How Advertising Is Changing In the World Today: The Selling Game

The video “The Selling Game” explores the new wave of advertising that relies mainly on consumer-generated content. The video includes the Diet Coke and Mento viral video, Sunsilks’ Bride Has Massive Hair Wig Out video, and discusses the new advertising techniques to find out more about current consumer behaviors. The video also effectively highlights the contrast between old and new marketing techniques. I thought this video was very informational. I found it very interesting that television advertisement is becoming more interactive and that there are marketers who are looking into refrigerator advertising. I like how at the end of the video it gives a whole new insight to the future of advertising. I also think it is intimidating to know that marketers are watching our every move online to understand how to market to us effectively.

In todays world we are exposed to so many advertisements, approximately 6,000 marketing messages each day. It is difficult for advertisers to capture the consumers attention because we are too consumed with advertisements that sometimes we are unaware we are being advertised to. Also we are being advertised to so frequently that we start to only pay attention to ads that we can relate to that catch or us our attention. Television advertising used to be the best medium for advertisers because people would sit and stare at their television for hours on end. Today we tend to get up off our seat or do something else rather than watch commercials. TiVo, Netflix, and online video streaming are also a big reason why television advertising has changed; now able to fast-forward through commercials or watch shows without any commercial interruptions. Consumers have taken control over advertising content rather than the marketers themselves. The number one reason for this is because we as humans like to be in control and in charge of our lives. Technology allows us to control our access to certain content. It allows us to control what we see, when we see, and how we see it. For example, when a consumer comes across an advertisement online they have the power to ignore it or share it with others. The concept of sharing things over social media websites is what creates “buzz.” Creating buzz is so appealing to companies because it is free advertising. When an advertisement goes viral it is able to reach a large target market at a small cost. It also is important because the consumers are hearing exactly what they want and when they want. Creating a “buzz” is kind of like word-of-mouth only better, the more you hear about it the more inclined you are to make a purchase. The most important advertising content of 2006 was the Coke and Mento video by Stephen Voltz and Fritz Grobe, which changed the advertising industry forever. Their YouTube video went viral and reached a million viewers in only 12 days. After other companies saw how viral the video got, they wanted in on it too. Many companies since then have invited consumers to create videos about their product. Today, consumers have lots of ways of commutating their experiences with certain brands and are more likely to trust another consumer’s view than a marketers advertising or sales pitches.

Sunsilk wanted to create a new catch phrase for their brand. They started out by creating a video that was made to look like a homemade video called “Bride Has Massive Hair Wig Out.” The video is of a bride who goes nuts because of her bad hair on her wedding day. The video hides the fact that it is being used as a marketing channel because it seems so real, and it is really funny so it generated a huge buzz among consumers. After the video went viral and the term “Wig Out” was coined, Sunsilk launched a contest awarding the winner with $10,000. The contest consisted of people sending in videos or pictures of themselves “Wigging Out,” or having a bad hair day. I think this would have been a