What are the trends in advertising from a consumer’s perspective? What catches the consumer’s eye today?



Gone are the days where consumers would watch a handful of advertisements on TV and hear some on the radio. Media today is being flooded by advertisements, campaigns, offers, schemes, voting lines. Every day the consumer is bombarded with a thousand products, ideas and each seller is constantly innovating to increase sales, viewership and revenue.


Following are some trends from a consumer’s perspective


• The Human quotient- Most advertisements you see nowadays are based on the emotional quotient- the silent tear, the bond with parents, grand parents etc. The idea I am assuming is to trigger the emotional feelings so that a consumer gets emotionally attached to a product or identifies with the product. This is a growing trend even for products which would not otherwise show a family sequence or some emotional drama eg- a bank only focuses on consumer relationships and how a bank cares and nurtures its customers. Telecom is getting increasingly dependent on the emotional linkage. Example- Airtel is focusing on relationships whether it is a husband wife fighting and making up through sms or a couple fighting over a call and the guy recharging his phone through sms. Increasingly value added services are being advertised with an aid of different human relationships.

• Growth of the voice of the youth- The voice of the youth is increasingly being portrayed in ads whether it is anti corruption or youth leaders. Voice of the youth is identified by lots of youngsters and even the older generation as even in reality the youth leaders are being spoken about and being looked up to. Example- HT Ad – Its time now, and Tata tea (jaago re campaign).

• Health aspect in F & B -Health has become a primary focus. With the current lifestyles and schedules, no one has any time to exercise or play a sport, therefore increasingly the focus of today’s consumer is moving to health food products. Oils such as soya bean and olive oil, 100% fruit juices, brown rice, organic food are the mantra’s of today. So, most companies are packaging their products focusing on the health quotient to attract consumers. For example: Saffola Gold , Arise rice.

 
• Common consumer in advertisements- Consumers are slowly getting disillusioned with the perfect face, the size zero figure in the perfect house. It is hard to believe that such a babe thinks Harpic is the best toilet cleaner and uses it regularly too!! It takes a whale of an imagination to actually visualize her cleaning her bathroom and looking like that!! Therefore the new modus of ads is to portray a common face, someone with who a consumer can identify with and someone who can be believed and trusted. A product survey or a competition between different products are filmed and made to be appear as if a consumer reaction was randomly shot. It is believable as the people in the advertisements and their reactions are very candid and appear real. Example of some of the advertisements are: Harpic- where a Tv channel anchor goes to a consumer’s house and challenges that by using harpic her toilet will be sparkling and no prizes for guessing, he is right!!! Similar is the plan for Rin- safedi (whiteness) challenge. Oil of Olay shows women in their 40’s speak very naturally (without a script) on their aging symptoms and how by using Oil of Olay, they look younger and fresher.


• New Methods: A new trend is to involve consumers in product development. Pepsi co is going this way and has launched a campaign asking consumers to share their favorite flavors which if selected by a panel will be launched as a new flavor for lays chips. Currently, four new flavours have been selected and viewers are asked to vote for their favourite in order to select one. The winner would have the flavor named after him or her and shall also be getting prizes. This is a novel concept and quite appeals to the consumer and is really a brilliant marketing tactics to increase sales. Promotion on bikes, distribution of freebies, contests, voting are the order of the day but we shall do a detailed post on newer methods apart from television advertisements to give you a complete insight on this.


• Thematic or indirect advertisements- What I mean is that no longer only a car is shown in a car ad or only a soap is shown in a soap ad. It is all about indirect ads and drawing parallels to products and concepts. Example: the ad for the car –Xylo shows women who are sleek, and who enjoy sleeping and travelling in the car, the ad seeks to draw parallels such as the smooth curves the model is similar to xylo and it is as sparky and great. This is a growing trend and most often a consumer does not know what is the ad all about till the end. Often he/ she cannot relate the product to the concept and advertisers should be beware of this and be very wary when resorting to this method.


• Trends of promoting websites/ ventures through advertisements- It is no longer only about product advertisements, a large share of ad space is for non product promotions . Ventures like educational institutions, websites such as e bay etc. are regularly advertising and is evoking a lot of interest in the common consumer.

More detailed analysis of trends, concepts and ideas shall be shared in the posts. Keep following us. Please leave your comments/ thoughts/ ideas/ anything you have to say , we want to hear. Voice your opinion as a consumer and be heard.

AD GEEK

Hey to all!!!



I often call myself an amateur scribbler who has an eye for things. I write about things I see, things which leave an impact, images/ideas which excite me or which annoy me, innovations or concepts which I consider creative. Basically- anything which catches my eye. Our very existence is defined by needs, needs which are innate or primary- such as food, sleep, water, shelter and needs which are psychological or secondary which are an influence of external forces such as peer pressure, societal needs, status, advertisements, inducements, comfort.

Admit it or not – “Needs are never fully satisfied” “new needs emerge as old ones are satisfied”. It is this need which defines a market for sellers and buyers. A means to consumerism is advertisements, marketing – anything which understands consumer behavior and makes him or her spend money to fulfill his/her need.

I have always been fascinated by the world of ads, communication and marketing which entices and lures us into the hands of sellers, where we buy creams to get fair , grow hair – we will do and get anything which is packaged ideally. As a consumer, I would like in my blog to give the view of consumers on advertisements, campaigns , a forum to voice what we hate or what we like. I want consumers to be able to reach out and have their voices heard. Eventually, the market will be driven by what can sell rather than trying to sell what is already made.

It’s the time of consumers… Viva the revolution………..