Advertising often gets referred to as the ‘nervous system’ of the business world. Beautiful, vibrant, bright advertisements find their way to every nook and corner of the markets and now have reached our web pages and browsers as well. The photos that pop-up while we shop online, or the YouTube videos that go on showering praise on the mobile we had just googled, everything is a part of advertising, a technique to instigate excitement for the product.
Even, Times Square is none other than a commercial intersection that is well lit up, and has developed into a bright tourist space, only due to the several billboards and the advertisements there and draws 50 million visitors a year. It is estimated that each year the number of billboards crosses more than 200 in number.
In the initial years, any object rose to fame and became a best-seller, online through the word-of-mouth. That is, solely on the reviews fellow customers shared. Now, a product gets marketed even before it has been launched. Often we waive off advertisements and get annoyed while they approach us without consent while we enjoy our favorite piece of entertainment. But, it is not a mere unwanted advertisement, they create an impact on our mental system, even though annoying us.
Triggers Emotions
All aspects of an advertisement get designed aiming to stimulate our brain and heart, to intrigue us even more about their products. The colors, the background jingles, the captions, everything pushes an emotion in us. Not only curiosity, but a range of emotions get triggered inside our brain.
Many life insurance advertisements, or say bank advertisements start on a disappointing note. They pose us with problems that we might have never faced but have high probabilities of incurring them. And, while they attract us by fear, they provide us with solutions, making our tensions wane away in a moment and relaxing us. These convince the customers, often into believing that there is an emergency need for such products and investing in them is beneficial. Thus, fear leads us to re-affirmation that we need something.
Happiness remains to be the highest selling tool in many advertisements. Advertisements that promise a better life after getting the ownership of a particular service or products are always on-trend, irrespective of what the product is. It could range from a mobile app to cars worth millions. As all of us aim to have a happy life whatsoever, these advertisements at least create a pool of thought and motivate us to give them a try. Not only do they guarantee happiness to us, but to our loved ones as well, making us believe, the product would serve as the best gift and expression of love.
Luxury is the next emotion that plays a major part in these advertisements. Promises of luxury and comfort are qualities that any product would draw us into, and promises us a feeling of achievement when we have it. Although, we know they are just claims, trying them once, the probability of potentially becoming their most profitable consumer remains at the top. Thus, we get attracted to the product sub-consciously.
Although different emotions come into play like fear, happiness, expectations, and so on, all of them unanimously reach the same spot, initiating the will to buy the product.
Impact of Advertisements
Earlier, advertising was just a method of communication. It served as a medium to spread information about the product, including the features, sale timings, location of sale, and other relevant aspects. Over the years, it has changed into convincing buyers to buy the product. The tremendous efforts that go behind structuring an advertisement, and bringing it to foreground prove the necessity, and influence quotient.
- Processing and Retaining Information: Although one would voluntarily research about a product before buying it, the recurring nature of an advertisement helps in retaining them in our memory. Ads fascinate our senses, leading to increased buying probability.
- Creation of perceptions: A new customer gets their first image of certain products through the advertisements. As the first impression, any changes to the present perception just acts as an add-on to the existing one. An attitude is formed for the product, and it is difficult to change.
- Recall Value: As advertisements recur, people develop a trust factor for brands as they have a recall value to the products and have been seeing the advertisement for so long. This makes the product known and attracts more and more consumers to a brand.
- Awareness: Above all, advertisements create awareness and knowledge about trends in all fields, including personal products to societal issues. Advertising is seen as a quick and easy way to penetrate information and educate people, creatively, and in a way that stays longer.
Advertisements and Economy
Advertising is one of the pillars of what the economy prospers and blooms further. Although we might assume that advertisement and economical growth are on different tangents, they are interlinked in reality. Ads are seen as the market power and initiate a chain of reactions amongst buyers, consumers, and retailers.
Media is the fourth pillar of democracy and is the voice of the people. Ads are crucial in the functioning and funding of the media, as the major funding to it is through the advertisements. How does the economy get helped? Media is one of the most significant contributors to the economy in the form of taxes and other dues.
During recessions, businesses that advertise and have a stronghold in the domain only strive longer and lead to some amounts of benefits to the economy. But, on the other hand during expansion, even small businesses that do not advertise, and are working on the benefit of word-of-mouth, also get an upper hand. This is just a cycle that keeps going on every few years, but the use of effective advertising helps the business and economy to strive even during adverse conditions.
Advertising increases demand, attracts buyers, and makes the businesses prosper, in turn helping the economy to stay strong.
Advertisements could not be neglected, and are an active part of all industries. But, proper etiquettes should be followed, and that advertising should be done with all guidelines and responsibilities, along with ensuring that they do not mislead in any way.
We consumers also must consume the right advertisement and call out misleading ones, to create a community that helps the advertisements to grow positively and the consumers to benefit from the best product.
