Watching TV the other day, it occurred to me that in many years I have never gone out and bought something after having seen it advertised on TV.
Now I’m the first to admit I’m a ‘saver’ and not a ‘buyer’, but I have to wonder how many people see the latest Chili’s or Olive Garden ad and say "I gotta get me some of that’.
There must be some point to it or they wouldn’t spend all that money on advertising. And the ASOTV and QVC people seem to stay in business.
So here’s a poll - do you go out and buy in response to TV advertising?
Everyone is influenced to a greater or lesser extent by advertising, whether they admit it or are aware of it. They are kidding themselves if they think otherwise.
Now, this doesn’t mean I see an ad for a chocolate bar and think ‘man, I’m going to go out now and buy one’. But it does make me aware of the brand, so when I see it in a shop, I recognise it and process the information, even subconsciously.
I recently bought a car which I was first made aware of because of advertising (digital rather than TV, but I don’t see a difference here). I didn’t rush out and buy the car the next day, but I was in the market for one, and I’d never seen this new model before, so the advertising helped put the car on my ‘check it out’ list.
The great thing about much digital advertising is that it is measurable. The sellers know if people are buying in response to their ads because they can literally follow the click through to their online stores and the checkout. That’s why digital advertising is ‘pay per click’ - the advertisers only pay by customer response.
TV advertising isn’t direct marketing, in that they don’t expect an instance response - it’s about building brand awareness, so that their product gets into your consciousness and perhaps makes your shortlist when you are in the market for a similar product.
If it wasn’t for advertising, nobody would be able to sell anything with anything like the consistency they need to build a factory to make the stuff.
For most things, I am not greatly influenced if at all. If I see a commercial for say “Olive Garden,” I may say, “I haven’t gone there in quite a while, I should go soon.” But I wouldn’t make specific plans to. It would be more like, the next time I eat out I’ll consider them.
I will admit to having tried a couple products based on their ads (Clusters and the squirrel ads comes to mind) but its fairly rare. I’m more likely to be influenced by what experience friends have had than I am a clever ad.
With restaurant ads I appreciate them making me aware of new menu items. That may cause me to visit the next time we go out rather than another chain.
Ads also introduce me to new products on the market that I may have been unaware of. I don’t necessarily run out to buy it, but I’m thinking if it fills a need better than something I might already have.
99% of the ads I see are in a language I don’t speak, and often too ambiguous to understand whether it’s an ad for clothes, cars or hair gel. If they show the product I might still not understand what it is as it could be shower gel or washing up liquid, and I never remember the brand name as it isn’t written in the Roman alphabet (unless it’s McDonald’s, KFC etc).
Most of what I watch I record and fast forward through the ads. But, as it happened, I have been looking for years for a way to make cross-border (US/Canada) banking easier. It used to be I could get checks from B of Montreal that had a Fed Reserve clearance number drawn on a US branch, but they ended this a few years back. So happens TD bank had an ad about their new “border-free” banking accounts. There is a branch near me, so I went in, inquired about details, and opened an accout. All in response to a TV ad. I cannot recall the last time before that that I responded to a TV ad.
The only time I can remember bestirring my rump from the recliner to go purchase something I saw on the tube was when they were running those evil Dairy Queen commercials showing the river of fudge and the land of goodies. Darned if I didn’t want ice cream every single time I saw that commercial!
Ads for local sales get me to shop sometimes. I’m not thinking of a particular item where an ad got me to go shopping. Now if you were talking about my wife…
Interestingly, though I worked in advertising, I totally ignore it when making any important decision.
Before we bought our first car we looked at all the reliability and service ratings. And narrowed our choices down to three Toyotas. Their ads at the time were happy bouncy people (literally bouncy), jumping into the air shouting “Toy-o-ta!” Really annoying and said nothing about the benefits of the car.
Exactly! Dairy Queen Blizzards, seen on TV during a hot summer evening in my old house without air conditioning. Find the car keys, we’re going! But that was years ago.
This exactly. I know I’m influenced by advertising. I’ve no illusions that I shop where I shop, buy the products I do, or consume the services that I consume solely because of my own research efforts. To some extent, their advertising pushes me toward or away from certain decisions. I may not get right up off the couch and buy the thing the commercial was telling me to buy, but the next time I’m in the store shopping my familiarity with the brand (from its ads) is going to come into play.
I’m ok with that. I’m ok with admitting it.
I know that I was was directly influenced by this ad. (or one in the same ad campaign). Before seeing that, I’d never even considered going to Utah. At all. For any reason. I saw that, immediately started checking things out online, and a few months later, I was visiting the Mighty 5. So, good job Utah Tourism Office. (The parks are even more amazing than they look in that commercial.)
Kind of the opposite for me. If I see something advertised heavily, my instinct is oh, they must be trying hard to push crap on us and/or steal our money. Most advertising is just a nuisance to me.
The purpose of ads* is not to make you shamble out the door like a zombie and go buy Bud Lite or whatever. Advertising builds and reinforced brand awareness and appreciation so that when you are actually at the store making a choice, you’re steered to that one.
Just because you don’t shamble out the door right after a Bud Lite ad does not mean you’re immune to advertising, or as much of a ‘self-directed consumer’ as you probably think you are. But online, everyone is what they claim to be. Let me catch you on the way out of the grocery store and we’ll go through your cart, though.
*Ads for nationally or regionally-advertised consumer products, to be specific.
Sure, of course I do. Not the “as seen on TV” types of products, but new menu items at a fast food chain… yeah, a lot of times that will remind me to go out and give it a shot. I’m not immune to advertising, and I’m perfectly fine with that. If they’re advertising something I’m interested in and didn’t know existed before, of course I’m going to try it. As a consumer, I have no idea in the millions of things people are selling what exactly is out there and what is possible. Give me your pitch. If I like it, I’ll buy it.
