Analysing an advert using buyer behaviour process
I wanted to analyse an advert using the buyer behaviour process so I understand its effects more, the stages are straight forwards but I want to see how you can implement this in advertisements. Right away this car ad caught my attention. One part of the buyer behaviour process. It did this because it was totally different to all other car ads; the rest had a picture of a car in a nice place with some small text. I liked how this one uses a clever technique of having connotations of a car but incorporating this in a slogan of theirs.
So I started to analyse...
Step 1: needs recognition
When designing for your audience especially a car you are aware they are looking for a specific thing, they need a due to a number of reasons and if someone is looking for one they are almost certainly going to buy one. Again the need isn’t a want, the adverts can work in both ways but for the audience the need has to be addressed and what this car can do for you, especially in Ford's case as they don’t sell themselves on sport and play cars.
Step 2: search
When the need has being accepted and they know what they want from a car in terms of a list, the search begins, however through the search stage the criteria can change due to seeing something new, exiting or different. Adverts are important because they need to do this and grab attention, make the market look into the car. The searching is the vital part where the advert would catch the attention of the market.
Step 3: pre purchase evaluation
Before deciding on a product you take into consideration, opinions, practicality, aesthetics, price etc. and when doing this everything has to be assessed. Adverts seen when doing this can make you curious and your mind wonder and you consider all options
Step 4: purchase
After the car is purchased the process is not over.
Step 5: post purchase evaluation
Adverts portray a certain look of cars, or a unique selling point and good idea, however after buying this product being advertised if it doesn’t live up to expectations, it becomes a disappointment and its snot something you would recommend, although adverts have to be exaggerated, they also cant be lies. This advert above does this as the car is practical to drive around a city and it shows this in a way that makes it seem better than what it is.
So this was the buyer behaviour process but what do we have to do to market the product to these stages...
Stage 1
We need to create exposure for the product, the ford advert does this suing the ford logo and typefaces, usually expose means showing a car but n this case they chose the route of grabbing your attention instead using a different technique, some people may or may not comprehend it, but that can be out of your control sometimes, some people will think its a cleaver idea and some people will think that its pointless having an advert that shows no car about a car. This then leads to acceptance and I defiantly accepted this concept and thought it was cleaver as a design and selling technique.
Stage 2
As consumers we may not be aware but if an advert strikes up a memory of something or someone this can have an effect on us, it makes us relive the memory and remember the advert that did this. I think the car adverts can be hard to strike a memory however they can give a hyper reality experience to consumers making them want to be in that advert and driving that car in that world. You would ask yourself if that memory is good or bad and this again will effect your answer to the acceptance of the design.
Stage 3
Buyer behaviour process
Stage 4
This is all effected by the environment, society, class, work and ethics, all things are built in through own experiences, it colours your view and can depend on what side we are on in the first place. However this ad uses the city fast paced life of today to their advantage, selling a car based on its ability to get around cities easily and quickly, something that in this environment and society is important to business people of the middle class.
