I know traditionally that advertising a product’s positive benefits, or using other tactics like fear and isolation (in vs out-group) can cause people to purchase a product, but nowadays, when it feels like there’s an oversaturation of product advertising, how do companies get returns on the millions that they spend on advertising? Is it subliminal messaging or do people really still see a product advertised and think “Cool I want that”?
In: Economics
It’s not about making you buy a product you don’t want or haven’t considered purchasing before. It’s about catching your eye on something you are interested in.
An ad for a video game isn’t going to make somebody who doesn’t play video games want it, but if you are a gamer and see an ad for a style of game you do like it just greatly increased the chances of you buying that game. Same for a movie that is already the style of movie you like, or yes even a drug for a condition you actually have.
An ad doesn’t need to interest everyone but if just 1 in 10,000 who see the ad for something that is up thier alley buy it that is a success. Consider that many ads are seen by many millions of people…that’s a lot of sales.
Targeted ads are even more effective. Google and facebook already know what you like by watching everything you do online. They can get that 1 in 10,000 down to 1 in 500 greatly increasing the ads effectiveness. Always remember, when a product is free(facebook, google searches, even reddit) you are the product.
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