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.