PlusOne - Musings of a marketer

Here is an interesting post by Bryan Ong that will have advertising sales people dancing on their desks in anticipation of increased sales, while having small business people gulping at how the hell will they afford it.

Basically Bryan is reporting on research that shows that people need to see an advertisement 20 times before it will become effective…

His post cites what ‘people think’ when they are seeking your ad…I like this

“The eleventh time, they wonder how the company is paying for all these ads.”

The research indicates that people go through an intense internal dialog and ruminate over your ad.

I have a different theory and it is much more basic. It has to do with a cloak of invisibility and a magic awakening of awareness.

Try this question.

How many piles of old bricks have you driven past in the past week?

Don’t know?

Lets try another question.

What is the current price for tyres for your car?

Some people will know, but most won’t simply because they don’t need tyres at this time.

It has to do with a thing called Gestalt (there are a number of threads to this area of psychology) which has to to with awareness based on need.

If you were wanting some free or cheap bricks to pave an area, or build a BBQ, then your mind would be alert to piles of bricks. This means that if you want bricks, you will start seeing them. Don’t need bricks, they would be as good as invisible to your.

After your car has skidded on a wet road, or you have a traffic fine for having bald tyres, you will automatically become aware of the tyre ads on TV and in the newspaper when previously the tyre ads may have been ‘invisible’ to you. You might have noticed them, but they would have been benign in terms of emotional response and an inducement to action.

What has this to do with ad frequency? Simply this. Your advertising is useless unless what you are advertising is needed by that person at that time.

Of course, a powerful special offer may involke a sense of need, but otherwise you are just going to have to keep advertising so that when someone needs your bricks or tyres, they will become aware of your ad and action on it.

Bad news of course for those of us with small ad budgets, but I can hear the ad sales people dancing on their tables!

Have an advertising experience to share? Tell us via comments.