It has been estimated that an average person may be exposed to over 1500 ad or brand communications per day. Keep a diary of all significant ads, commercials, and billboards, pop ups and “spam” messages you receive in a three day period. Reflect on which ads you remember, which ones were successful in persuading you to take action to buy a product or service, and which ones had absolutely no effect on you and for what reasons. Discuss the impression of the results of this exercise. Which communication method is most effective to you? Do you feel manipulated by the market place in making decision about which products or services you use and why?

In the time period of 3 days, I was attracted to more than 90 commercials ads collectively in newspaper, Business 360 magazine; and the billboards that were displayed on the way from Kathmandu to Dhanusha.

Among those I remember the ad of watch, rice, airways, internet, cement and a Social initiative campaign of Kantipur Foundation. The ad of Longines watch; which is on the Business 360 magazine persuaded me to buy that product because:

Addressed my need: Last month, my watch broke up and I haven’t bought after that. By seeing the ad, it awaked my need of buying a watch.
Ad composition: In this image ad I also got influenced by the monochrome image, the facial expression of the Aaron Kwok, and its simplicity.
Testimonials: In Longines ad, the testimonials expressed by Aaron Kwok answered my social risk perception. According to Aaron Kwok, “Elegance is an attitude”, and the statement aligned with the facial expression of Aaron in the picture.
Future visualization: The ad pushed me to think on, “How I will look after purchasing the watch?”

The ad is simple, clear, and focused. After seeing the ad, I researched about Aaron Kwok, cost price in Nepal (Rs.5000) and analyzed it with the financial resources I have. It’s affordable for the customers like me.

Among other ads, the ad of Oman Air in Business 360 (Chanda Charu, 2017) has no effect on me due to following reasons:-

Lack of Passport: Till the date, I haven’t issued my passport because I work in local level. It’s not my need to make a passport right now.
Lack of Financial resources: My monthly income is Rs. 30,000, which is limited to sustain myself in Kathmandu. I can’t offer to visit the places like London, Paris, Munich, Frankfurt, Milan, and Zurich in this period of time. Flying to Europe is much expensive for the customers like me.

During this exercise, I reflected on, what do I want? Vs what do I need. As a human being I have lot of things which I want, but there is also a financial restriction where I have to choose on what I need for that time period. Visual communication is the most effective way of communicating with me and by default I attract to those kinds of ads.

I think Marketing influences us and also make aware of what’s happening around us. But, the decision making is always on the customer side based on the individual need, which is shaped by individual culture background and kind of society on which they reside. (Barmola Srivastava, Oct-Dec 2010)

References

Barmola, K. C., Srivastava, S. K. (Oct-Dec 2010). Role of Consumer Behaviour in Present Marketing Management Scenario. Business And Economics--Production of Goods And Services, 268-275.

Chanda Charu. (2017). Business 360. Newroad, Kathmandu: Media Nine Pvt. Ltd.