If you have been up late at night and seen a commercial for food you love, it almost seems that TV advertisers can read your mind. A lot of TV advertising is based on human psychology and surveys. As the future of advertising looks to the Internet, the promotions you see may become personally tailored to your needs.
History
The idea to use media to promote products goes back to the Age of Enlightenment and the invention of printing presses. People would advertise goods. The late 1950s and 1960s would revolutionize the advertising industry as television allowed access to a national audience and the idea of suggestive selling began to take shape, according to a history of American advertising on George Mason University's website.
Does It Work?
Not every TV advertising campaign is completely successful, but the growth of the advertising industry suggests that it is effective. In the 1950s, Leo Burnett managed to turn Marlboro cigarettes from a fairly unheralded brand aimed at women to the masculine image of a rugged cowboy. The Marlboro ads were a smash success and one of the most successful campaigns in history, proving that ads can change a customer's perception of a brand.
Tactics
How an advertiser creates an ad depends greatly on what it wants to accomplish. Sellers of luxury items often tout features of their product that have little to do with functionality, giving a sense of prestige. Clothing companies use young, attractive people to suggest that is the type of person who wears their brands. New brands and products often just try to grand your attention so you remember their name, according to an article on advertising strategies on George Mason University's website.
Nielsen Ratings
Part of the effectiveness of television advertising is reaching a broad audience. Instead of paying a flat fee, advertisers on television pay for how many customers they reach when partnering with a show. This is usually done by quizzing a small sample of households on what they watched during the week. This data is extrapolated to estimate the amount of people that watched the show. Most advertisers base their ad rates on such research by Nielsen, according to Nielsen.
Future
A MarketingVOX study found that TV ads will be far less effective in the future than their peak during the 1990s. Most advertisers target younger people, and the youth of the future are expected to use the Internet for media and entertainment far more often than they will watch TV. Internet advertising will also allow companies to reach market niches, meaning more tailored ads.
Tags: advertising industry, George Mason, George Mason University, Mason University, Mason University website