6.25.2007

Advertising

From California:
Hebrew National doesn't advertise so that you'll want to go out and
buy a HN dog immediately. That only works when Dominos advertises
pizza delivery during dinner or Taco Bell advertises at 11:30 at
night.

The Hebrew Nation is paying it's hard earned dollars so that the next
time you go to the store and you see a 12-pack of HN dogs for 3.99 and
a 12-pack of Jimmie Jerk-off's Mystery Sausages for 2.99 you say, "Oh,
Hebrew National is reputable enough to advertise with the San Diego
Padres(TM). It must be worth the extra dollar."

Cars on the other hand, are just in a retarded arms race against each
other. It's unlikely that you're ever going to go, "NEEEE-san? Never
heard of it. I'll buy the one from the baseball game." In fact, if
you haven't heard of a car, it's probably because it's twenty times
better than that hunk of crap you're driving (and out of your price
range). Or because it's from Bulgaria. In which case, buy the one
from the baseball game.
Well, California, the interesting thing about this whole advertising thread is that I, a pesudo-social psychologist was at the game with a real Ph.D. social psychologist. In fact, there was a time when I was a teacher and mentor to this psychologist. You see, though beautiful and fashionable, I'm quite the intellect. You cold even call me a "geek." Not the chicken head eating type, but hte bookish, inquisitive type of geek.

The point is, I love this shit. Advertising? I was only wrong on the topic once. I was twelve. Yeah, influence? Persuasion? Grifting? Shit, that's my schtick. I invented the con game. Born into it and will die in it.

My Ph.D. adviser considers me one of the most influential people he's ever met. Intuitive in term of how people and groups, groups and people interact. I get it and I can make it happen.

So yeah, you're right. Sometimes I play the dumb guy for the blog. I go, like, "WTF?" when I perfectly well know exactly WTF? Yes, I wrote that folks would suddenly flock out of Petco to go get some Heebie Nats. No, that's not gonna happen, but it gets in the brain. Major corporations and big time sports? Shit yeah, they know what they're doing in terms of product and name placement.

When it comes to "Jimmie Jerk-off's Mystery Sausages" versus "Hebrew National" yeah, 90% of customers will identify Heebie Nats as a more recognizable brand; more reputable, of higher quality, and probably of a better taste. But, people without money will buy Jimmie Jerk-offs, right. Gotta stretch the buck. But, Heebie Nats spend a great deal of money to ensure brand superiority. Now, there is a minimal return on the investment at Padres' Petco Park (Guess the Attendance). It's probably a negative return. That is they ain't making money by putting their name up there. But, they're putting their name up there.

Mere exposure.

So, from the Wiki (so I don't have to explain it myself):
Exposure effect is a psychological phenomenon well known to advertisers: people express undue liking for things merely because they are familiar with them. This effect has been nicknamed the "familiarity breeds liking" effect. In interpersonal attractiveness research studies, the term exposure principle is used to characterize the phenomenon in which the more often a person is seen by someone the more pleasing and likeable that person appears to be.

Simply exposing experimental subjects to a picture or a piece of music briefly led those subjects to later rate it more positively than other, similar stimuli which they had merely not been shown earlier. In another experiment, students were shown a Chinese character on a tachistoscope faster than could be perceived consciously. Later, students were asked to say whether they thought specific characters were positive or negative adjectives. Those characters that had been previously subliminally exposed to the students were rated more positively than those that had not. When asked, the students were able to cite specific and detailed reasons why they preferred the characters that they did (which could have been at least partially due to rationalization).

The effect might be explained by the idea that recognizing a familiar environment makes us feel safe. This effect was first studied by Robert Zajonc. A related effect relevant to advertising and propaganda is the sleeper effect.
[proof I know what I'm talking about: to pronounce Zajonc correctly, keep in mind it rhymes with "science" - ha!]

Yes, you probably sometimes wonder, "why the hell does Coca Cola (tm) still even bother to advertise? They own the market share and everyone knows the brand as superior.

Believe me. Advertisers are smarter than the customers. That's why, 1) people still buy shit (even I still buy shit), and 2) why there's more advertising than ever -- it's literally everywhere. Just looking around I see at least a dozen subtle and explicit solicitations.

Coca Cola (tm) wouldn't have to spend another dime on advertising (or even another penny) and still retain market share in perpetuity. But, they just spent $4.1 billion dollars on Vitamin Water (tm) too. It's why, for example, Ford bought Jaguar and Range Rover (and now that their own product sucks so bad, it's why they're selling Jaguar and Range Rover). Losers.

What gives? Stockholders. Stock price. Profits. Theirs, like any business, in in business to make dough. Duh. But, dough requires growth. If you sell 6 billion units of Coke this year and 6 next year, your stock price will probably decrease. Not only will someone not make money, someone may even lose some money.

Anyway, Taco Bell (tm/a division of PesiCo) knows stoners love their food. LOVE IT! Not only did they increase their drive-through hours to 11:00 p.m. and then to 24 hours, they fucking invented the beautiful term, "Forth Meal." And to correct the phat phreaks, forth mean is not about the justification of obesity, but it's the cure for the munchies. Don't believe me? Go to the site: [clicky]

I've always been kind of afraid to go into advertising myself. I believe the money would be sweet, but I'd totally sell out.