What We are To Advertisers/Twitchell

What We Are To Advertisers

This article, though short, offered a world on insight into the minds of marketing executives and advertisers. It is a concise documentation of how we are looked at and categorized during this creative process. Advertisement is a way to spread the word to the masses about particular products. If you take a look around your local grocery store, you will see many wares that you are familiar with, along with the brand names that we have come to know (think Kleenex for facial tissue and Crest for toothpaste) Advertising, as I learned in this article, goes much deeper than just selling a product to the masses. Twitchell focuses on the subgroups that advertisers use to create and place their ads. Each and every one of us fits into what is called the “VALS” system, which categorizes consumers by buying habits. There are three main groups, along with eight sub-groups, all of which can be made into several combinations of buyer. This article I found to be mainly objective, in which there is more basic, logistical information given than total critique of the advertising/marketing industry. There was use of vocabulary (which was defined) along with charts to explain the different types of consumer. The main themes of the article were, “Mass production equals mass marketing equals creation of mass stereotypes” as well as “different products have different meanings to different audiences.” (pg.193) For example: Certain products, I just do not have any care about. Men’s Electric Shaving enhancer is an excellent example. For a certain audience, this ad is meaningful and the product might actually be of use. The specific ad I am thinking of features a middle aged man using this product and towards the end he is having his face stroked by an attractive woman with crimson fingernails. As a woman, I might buy this for my significant other, but for the single female there is simply no need to give two seconds thought or care. Thus, this ad would more likely be shown on a basic network channel or a more male-viewer dominated channel. (pg.193) going back to the ‘VALS’ system, this acronym stands for: Values and Lifestyles System (pg. 194). To advertisers, “Segmentation studies are crucial” (pg. 193) because they help streamline what varying groups see and hear about a product. In group number one, the Principle-Oriented Group, there are three categories. Actualizers, Fulfillers and Believers. Actualizers are generally out of the realm of marketing, for they have enough money that they can buy whatever they want, regardless of price. Fulfillers “support the status quo” and make purchases that are financially sound. Believers are generally conservative individuals with a strong sense of American pride (thus causing them to be drawn to American-made products). In the Status-Driven group, there are two types. Achievers and Strivers. Achievers are the “ideal consumer” for advertisers because they “buy to demonstrate success.” The final category is Participate-Driven consumers, and they include: Experiencers (those who live life on the edge and enjoy high-risk activities such as skiing, mountain climbing, fast cars, and the like), Makers and Strugglers. Twitchell noted that Actualizers and Strugglers were outside the glare of the glossy commercials and print ads, for one can already get anything they want and another simply does not have the means to buy such things. As I read this article, it made me think of the previous one I had read in Signs of Life in the U.S.A. The Parable of the Democracy of Goods. Advertisers have long focused on a few key groups, making average goods extraordinary (and those who purchase them like their wealthier peers.) This article also made me reflect on the commercials that I myself watched, and those which seem to be primarily for children, “macho men” (like those on Spike TV or ESPN) or women (Lifetime, Oxygen, E!) With each new channel, or magazine it is fairly obvious that there is a certain type of client to which the commercials or paper ad’s are intended for. I knew this was no accident, but I had no idea that there was literally a scale and model that was created specifically for this. I found this article to be enjoyable and informative, and as I sit down to watch the newest episode of Lost tonight, I will surely pay attention to which commercials I am being shown, and consider whom it was intended for and why that might be.