Loyal Fans

 

Vocabulary

ad	prestige	innovation
fan (2)	face (2)	emotional
brand	heart (2)	mystique
ideally	aim (2)	advertising
attach	response	manage (2)
appeal	isolated	attractive
focus	ignorant	and so on
banish	connect	performance
evoke	resilient	nothing short of
effect	absurd	association (3)
nut (2)	assume	exaggerated
cream	go nuts	reasonable
lotion	wrinkle	spark (2)
pimple	hair loss	influence
claim	rational	judgment
fiction	debunk	present (3)
believe	plausible	over and over again
tend	mislead	customers
gullible	situation	investigate
tribe	identity	prestigious
convey	turn into	controversy
resist	of sorts	headphone
claim	ditch (2)	water-resistant
jack	product	uphill battle
end up	stomach	supply and demand
remain	based on	consumer

 

Video: Branding

 

Transcript

Happy…sexy…cool.

Ads show us what we could be — if we had the right products.

Advertising aims to create an emotional response to influence what we buy.

Ideally, it’s the brand itself that creates the mystique: these fans have waited for hours for a new smartphone.

Uwe Manschwetus, Consumer Researcher: “Apple succeeded in appealing to these emotions and feelings. They’ve managed to turn their customers into fans.

But how does marketing work, exactly?

Consumer researchers at Harz University in Germany say that companies aren’t exactly creating new needs. The needs remain the same, but they’re being attached to new products.

Georg Felser, Harz University Professor: “People would rather be healthy than sick. They’d rather be connected than isolated. Beautiful than ugly. Well informed rather than ignorant, and so on.

In marketing, when you sell something, that’s what you want to appeal to.”

Most ads focus on performance and prestige. They want to show that products can make us more attractive.

But such promises are often based more on fantasy than reality.

Georg Felser, Harz University Professor: “There are some ads that evoke associations that are nothing short of absurd, like the axe effect. That’s the fantasy that women just go nuts for any man that uses this product.

It’s so exaggerated, that you have to assume that no reasonable person actually believes it.

But the problem is that you don’t have to believe it, or believe it’s true, to find it appealing.”

Even with all the creams and lotions out there, we still haven’t banished wrinkles, or hair loss, or pimples.

But even when we know a claim is false, it’s still works its magic.

Georg Felser, Harz University Professor: “That emotional association is much more resilient than rational judgment. It’s about truth and fiction.

Even when a claim’s been debunked, it’s being presented over and over again. That often creates a situation where the more often something is debunked, the more plausible it seems, especially when it’s something you’d love to believe.”

And the better known the brand, the more gullible we tend to be . . . even when the company is being investigated for misleading customers.

Back to the Apple fans and their hunt for the iPhone.

Uwe Manschwetus, Harz University Professor: “It’s prestigious. As a consumer, buying it means joining this big family of Apple fans. You might even call it a “tribe” of sorts.

You’re a member of a tribe. You belong.

When that happens, that brand has a sociological function — it can even convey identity.”

And what about when a brand decides to spark controversy?

The new iPhone has ditched the headphone jack and gone wireless. It also claims to be water-resistant.

Uwe Manschwetus, Harz University Professor: “It’s hard to say whether people have a deep need to make phone calls from the bathtub or in the rain or at the Baltic.

But in the past we’ve seen many innovations that faced an uphill battle at first. Word was the supply that created its own demand.”

Consumer experts say most of us end up choosing the product whose marketing appeal to our deepest needs.

Generally, that’s the one that speaks to our hearts, as well as to our stomachs.

Questions

1. Does successful advertising focus on people’s reason and logic, or emotion and feelings?

2. Which is better for a company, a customer or a fan? Who do companies prefer, a customer or a fan? What is the goal of marketing and selling?

3. Do true needs consist of material products or something deeper and more profound? Give examples.

4. All ads must be factual and not based on fantasy, otherwise adults won’t believe it and think the company is silly. True or false?

5. If an ad is absurd or fantastic, how can it become effective? Why is it effective?

6. Why would someone buy a more expensive iPhone than a cheaper brand? Is the iPhone three times better and faster than its rivals?

7. Have controversial products or features always been successful in the beginning?

 

A. I have an iPhone. Yes or no? Do your friends have iPhones or other types of cell phones? Are they Apple fans?

B. Do you think you buy things based on logic and reason, or emotion and feelings? What about your friends?

C. Are you or your friends a fan of certain products or services? Why are you a fan for this product or service?

D. How can you turn prospects and customers of your company into loyal fans?

E. What will happen in the future?