Padd Solutions

Mike is your typical white Caucasian male currently living away from home. He comes from a middle class income and is currently studying information systems technology. He is very tech savvy and enjoys playing games on his Xbox, using his iPod touch and generally anything tech related. He is not a big reader, but enjoys staying informed about the world through newspapeers and various online news feeds. You can also catch him watching his favorite television shows The Colbert Report, Family Guy and Scrubs in his free time. When not watching television, you can find Mike jamming out to his alternative 90's music and exercising. Mike doesn't shop in retail stores or stay loyal to any paticular brand, however he loves a great deal when he sees one. His latest purchase includes a pair of Croc sandals which he wears religiously. Speaking of religion, he actually isn't very religious at all. In the future, Mike sees himself settled away from Carbondale, working a steady job, money saved, driving a new car and generally enjoying life.

Rapaille's method hints at deeper reasoning to our purchasing habits. I think his ‘decoding’ method merely a highly evolved form of rationalizing underlying emotion and reasoning. Although I can’t completely dismiss his theories, as they seem to work for many of his clients. The way I picture Rapaille’s deeper level of meaning is like this. We are always in an unconscious state of competition with our peers. We all buy products to differentiate ourselves in a world that encompasses over 6 billion people. In this world we are genetically 99.9% the same as each person and every other person. By surrounding ourselves with tangible products and services we feel unique, which in turn makes us feel empowered and satisfied. Tangible items simply serve as a bridge to these ideals.

I feel that whenever I set out to purchase something that I am guided by some deeper underlying reasons in my purchasing decisions. I could go out and buy a generic brand, but because it is the cheapest and is able to perform comparably to the luxury brand, it would make sense to buy the generic brand. However, underlying reasons insist that I buy the luxury brand because it is purchased by fewer consumers and because I am able to afford it, I don’t hesitate to pay up. I end up feeling that I made the right decision because I perceive that I have uniquely distinguished myself from the rest of my peers. The luxury brand is also more likely to have advertisements which reinforce this idea and that I’m worthy of this more expensive brand. But of course this all happens without conscious thought or articulate reasoning of course.

I think Frank Luntz’s study of carefully word choice is an excellent marketing strategy which is able pinpoint where people with opposing ideologies meet in the middle on different topics. However I find the way that he uses this strategy to market political/legal issues is completely deceptive to those to being targeted. Political advertising no doubt has some initial impact on me, but I usually take any political advertisement with a grain of salt. I realize political advertisements are notorious for being deceptive and I usually take appropriate actions by inferring with a trusted neutral news affiliate before making any judgments.

Narrowcasting is the dissemination of information about people in order to direct very specific advertisements to very specific audiences in likelihood that they respond strongly to a message. Many marketers believe that mass markets do not exist anymore. Instead they are focusing on creating messages targeted at specific segments of the public defined by values, preferences, or demographic attributes. Narrowcasting is important for the future as marketers aim to fight the overwhelming clutter which exists currently. By delivering specific messages to niche demographics instead of one mass broadcasted message, marketers hope to grab the attention of not more consumers, but people more likely to act on the messages themselves. Examples of narrowcasting include reaching out to voter demographics that are likely to be affected by an issue, search ads on the web and signage inside stores where consumers are shopping for an item being advertised.

Viral marketing/advertising is used to increase brand awareness or relay a specific message through self replicating viral processes. This type of marketing is distributed either through word of mouth or enhanced by the network effects of the internet and pre-existing social networks. This type of marketing often experiences exponential growth in the message's exposure and influence as word of mouth grows. While some viral marketing strategies work better than other, nearly all successful strategies embrace a few if not all the principles from the following list.

Guerilla marketing is another form of alternative advertising which focuses on low cost, creative strategies rather than big marketing budgets. Guerilla marketing often uses unconventional methods to target consumers in unexpected places. Guerilla marketing is typically found in public places to achieve maximum results. Street giveaways of products and/or PR stunts are common guerilla marketing strategies. To summarize, guerilla marketing involves minimum cost for maximum impact.

Ambient marketing is another growing marketing strategy. Ambient marketing strategies typically stray from traditional media to create intelligent and creative marketing messages. These messages often produce mass attention in highly populated areas or directly interact with consumers in an un-obstructive way. Such examples include ads on hanging straps in railway carriages and on the handles of supermarket trolleys. The key to a successful ambient media campaign is choosing the right media format and combining it with a clever message. The term ambient marketing is thrown around a lot and can also imply the characteristics of both viral and guerilla marketing campaigns. Ambient marketing is not guerilla or viral marketing, but each strategy can certainly employ characteristics of ambient marketing.