I came across some terms supposedly coined by advertisers to describe consumers :
Transumer : consumers in transit. Apparently advertisers are increasingly targeting transumers… Ever seen all those boards in airports and so on ?
Snobmoddities : commodities with snob value. Ah, good old Dalhi !
After spoiling date : age after which kids don’t fall for ads. The young adults.
As I was saying, our generation is of no interest to advertisers / researchers. Which is why I wanted to understand our age cohorts. But no response to it….. anyways….
Sympvertising : advertising with a pinch of sympathy. Didn’t quite understand this. Sympathy for whom ? The end – consumer ?
Oh, ok… infusing consumer advertising with a pinch of sympathy that acknowledges the tough times that most consumers are experiencing – LA-based ad professional James McLahan.
The best example I can think of is the Beetle ad created by Bill Bernbach just after the Great Depression in the US. Showing a man at a petrol pump (or fuel station, as they say!!) holding the petrol pipe (representing a gun) to his forehead….
Just imagine what is going on in the US market today….. Advertisers addressing son-of-the-soil type Americans….. We-know-How-It-Feels….. America and Apple Pie and so on….
Massclusivity : a product based on exclusivity from the masses. I am different….. which is why I shop at Shopper’s Stop and Lifestyle but take pride in being a First Citizen….. or gold member… or whatever it takes to be “exclusive”….
Any idiot can come up with a great ad. But it takes a truly creative mind to come up with such terms. After all, getting the terminology right is the most important and difficult step in the marketing process……
understanding your consumer? nah!