Monday, May 30, 2011

How well do adults recognize marketing?

I'm sure we've all been here before-- your friend sends you a link to a funny YouTube video and tells you that it will change your world, make you laugh, or at the very least, bring you up to speed on the latest viral video hit.

This past weekend, while with my sister, she told me that "Oh my gosh, have you seen those Old Spice videos? You have to watch them. They're hysterical. HYSTERICAL. SO FUNNY. Get my computer. We'll watch them." What we watched was this video, and then clicked on about a dozen more after. Of course I laughed, but I also turned to her and said, "You realize this is just really good marketing?"

She responded, "Yeah...they're still funny".

She failed to realize that I wasn't asking if the videos were funny, they of course, were/are entertaining. I was asking her if she recognized it (had to and turned out to be) was part of a marketing campaign.

It left me wondering how well adults are able to decipher what is marketing and what is a viral video. And while a viral video must help spread brand awareness (i.e. she referred to it as The Old Spice" video), what tactics are being used to focus on converting those who become aware about the brand into a consumer. Looking forward to learning more about the digital marketing world in order to answer these questions.

1 comment:

Omar said...

Great post @Ida.

My post is kind of a response, so I'd love to hear your thoughts! Check it out here.