Advertising is a key part of any business. How can someone purchase your product or service without knowing about it? Advertising is everywhere. Radio, TV, roadsides, the Internet, and even a logo on someones T-shirt all qualify as advertising. What makes it work though? What about that ad compels you to purchase the product? On TV, a company has 30 seconds to make you want their product. Even if you didnt know you wanted it. There is a key word here, you. It is you they are targeting. Well, not always. If you are a male, they might be targeting your wife, or you kid. No 40 year old male will watch a twenty foot giraffe talk about Power Rangers and want to go to ToysRUs (well not most). If you sit a five year old kid in front of the same commercial, well that is a different story. On the other hand, show people snowboarding and surfing while drinking Mountain Dew, and that guy facing a mid-life crisis, may go after the Mountain Dew. See how it works? Of course you do. Lets assume you know how advertising works. We wont need to go back to this subject.
In the past 25 years, we have seen a major shift in advertising; who is targeted and what kind of products are trying to be sold. For the longest time, it was men between thirty and fifty. This is because men had the buying decision of the household. Even a toy commercials narrator would say, Hate it when the kids are causing a ruckus, keep em busy with tether ball. This is one example, but it was the trend at that time.
As women fought for equal rights, in the workplace and at home, we saw the advertising shift again. Then commercials and products were targeted at women. Women needed an easier way to clean house, or the hummer commercial where a woman is driving through downtown in a Hummer. The commercial says, Threaten men in a while new way. Honestly, could they be more obvious about the target audience. Of course, we knew that women wanted more power so they would show men as dumb, idiots and the woman teaching the kids. I am not saying, women cannot take care of a household but to sell McDonalds breakfast, you dont have to make the man look like an idiot nor should you make the woman look that way; but it would be nice to be a little less obvious about it.
Finally, we have seen yet another shift. There has always bee marketing towards kids, but now more than ever. Another McDonalds commercial that aired this year shows the kids playing on a playground, and mom could not get them to come to the car, so she held up the McDonalds bag and the run to the car. There are many examples of kids leading the purchasing decisions. If parents would stand up and tell the kids that they would not get the new toy or that kind of food, marketing would slowly curve back up to the parents. Kids dont make money, but parents must not like to hear their kids whining, because the kids win every time when it comes to getting their way. One advertising agency that created the new Dodge Durango commercials took a different approach. They showed the guy talking about the raw Hemi engine power the sucks gas and impress his friends and the wife talks about the smooth ride, spacious interior and DVD player. The best of both worlds, and yes the kids have loads to do with the DVD player and plenty of room. Everyone wins.
Advertising goes into many mediums. I have listed a few and touched on one, but we could go all day explaining people who get majors in marketing research and how the advertising market is worth billions of dollars, and whatever member of the household spends more or influences the spending is the one that is targeted that year and for that product. Of course we all know what Apples iPod commercials are targeted towards. Either kids that can do the dance moves or middle-aged individuals that love that kind of music and wish they could do that. The rest of Apple ads target everyone. The geeks, the home decorators, and the style savvy. Whats the future of advertising? I think it is the family pet. It may sound far-fetched, but we have pet superstores now, and we have pet grooming, if you see a dog owner that is crazy about their pet, they will go to great lengths to satisfy their pet, so yea it could happen. The next trend may just target Fido. Who knows?