There are two camps in the modern world. For one, there are the people buying stuff, and then there are those trying to persuade you into buying more of the same or something different. What are their strategies and techniques? Who is being targeted? I am working with Thumper on this. He has been in advertising and marketing for eight years now and loves it. We will be doing an interview for Bunny got Blog soon. We will be looking at how ads influence us and our children, how they are geared to do just that, and why they sometimes lead us to overspend beyond our means.

With today’s economy many of us are spending more wisely. Times are tough here and people are tightening their money belts. I was reading the Bloomburg Press and they stated that consumer spending was at its lowest since 1974.

Still we are subjected to the advertising of new products. At this time, advertising marketers are on overdrive, using whatever it takes to create an eye-catching advertisement for consumers. That is their job and that is why they get paid the big bucks. For the advertisers, it is necessary to make their market be aware of their products, and to attempt to drive sales up.

I find the focus of advertising is more on the person who is buying for the household. Men are being targeted for the expensive, big investments; after all, advertisers sell to demographics rather than just throwing something at the wall in hopes that it will stick. Some of their techniques are ruthless and under-handed, and many use sex to get the consumer’s attention. After all sex sells – right?

Here’s another thing: If you have kids, you may tend to think that most of the advertising is directed to your children and teens.

Why is that?

Psychology is used to attract attention to a product. It is a well-known fact that you should market benefits, not features. What you and I are buying as consumers is not just a collection of screws and pieces of metal, but a magical machine with a great design that makes our bland bread hot & toasty. We are buying into an experience – an experience manufactured by the minds marketing the product.

Marketers are not so much interested in whether you can afford their client’s new toaster or need a new toaster at all. They get paid for coming up with an idea that encourages you to spend your money. More often than not, advertising is about creative persuasion – one might even say manipulation.

Advertising Techniques

Advertising is not just about sex though; there’s more to it. There needs to be a strong message and a strong visual to attract our attention, especially in these times when we are literally flooded with thousands of advertisements per day. Common approaches to combat ad blindness due to over-saturation are things like humor, catchy little jiggles, and – well – sex.

It is my opinion that advertising is a mind game. Thumper gave me this article to read as a part of my research about the use of psychology in advertising. I think you will enjoy reading 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to be Persuasive. It may be comic relief if you include reading through all the comments too. It does make you think about things.

Color psychology in Logo Design is explained very well here on Logo Critiques. This article explains the meaning and use of color and shape in design. The packaging of merchandise is designed to catch the eye and hold interest. Then there are differences when designing for children or for adults.

There is a simple list of common advertising strategies on the Media Awareness Network. Marketers use these methods, among others – all proven to be effective in numerous studies:

• fear – scare tactics are used to make the consumer believe they absolutely have to use the product in order to overcome the “danger”. This tactic includes showing violence.
• fun and pleasure – it is the “in” thing to do. This technique suggests that you will be accepted by the people around you more.
• vanity – the product is going to perform wonders with your health, appearance or sex appeal.

A teenager is going to think they will gain popularity. A man, well some will want to become more youthful, or more macho. For women, I find that many ads go the vanity route.

These techniques are used throughout the world. To the advertiser, it doesn’t matter how offensive the ad is, as long as it doesn’t reflect negatively on the brand and sells.

Demographics

Studies are necessary to save time and money, and to give the marketer a clear feed on whom to target.

To me, it seems that a large part of advertising is directed towards women, especially in today’s society. We are the ones who hold it all together – most of the time, we have the responsibility of managing the household and spending the allowance. We have been doing this for years.

My age group gets pitched with hundreds of anti-aging products, weight loss products, lip plumping lipsticks, push-up bras and seamless panties. Obviously the word is that we want to remain youthful in our appearance.

When the anti-aging creams fail though – provided they have been showing an effect at all -, another product comes along in print ads and TV commercials and store promotions that has been built especially for her skin type and age; a product that has managed to reduce wrinkles for 75% of the test group consisting of 12 persons. So again, she buys another cream and the cycle continues. Why? Because the seed has been planted.

By whom? Advertising agencies coming up with ways to sell products to a market of easily convincable consumers. Anything to attack a woman’s purse.

When she is shopping for her family, she is going to seek out what the kids are teasing for, and that the husband’s needs are satisfied. Even the dog and the plants have to be taken care of. This is why so many, if not all, of the household commercials are directed towards women, and are running between 11 am and 4 pm, because she is usually the one who is shopping for the whole family.

My question is, since our age group usually has the extra expenses of raising kids, mortgages and loans to pay off – why aren’t advertisers focusing more on who has the money? Like 55 and older?

Maybe because that age group has already purchased enough crap that was pitched to them throughout their lives, just to discover that they don’t really need any of it.

This was the first part of a series on advertising from a consumer’s and a marketer’s point of view. Don’t miss the next part: Click here to subscribe to Bunny’s RSS feed.