WHEN THE AD MAN IS NOT THE CONSUMER ANYMORE…. from The Hidden Persuader
“Advertisers spend much effort psychoanalyzing consumers, trying to understand why consumers make the decision they do. It is rare that they turn those same analytical tools on themselves to understand why they make their own decisions, especially when those decisions have led to trouble.”
I completely agree. Whenever I see ads which seem to make no sense to me (either as a consumer or even as a market researcher), I wonder what kind of thinking has gone behind it – and I can almost visualise the kind of spiel the client servicing person must have given the client. If only advertisers would stop and take stock of their own brands and market status…
Take the recent Hero Honda ad for instance. The one with the fire and long haired hunk and the sarva guna sampanna line. DUH? And after all that, the hunk passes through the fire and emerges on the other side as this chappat oily haired shirt-trousered man. MORE DUH?
What is this, the aspirational image – all hair and hunk – and actual image – all mileage and helmet – of the Hero Honda consumer?