Commentary

Take 10 - Be A Consumer

It's not that easy to come up with a topic every week to write about. Sometimes I sit around for an hour or so and try to come up with a topic that will be interesting and intriguing enough that all of you busy people will take 5 minutes out of your hectic day to read. Sometimes I hit the mark, and sometimes I miss, but I value this time as it allows me to think about things from a different perspective.

Day in and day out we sit back and hypothesize about the effect of advertising on the general public. We develop concepts and ideas on how to best reach our target audience and convince them to act in a manner we so desire. One thing that each and every one of you should do is take a few moments every day and just "Be." Be the audience. Be the client. Be the consumer you are speaking to. Be the person who sees these ads and react as you would if you were them.

I find that all too often we analyze advertising from a marketer's point of view. Rarely enough do we react from the point of view of the consumer, so I urge each of you to take 10 minutes out of your busy day, and just react to media as a consumer. Whether this means surfing the web, picking up a magazine, or watching ten minutes of television, try to remove yourself from your position in the workforce and react as a general member of the public.

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This exercise can be eye-opening when you see how advertising is tuned out by the average consumer. As a marketer, you analyze the advertising in the world around you because you are tuned into it. You are functioning on the wavelength that is in sync with the messages thrown at you all day, but you lose touch with the average consumer who tends to ignore most of the ads that are targeted to them. There is nothing you can do about it; it's a natural defense mechanism of the human mind. In order to maintain some level of sanity, the mind focuses only on what is pertinent to it at that time. By blocking a high percentage of the 3,000+ messages that are attacking it every day, the brain is allowing the opportunity for rationale thought rather than processing every message and developing a reaction.

I typically refer to this in my writing as Advertising Attention Deficit Disorder and it's truly a trait of the human mind. Unlike its cousin, A.D.D., there is no drug to take and no reason to take it. This is a healthy affliction that all consumers possess. By allowing yourself to react for 10 minutes as a consumer, you will start to gain a better understanding of this syndrome and it will drive you to create more effective advertising.

For example, there are still people in the world who think online advertising is a waste. Well, to be honest, most of it is. I would argue that much outdoor advertising is a waste, as is much print advertising. Each of these alone are certainly a waste of budget, but in concert with one another, coupled with a strong understanding of consumer behavior, makes them more effective. The whole is certainly stronger than the sum of its parts. Cross-media campaigns that not only understand the mindset of the target and the behavior of the target, but also understand the context of the environment they are placed in, are much more effective. You cannot claim to develop a truly effective campaign without understanding the environment, and you cannot understand the environment if you view it from the eyes of a marketing professional.

If you can't take 10 minutes to just "be," then you need to find someone who can on your team. Try it every day this week, and see what you come up with. See if you react to any ads in the moment, without analyzing them from the eyes of a marketer. See if you remember anything about the advertising 10 minutes after you're done.

It's a fun little experiment.

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