaviour effect advertising?

credit to BenBenno

credit to hermeti

We see a lot of ads every day. They are everywhere. The exact number of ads varies from source to source [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7], but we can be certain it is a big part of our visual day-to-day life. This is why people created the ability to tune out the bulk of the ads they see. This makes it harder for marketers to sell stuff and harder for the consumer to recognize good products. Most of the ads we see everyday are not relevant anyways. Consumers are being told to buy products that they don’t need. Think of the ads consumers see on television during commercial breaks; most of them don’t appeal because they’re not in the market for those products. The ads lack relevance and therefore are very likely to end up costing more money than they make.

Advertising still assumes that it’s consumers are ready to buy anything at any given time. When you’re sitting at home watching television, advertising interrupts you watching your favorite show to sell you products. When you’re driving in your car, listening to the radio, more ads. When you’re sending an e-mail with Google Mail at the side of your screen, more ads. When you’re browsing the web, searching for information for your paper or chatting with a friend online, still more ads. You’re being marketed to 24/7. During the research I've done for this paper I have come across hundreds of ads. And I’ve ignored them all.

credit to mleak

Because advertising is so inherent to our culture and upbringing, they become part of our culture. They become part of us. With ever increasing persuasive branding, we can form such strong links to brand because we share the values that the brand advocates. And because brands become symbolic for certain values, we're not afraid to incorporate that brand into our own identity. Brands are becoming the ultimate exercise of those values and thereby the standard by which you compare similar brands. When you're growing up, you idealize your parents because they are your biggest role model. Every encounter with any other person will take you back to the values taught by your parents and you, perhaps unconciously, compare.

EXCERPT 1

People created the ability to tune out the bulk of the ads they see. This makes it harder for marketers to sell stuff and harder for the consumer to recognize good products.

EXCERPT 2

Advertising still assumes that it’s consumers are ready to buy anything at any given time.

FOOTNOTES

Click on the footnote references ([12]) in the text to see the attached footnotes.

AUTHOR

Sjaak van den Berg, student WDKA Advertising

Sjaak van den BergConceptualist, strategist, dreamer and allround advertiser. One of those people that can't sit still for haircuts or photographs, fascinated by life. Intrigued by the way ideas spread and how advertising shapes and influences culture, in 2004 he decided to join the Willem de Kooning Academy of Arts to study advertising. His minor lead him to a search about how our identity, culture and the images around us are interlinked.

Advertising and increasingly the internet, are omnipresent in our lives. When used in creative ways, the combination of the two gives you a lot more back for your buck and will speak to people in ways traditional media never dreamt of being possible. The future for advertising is one without borders.

"It used to be that people needed products to survive. Now products need people to survive." - Nicholas Johnson

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