Facts About the Art of Influence
You might not realize it, but you're being influenced all the time. From logos and packaging, to what we see on TV and hear in songs, advertising has an enormous impact on our thoughts and behavior — with an average person exposed to more than 20,000 ads per day!
In this post, we'll cover the "art of influence" by tackling ten fascinating facts about advertising. We'll reveal how companies tap into our emotions to get us to buy things; why color is so important when it comes to branding; how a company in India took advantage of a natural disaster; and more! So scroll down for 10 Things You Never Knew About Advertising.
1. 73% of people trust the information in ads more than what they hear from friends and family.
Source: Audience Science Study, 2010. According to a July 2013 report from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: "The annual research budget for advertising is four times higher than the combined marketing budgets of General Motors, Colgate-Palmolive, Johnson & Johnson and Exxon Mobil Corp."
2. 125 million people die each year because of dirty tap water — that's one person every three seconds!
Source: WHO, 2013 Water contamination is a leading cause of illness and death worldwide—it kills more people than malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS combined. As an industry, we donate less than 0.2% of our ad spend to nonprofit organizations that provide the world's people with safe, clean drinking water.
3. Only one in ten people remember a brand name they’ve seen in an ad.
Source: Adaptive, 2013 Nearly 70% of consumers say they waste no more than two seconds looking at ads on websites and blogs, yet 93% search online for products and services before buying them. That means that two seconds is all it takes to make or break your sales—and your customers won't be remembering what brand you're selling them if they can't even tell you!
4. According to a poll by Gallup, 77% of Americans say most ads make them feel lonely or left out.
Source: Gallup, 2012 46% of respondents said they felt manipulated by ads in stores, while the same percentage said they felt "targeted" by ads on TV.
5. The average American watches 9,000 ads a year — that's like watching 3 television episodes a day!
Source: Ad Age MediaScope Study, 2013 It's no wonder that people are getting sick of commercialism. And when we're so bombarded with advertising, it can be difficult to remember our own brands and company values. What are your company's values? How can you showcase them in your advertising and marketing? What do you stand for?
6. Only 20% of people can accurately guess how much companies spend on advertising.
Source: Havas Media, 2013 In a survey by Forbes, 34% of Americans said they made $1 million or more a year. The truth is that the average household income in America is about $46,000– which means Americans have an inaccurate perception about how much money is in their economy! It's likely that this figure also applies to how much people think companies spend on advertisements — we're probably thinking about numbers that are way off.
7. Making your ads "clickable" can increase their effectiveness by 49%.
Source: AdYapper, 2013 The most successful brand campaigns are the ones that give consumers a clear message about what the brand is, why it's different, and the product benefits that make it worth the customer's money. As a company, you should focus on creating an experience for your customers that gets them clicking through to your website — so they can easily buy what they've been looking at!
8. Companies with a sense of humor win big with consumers.
Source: Havas Media, 2013 Feeling nice about a company's product or service? Humor can go a long way in creating brand loyalty. According to research done by Havas Media for AdWeek, 58% of people said they were more likely to buy a company's product after watching it being used in an advertising campaign. It's no surprise then that mints, Pampers and Fruit Stripe gum all have extremely positive brand images — they're funny!
9. Haagen-Dazs makes the most accurate ice cream ads in the world — despite their price tag.
Source: Ogilvy, 2013 You might think that all ice cream tastes the same — but if you're a Haagen-Dazs fan, you know there's a big difference between their advertising and the frozen treats on supermarket shelves. Haagen-Dazs spends nearly 8 times as much money on advertising per item than their competitors in the ice cream industry — and it pays off, too. They have near-cult following and have expanded their business to include many other products like coffee, frozen yogurt, sorbets and gelato.
10. When Apple rebranded its store logo in 2001, they increased sales by 22%.
Source: Smashing Magazine, 2012 Branding is a powerful tool when it comes to selling products and services. Apple stands out from the crowd for its sleek design and emphasis on user experience — because of this, Apple products have become some of the most desirable in the world. According to Robert Passikoff, founder of Brand Keys: "You can't be everywhere at once, so you sign your name on the building." Thanks for reading our post! We hope you enjoyed learning about the "art of influence" with us. If you'd like to read more articles like this, check out our blog in the upper right-hand corner of the website, or grab a coffee and join us on LinkedIn! Jessa Sayej is a Brand Specialist at Adzone and loves working on everything from social media strategies to branding. Nick Austin is an Account Executive at Adzone who focuses on digital advertising for clients small and large. He was also previously a product manager at Kickstarter. Exclusively for AdZone, he's written many articles about digital advertising — several of which are featured on our blog and LinkedIn page. You can also see his work featured in the Huffington Post.
Written by Jessa Sayej of Adzone Hi, I'm Jessa! I have over five years' experience in the digital marketing industry and have worked with some amazing clients. In my career I've managed PPC campaigns for both large and small companies and I've worked hard to make sure that every client got the best results possible. Now I'm a Brand Specialist at Adzone —and love working on everything from social media strategies to branding.
Conclusion:
This guest post was written by Nick Austin of Adzone. Nick is an Account Executive at Adzone. He's also been a product manager at Kickstarter, and his work has been featured in the Huffington Post and Mashable. Exclusively for AdZone, he's written many articles about digital advertising — several of which are featured on our blog and LinkedIn page. You can also see his work featured in the Huffington Post.
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