‘You’ve got mail’ is a common internet message that we see when we go onto websites with Google ads. It is used to provoke our interests and to click onto the corresponding pages. After all, the message entails a personal enquiry and is not supposed to be a message generated for the masses. Although this message is repeated thousands of times all over the world, it does show us how innovative and how much effort it takes to grab our attention. Our only option is to bring together the crux of meaning and make it relevant to the target audience as individuals. Marketing and Advertising agencies have a panache for all strategies that will turn a potential customer’s head. Whether it is free items with each purchase or the occasional viral video on the internet, they want to elicit a stronger response from customers each time so that the brand is remembered, recognised and bought from the next time they have a similar feeling. With so many advertisers attempting to do this though, the user is simply inundated and starts shutting out familiar and ‘unoriginal’ or repetitive content.
Everyday or so they come across hundreds of advertisements unintentionally become part of their sub- or unconscious mind. The overpowering nature of this means the user becomes accustomed to the enticing nature of experiencing those emotions and attempts to find similar if not more captivating and personally relevant content. However, having inadvertently created spaces in our minds which we become attached to and measure any future advertisements against. Anything that is not equal to or better will likely be cast aside. We become less open to our world as we are satisfied with what we have experienced.
These same characteristics are reflected in how we advertise products and services. Generally, unless there has been a revolution in how to deliver advertising content, advertisements following the same or similar strategies to reach and engage a viewer. When a revolution occurs, like the introduction of the internet, we realise that adjustments have to be made to deliver the best message possible. As the internet is in the hands of the individual user, these messages can be tailored to them. Even more so now the message can be tailored according to other characteristics including search history, websites visited, conversations with others and groups you have joined.
Yet when marketing has been for so long focused on the individual, it is at this level that the consumer will start to become disengaged and see less and less of themselves in the advertisements and settle for what they already have. In doing so, we as a society will become less and less connected and more likely to turn into a community of individuals rather than remain an individual community.