I think I am generally resistant to advertising. But I know it even works for me.
In 1990 I bought a Honda Civic wagon. I loved it. In 1991, Honda stopped selling their wagon (at least in Canada). By 2006, my 16 year old wagon was falling apart and I had to decide what to replace it with. Then Honda advertised the FIT, which is basically just the Civic wagon renamed. in 2007, I bought one and am happy with it. Without the advertising I would not have known it existed.
Without advertising, I would not know that LED bulbs existed. I look at the ads to see if there are any reasonably priced 100W equivalents. When there are I will buy them. (At my age, 60W equivalent bulbs just don’t do it.)
But I ignore most of the ads I see on TV. In fact, I most record programs that interest me and fast forward through the ads. I don’t think I have ever bought anything based on an internet ad.
As a general rule, the hardest to sell to are the oldest audiences who’ve been using products for years and are set in their ways. If they’ve been driving a GM car all their lives, they aren’t going to be interested in a Toyota. They pretty much already own everything they want (or can afford) and aren’t going out of their way to replace it.
Easiest to sell are the “early adapters,” especially the subset of “cutting edge” consumers. They’re always on the lookout for the next big thing. Another big group are “accumulators” – young people who finally got a good job, have moved out of their parents’ homes (or first-time parents) who not only want stuff, but are still flexible in their tastes.
Yup, I concur with this. As a general rule of thumb, the older we get, the more likely we are to have already established some firm brand loyalties. And, thus, younger consumers are generally seen as a more attractive demographic for many advertisers. This is despite the fact that, at least until you get to retirement age, disposable income generally correlates pretty strongly with age – that is, older (but still working) people tend to have more disposable income than younger people.
I read an article once about advertising and pregnancy, basically saying that at a woman’s first pregnancy her brand loyalty becomes suddenly up for grabs as she starts buying “baby stuff” that she had never bought before. So advertisers rush to try to find the first inkling that a woman is preggers to flood her with ads.
The story ends with Target sending out a baby-themed mailer to a teenage girl before she’d even told her father she was pregnant.
As a general rule of thumb, the older we get, the more likely we are to have already established some firm brand loyalties. And, thus, younger consumers are generally seen as a more attractive demographic for many advertisers. This is despite the fact that, at least until you get to retirement age, disposable income generally correlates pretty strongly with age – that is, older (but still working) people tend to have more disposable income than younger people.