Nope. Ted's wrong.
Most of the items in a store are 'discretionary
spending' for most of us, most of the time. Be it
a hardware store, a grocery store, a clothing
store, or even a bank. If we buy an item we use
it, eat it, or wear it. But if we don't, usually
without realising, we find something else to do
with our time & money.
We could get our hair cut this week, but often we
leave it until next.
Some of us have 3+ credit cards, others have only
1 or 2. Those with fewer cards seldom feel
inadequate that they spent their time and money
doing other things than filling out credit card
application forms.
Fortunately, for marketers, buyers regularly,
often habitually, purchase from the category. But
there they encounter an enormous range of brands
that are all pretty acceptable.
All these examples remind us that the main
competitive battle is one for
attention.
Competing to be better than competitors is just
one subset of the broader challenge to get
noticed and bought.
Very little buying is carefully planned. Brand
choice even less so.
If we have a plan it is often vague....
"something for dinner", "something new to wear".
Most shoppers don't carry lists. Instead we let
things catch our attention, often first via
advertising, and second via store display.
We prefer to make a choice not design what we
want ourselves. And we like to choose from a
restricted set of options (the ones we notice).
That's why we much prefer a restaurant to offer a
limited menu rather than say they'll cook us
anything we like.
A great price, great quality, great design, new
features - these are ways to catch attention
(particularly of retailers and salespeople). And
much investment and R&D goes into cost
reduction and new product development.
In comparison almost no R&D investment goes
into advertising, media, branding, packaging, and
point of sale display. Vast sums are spent on
these ways to catch attention, but with little in
the way of systematic experimentation or
investigation.
We need systematic R&D into what makes a
brand salient. How come I notice some brands and
not others ? How come some brands come to mind
while others are never considered ?
Some advertising builds salience, while a
distressing amount does not.
Some media strategies really reach people, and at
the right time,
most don't.
The Ehrenberg-Bass Institute's
research agenda is built around
questions like this.
To view marketing commentary from the Institute
Director, Dr Byron Sharp,
click here.
To view Ehrenberg-Bass Institute video channel,
click here.
