Monday, October 26, 2009

Thinking the Thoughts of the Consumer

I accidently wrote it this long. I hate long texts as well but have patience to read it till the end. Something I know is very difficult for me to do.

The way I see it, every marketing strategy follows this principle. Marketeers always try to make their consumer think in a certain way they want. By Market Targeting along with manipulating consumer behavior, these guys make their consumer believe that these brands are the revelation they were waiting for. Take the telecom sector for example. These guys contribute to one of the most dynamic marketing campaigns going on. These clever people apart from djuice(i use djuice :p) and ufone(they have their own thing going on...... we'll talk about that later) are targeting the youth (more specifically the boyfriend/ girlfriend community) because its not my old man who's up at night enjoying some "jazz". Anyhow its working to great effect as these packages are being availed a lot.

BUT what about the other campaigns?

Every advert I see now days, I see how/ what market is the target. Whether they are relating Hajj or Umrah ads with international call rates by making a son ask his mother on the phone: "Maa..... Main kya dua karoon?". or whether its a father hearing his son graduate in a village :O(OMG.... who the hell gives em' these lame ideas?)..... the point is one way or the other, marketeers are trying to make you think that they have what you need. So as long as the consumer opts for the product..... good. BUT here in Pakistan things are different.

Brand Loyalty Screws Ufone


Now, Asians are deemed to be very brand loyal. Actually its very spontaneous. This group might not leave a brand even when there is blatant wrongdoing by it, but they could also drop it without having a reason at all. But in the case of Ufone, things didn't really work out that great. We know Marketing ROI. Do you really think that there has actually been a turn over of the level that Ufone is actually marketing..... na-ah. The adverts now are becoming merely an entertaining commercial. This is how i feel about the adverts. And they should be taking this into consideration because i am a part of a market they are targeting.

Wateen Campaign: "Give the Customer What He Wants"


Now this ad kind of convinces me. I think its not the offer but the way they present it. Unfortunately I can't find the link but hopefully you'd have watched it on the telly. They make me think "Okay.... these guys have less than half the rates in the market, its definitely worth trying."

Now before you start to think that i am receiving some sort of commission from Wateen, I'd like to point out how lousy one of there other advert is. Even though the offer is good but...... well i have a link to that:
Wateen, trying to be kewl

So, point being that marketeers always try to make you to think a way they want you to. So the next time you see an advert just think for a second, what they are putting through your mind.

Reference: http://www.iwrotethisbymyself.com/iknowthiswasastupidthingtodo.html

3 comments:

Cindy said...

Hi Haider thanks for the article. I really like it very much because it is original.
I watched the horrible wateen advertisement, oh I agree with you 'who came up with this kind of idea?' It was a good laugh though.

Maybe I missed something, but can you search from your iwroteitbymyself brainsite to tell me a little bit more what wateen has offered that Uphone doesn't (if you have time)
I don't watch television, and I am using telenor. (!!!Telenor)

Haider said...

hehehe... ufone is actually a mobile phone company, while wateen offers broadband and telephony (kind of a land line thing).

One thing I forgot to add was that brand loyalty plays a huge role, ESPECIALLY when the price difference is low. In the case of mobile phone companies (Ufone, Telenor, Jazz, Warid and Zong etc) a few paisas(sub denomination of the rupee)

I hope this clarified your point.
Thanks for the feedback

Cindy said...

Oh that explains why I haven't heard Wateem before. Thanks!! :))

I agree with the brand loyalty is a huge factor for consumers. At least in my case I insist on using telenor even though it is more expensive and sometimes it sucks....:P