I know NOTHING about marketting and am just beginning to study its arcane ways (I am a software engineer by trade). In addition to trying to understand particular marketting methods, I am also trying to understand the underlying principles involved. However, this particular thing eludes me... In another thread I was involved in, someone mentioned that really annoying guy who is on the cable channel commercials at 4am wearing the loud sports jacket with the question marks all over it. This guy acts like a complete and total imbicile and yet became a millionaire in his first year (or so I am told). I am trying to understand what the principle is at work in his success (besides the fact that people are basically stupid). I find such an ad annoying and then turn the channel. Yet many pick up the phone and place orders. Is the concept that "annoying is memorable" and therefore generates traffic, no matter how much you have to humilate yourself to do so (or in his case, he humiliates/laughs himself right to the bank). I suspect that there is a VERY basic principle at work here, and I was hoping that someone with a lot of experience in the field could let me know what it is. Is it as simple as just creating a "buzz" about your product/service/etc.? Any publicity is better than no publicity? I mean, certainly in my case he has me remembering his stupid commercial LONG after it was aired...but the problem is I will NEVER buy anything from the guy. I have to figure that this is a basic marketting principle, but alas, that is not my field (yet) so I could use a bit of insight as to what principle is at work. My grattitude in advance...
this is a fun question. The ad is very memorable, because I remember seeing it 5 or so years ago and still have a vivid picture. So yes, its memorable. Also, it got you talking. Much like controversial commercials, this stupidity of this one got you asking questions about it which is free advertising for them.
This is all about branding my friend - His name is Lasko - but its not just his stupid commercials its that he bought up tons cheap of advertising space and was so repettitive that he was a fixture in the homes. But he is playing on peoples basic desire to get something for nothing... See marketing at the root level is just one thing - basic math - its a numbers game - when you have the numbers you have sales ... example being : people have some of the best products in the world but due to limited funds to get them proper exposure they cant sell enough to mass produce. But then you take a guy who puts a rock in a box and prints it up real pretty and gets in the right distribution network and becomes an overnight millionaire. Product really has little to do with anything - its all about numbers - when you look at it as a numbers game it begins to take on a whole new meaning. Google is a great example - google started with no real product - they captured the numbers and the numbers became their product. Just a few of my ramblings - David
LOL! Nooooo...the only "school" here is me trying to school myself in how some of this stuff works. This was one of those things that was the most obvious to me so I thought I would ask about it. You see, being in the technical field, this defies all logic...at least on the surface. Now, I have lots of other interests that help me understand how people react to things, but I guess I just underestimate the drive to "get something for nothing"...in large enough numbers. Thanks for the insightful (and very quick) responses...I have more to think about I see...