Advertising psychology

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As a branch of applied psychology, advertising psychology examines the effects of advertising on the experience and behavior of the (potential) buyer (demander). These include B. Effects on buying motives and purchasing decision-making processes .

As a sub-area of business psychology (specifically market psychology ), it serves to increase the efficiency of advertising.

About advertising in general

We are surrounded by advertisements every day. Some advertising measures appeal to us, others do not. But they all have the same purpose: to influence our opinion about a certain product and, if necessary, to increase the desire for that product. New advertisements are being made all the time, as the old advertisements lose their impact if they have been around for too long. Advertising should bring us closer to new products and remind us of old products. But this only works for a certain time, because the human brain needs variety. As soon as it no longer has this, it quickly loses interest in the constant. Advertising also has its own language that unconsciously addresses the consumer without the person being addressed always noticing it. When you see the product in a store, you don't always remember the advertising directly, but only the key stimuli with which the advertising addressed us. Classical conditioning is the psychological basis of this effect .

But advertising is not allowed to do everything either. In order to ensure that advertising adheres to certain standards, there is the law against unfair competition , in short: UWG. The Competition Law regulates which statements and actions are legitimate in advertising. According to this, an advertisement violates competition law if it is suitable:

  1. "To impair the customer's freedom of choice by exerting pressure, in a inhuman manner or through other inappropriate influence."
  2. "If they do not clearly and unambiguously state the conditions for their use in the case of discounts, free gifts or gifts, or if the conditions of participation are not clear in competitions or if participation is linked to the purchase of goods."
  3. "If it is misleading."
  4. "If it takes advantage of the business inexperience (children, young people), gullibility, fear or predicament of consumers when the advertising character is veiled ( native advertising )."
  5. "When it denigrates the goods, services and business relationships of a competitor."
  6. "If it makes unfair reference to the goods and services of competitors."
  7. "If it is connected with a harassment of the customer, SPAM mails, faxes, calls"
  8. "Furthermore, it should be noted in advertising whether it violates the personal rights of people or whether it violates third-party trademarks or copyrights."

The HOBA experiment

In this experiment, the test subjects were shown a product called HOBA soap. While the advertising was running, slides of busty women and beautiful landscapes were repeatedly faded in. When the test subjects were asked about the product, they associated the stimuli on the background images with the fantasy product.

This is called “emotional charging of products”. You just have to repeatedly play a product with so-called "key stimuli" in front of a person who reacts positively to these stimuli, and the positive feeling of the stimuli is automatically transferred to the advertised product. The emotionalization of a product has the consequence that the mostly fictitious additional benefit is placed in the foreground and appeals to the consumer. The products are linked with emotions to which the target group particularly appeals, e.g. For example, young mothers are particularly targeted by commercials with small children, as the additional benefit (the warm feeling that babies get from being a child ) is transferred to the product. Further examples are the “sporty” car, the “eroticism” of smoking or the “refreshing feeling” of a razor.

In toothpaste advertising, the average man gets an above-average-looking woman because of his fresh breath and white, sparkling teeth. Toothpaste unconsciously takes on a success-assuring, erotic meaning for the consumer.

Advertising methods

Directing attention to an advertisement and thus also its perception is only one step on the way to a successful advertising campaign. The next step is to remain in the consumer's memory in order to be able to have a long-term influence on their purchasing behavior. From the psychology of learning and of the psychology of memory, there is this fundamental knowledge to which the advertiser can fall back on.

Repetition

The easiest way to hold on to something for a long time is through repetition. A commercial that is seen or heard over and over again will sooner or later burn itself into our minds, regardless of whether it is good or bad. This strategy of repetition leads to success in terms of memory; but the effect of enhancing the image does not materialize. Since every repetition of an advertising message costs money, advertisers use further knowledge of learning psychology to reduce the number of repetitions necessary.

We learn particularly well and above all quickly in situations with strong emotions. This is used by the advertisers by e.g. B. generate positive emotions through humor, erotic stimuli, beautiful pictures and sensitive music. You rarely find advertisements that try to evoke negative emotions. But even this promotion can be effective, as it is only important to be present in customers' memories. For example, in the early 1990s , Benetton managed to gain a strong presence among consumers, despite negative advertising.

Conditioning

Some advertisements also rely on mechanisms that are closer to operant conditioning. In terms of content, such advertising messages promise a reward if we buy and use the advertised product. An example of this is perfume advertising, which promises us greater attractiveness if we wear the appropriate fragrance. Or the muesli bar that rewards us with a higher level of fitness. However, at the time of advertising, neither the buying behavior nor the reward is necessarily real. The behavior of purchasing a product can be imagined and precisely planned. The reward that the product promises can also be anticipated in an expectation. The only thing that should definitely not happen is that when the customer actually purchases them, they don't get the expected reward. In this case he is disappointed and will probably not buy the product in question a second time.

Learning on the model

Well-known people from public life can often be seen in advertising. They often have a model function for us, are famous, professionally or athletically successful, have a high level of authority and are experienced as personable. Ideally, the target group of the advertising industry can identify well with the model. If a famous racing driver prefers a car of a certain brand in everyday life, this conveys that the car must be of high quality, otherwise a professional like him would not be satisfied with it. The same applies to the tennis star who uses a certain deodorant to feel fresh during sweaty training. If the deodorant still fulfills its purpose under such harsh conditions and our model is satisfied with it, then we are more willing to choose this product.

The fundamental attribution error is responsible for the functioning of this strategy . Instead of assuming that the model only recommends the product for the fee it is offered, assume that you have heard a personal opinion of the model.

Advertising with models is a very successful method. However, it doesn't come cheap with real celebrities. For reasons of cost, some advertising agencies therefore rely on the “model from next door”, a personable person with high identification values.

Advertising techniques

Different techniques are used in the advertising industry, and they are often widely used. The most common examples of this are:

AIDAS (attention, interest, desire, action, satisfaction)

In order to broadcast a successful advertisement, the following steps must be taken:

  1. The potential customer's attention needs to be won.
  2. Interest in the product must be aroused.
  3. The customer should feel a desire to buy.
  4. The customer should come "into action" and actually buy the advertised product.
  5. The customer should be confirmed in his purchase and be happy with his purchase decision. → Post-purchase advertising. (e.g. "Thank you very much for purchasing our product." for various products)

PPPP (picture, promise, prove, push)

  1. Pictorial representations should be used.
  2. A promise should be derived from the advertising (e.g. our detergent removes even the roughest dirt).
  3. The promise should be proven (detergent actually removes coarse dirt), e.g. B. through pictorial representations or quality seals such as Stiftung Warentest .
  4. The request to act / to act should be given ("see for yourself").

USP (unique selling proposition)

The promotion should focus on a simple and very catchy argument (e.g. the detergent with active oxygen).

How advertising attracts attention

The many different stimuli we are exposed to every day are filtered through our attention. Only when something is or could become of importance to us does it have a chance of being consciously perceived by us. What is not of great interest to the courted is noticed by them only little or not at all. These are problems that advertisers face. There are two basic ways to get attention in the advertising industry:

  • Top-down process
  • Bottom-up process

When wishes draw attention (top-down)

In the top-down process, attention is drawn from our desires, needs, expectations and experiences. If, for example, we have seen a friend's visit to see how good the resolution of a new television is, the desire for such a device may arise, which significantly exceeds our previous experience with image quality. We will almost certainly pay more attention to television advertising in the future.

Sex sells: This is how eye-catchers work (bottom-up)

With the bottom-up process, you can draw the advertiser's attention to an advertising message by confronting them with so-called eye-catchers. Most often, erotic stimuli are used, which also evoke a positive emotional mood. Other eye-catchers are z. B. unusually designed pictures that violate our expectations. In addition to the content of the eye-catcher, attention can also be drawn through design: size, movement, intensity, position, ambiguity and novelty are mechanisms for directing attention. Of course, a larger advertisement, which is preferably placed on the beginning or end of a magazine, will attract more attention than a smaller advertisement in the center section. You just have to make sure that the advertising also fits the advertised product.

The Pareto principle in advertising

The Pareto principle is a widespread knowledge in advertising and marketing, also known as "The 20/80 rule". This says that 20 percent of consumers are responsible for 80% of sales. For this reason, advertising is often targeted precisely at those 'heavy users'. This target group definition is u. a. also known as "lead users" or "opinion leaders", as these people set a certain example in their circle of friends.

Involvement (consumer involvement)

This is understood to mean the extent to which one's own person is affected by or internally involved in something. This is important for advertising psychology, since the consumer's involvement has an influence on how deeply he will process the information in the advertising message.

Low involvement is often found in everyday products, for example ( low involvement products ). As a rule, little effort is made to find out about the advantages and disadvantages of the different offers (e.g. advertising for food). After all, if you make a mistake, you can still cope with the financial damage. It looks different with technology, investment or luxury products. The internal participation of a consumer is usually very high here, so that he actively searches for information before making a purchase.

Customer loyalty and brand loyalty

Involvement not only has an impact on information processing, but also on brand loyalty. For this reason, many companies that manufacture low-involvement products (such as nut nougat creams) are starting advertising strategies to increase customer loyalty to their brand (e.g. through bonus systems).

Sports sponsoring is also to be classified in this context: The emotional connection that one has with an athlete or club is transferred as well as possible to the product.

Sales techniques

If a customer remembers an advertising message, that does not mean that they actually buy the advertised product. The leap from remembering a product to intentional buying behavior can be made easier by using knowledge from consumer psychology. Findings from social psychology are particularly helpful.

Principle of reciprocity

One of the most effective methods is hidden behind the principle of reciprocity (mutuality). This is understood to be an everyday rule of human interaction: If you have received a favor, an achievement or an accommodation from someone, then you are to a certain extent indebted to them and you feel the need to redress this imbalance. This principle is used in advertising and sales by doing a potential customer a favor (e.g. a test drive with a new car) and the customer then feels the need to do the seller a favor in return (e.g. B. by buying a car).

Principle of consistency: low balling technique

Another selling technique is to use people's character trait to behave consistently. Since most people try to avoid discrepancies between their own judgments, opinions, thoughts, and beliefs, they can be made to say "A" over and over so that they have to say "B" once in a while to be consistent.

This technology is used, for example, when selling a car in the offer phase. Let's imagine a customer who has just returned from a test drive in the stylish new sports car. Compared to a car that is more than ten years old, the new car is much better, so it will be easy for the seller to elicit a few words of praise from the customer about the vehicle. The more witnesses there are, the stronger the effect.

After the first bond with the product through the test drive, the seller calculates a sensational (unrealistic) offer and emphasizes that the customer is getting exactly the car that he likes and that he wants extremely cheaply. Most customers are excited by this and will ask the seller to draw up a corresponding contract. The seller asks the customer a few days to complete the formalities. During this time, the customer will rave about the offer among his friends and relatives and increase his loyalty to the car. If the seller then calls him to inform him that the house bank unfortunately does not allow the offer, then the connection to the car is already so strong that the price of the product takes a back seat. If the seller comes up to him with a little "encore", then the anger will quickly dissipate, so that the image of the dealership does not suffer.

See also

literature

  • Peter Michael Bak: Advertising and Consumer Psychology, Schäffer-Poeschel, 2nd edition, 2019, ISBN 978-3-7910-4211-4
  • Hartung von Hartungen, Christoph: Psychology of advertising , Poeschel-Verlag, Stuttgart 1921 and 1928.
  • Felser, Georg: Werbe- und Konsumentenpsychologie , 3rd edition, Spectrum Akademischer Verlag, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-8274-1782-4
  • Geml, Richard / Lauer, Hermann: Marketing and Sales Lexicon , Verlag Schäffer-Poeschel, 4th edition, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-7910-2798-2
  • Görgen, Frank: Communication Psychology in Business Practice , Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 2005, ISBN 978-3-486-57700-6
  • Ahlfeld, Benedikt: manipulation methods. Successful conversation, means of rhetoric and protection against targeted influence. , 1st edition, Vienna 2012, ISBN 978-3-8482-0207-2
  • Schneider, Irka: Humor in Advertising: Practice, Opportunities and Risks , Vdm Verlag Dr. Müller 2005, ISBN 978-3-86550-116-5
  • Kroeber-Riel, Werner / Esch, Franz-Rudolf : Strategy and Technology of Advertising , 6th edition, Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 978-3-17-018491-6
  • Kropff, HFJ: Applied Psychology and Sociology in Advertising and Sales , CE Poeschel Stuttgart, 1960
  • Stock, Armin / Stock, Claudia: Psychology-Experience-Behavior-Awareness , Telekolleg MultiMedial Verlag (MMD), 2nd revised edition, Nuremberg 2007, ISBN 978-3-940453-00-6

Web links