Ok, there’s a thread for dumb ads , but what about ridiculous and intelligence insulting marketing strategies? The one that bugs me the most is the concept of adding a colored “special ingredient” that makes the product better. It’s not enough to have a toothpaste that cleans your teeth, freshens your breath, and kills plaque. They have to tell you that there’s a different color in each tube specifically designed for each task. And laundry detergent just wouldn’t work as well if not for those little blue “bleach action” crystals, now would they? It’s amazing what a little dye can do to boost sales.
The most recent offender that I’ve seen is the deodorant stick Method Man is hawking with the “power stripe” going through the middle. What is the power stripe? Well, it’s a special colored ingredient specifically designed to fight off odor. Couldn’t they have just mixed this ingredient in along with the rest of the product? Why no! How else would I, the mysified consumer, know that I was getting the extra protection that I need if I can’t SEE it? :rolleyes:
I think most marketing hype is so silly because they usually have so little to go on.
Take toothpaste or deordorant. How do you differentiate your brand in a market where every product has the same ingredients (more or less) and the same formulation (more or less)? They can’t very well say “Our product is just as good as anyone else’s so you might as well buy ours.” So what they say is “No product is better than ours” and they rely on the power of visual impact to try to get you to select their package from among the sea of products.
My current favorite in this category is the cat box litter that has “diamonds”.
And let’s face it; these gimmicks must have some positive effect or they wouldn’t be used over and over.
I am amused by the Clorox bleach commercial that boasts that their label has a promise to kill 99.9% of household germs. Those store brands don’t have a promise right there on the label, now do they? So buy ours! Of course, it’s the exact same stuff in the bottle, but hey…
Your product can either be a commodity, and compete with all the other commodities; or it can be a premium, thus commanding a greater price.
The name brands have higher prices because they pay more for marketing and shelf space, and feel they must at least pretend to be premium.
Marketing is aimed at the ignorant, by it’s very nature. Dressing up your product provides a good excuse to market it.
