Advertising is only getting more pervasive, obnoxious and invasive. That’s not my personal opinion (though I absolutely agree); that’s the internet speaking. According to recent consumer surveys, digital advertising doesn’t exactly have the best rep. Pop-ups interrupt the browsing experience at every turn. Autoplaying videos embarrass you in waiting rooms and on buses. You can hardly read a news article without having to scroll past a dozen ads and accidentally clicking on one of them.
But have you ever imagined the kind of impact these “obnoxious” advertisements have on us? Who makes these advertisements anyway and what are they doing right now?
COVID-19 is changing consumer behaviour — and therefore Advertising
Moreover through studies it was found that a majority of people don’t hate ads but would simply like to filter out the bad ones. Honestly, I do have a soft spot for advertising after watching Mad Men (ha), and I think there’s definitely an art to it. I love studying the graphics and psychology behind some of the art and designs to deconstruct them.
Today’s youth — or Gen Z as they’re also known — can be a tough crowd. Well-informed, digitally-savvy, and particularly cynical when it comes to brand marketing — 16 to 24-year olds are an entirely new breed of consumers. Part and parcel of this is of course digital technology, with 96% of Gen Z owning a smartphone and spending an average of 3 hours and 38 minutes online each day.
It might be easy to assume then that growing up a digital native might result in a passive, perhaps even a lazier generation, but in contrast, Gen Z is said to be more go-getting, money-savvy and socially-aware than ever before. A Lincoln survey found that saving for the future is a top priority for teens, alongside getting a degree and a valuable job. Meanwhile, 80% of Gen Z is said to have a greater tendency to buy products that have a positive social or environmental impact.
So how are brands and advertising companies grabbing attention in 2020 in a year where everything has come to a halt and you need to promote the production cycle and increase consumer demand?
Advertising expenditure on digital decreased by 26% in April 2020 as opposed to March 2020, according to the data released by AdEx India, a division of TAM Media Research. As per the AdEx data the impression on digital also plunged by 25% as more than 1,000 advertisers stopped advertising in April due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
In the wake of the fast-spreading pandemic, the central government issued a nation-wide lockdown on 23 March, due to which consumer’s on-ground movement came to a halt. This led to many categories such as tourism, travel, and automobile to limit or altogether stop spending on marketing. However, many other sectors such as laundry, telecom products and personal healthcare, among others saw a steep rise in ad volumes.
The data also highlighted that in April 2020 (during Covid), 53 categories stopped advertising as opposed to March 2020 (pre-Covid period), bringing the total number of categories to 367 from 420. While many categories stopped advertising on digital during Covid period, 18 new categories entered the digital advertising space in April 2020. Air fresheners, branded atta,
pre and post-wash products, instant soup mixes, dry fruits, among others are the new categories in April. As per the data, Cough Lozenges saw 900 times growth in ad volumes while ad volumes of milk grew 17 times. Similarly, washing powders/liquids grew 11 times while Vitamins/Tonic/Health Supplements saw 4 times growth in ad volumes.
Similarly, over 2500 new advertisers entered the digital advertising space in April 2020 when compared to March 2020. Out of this, Union Bank of India led the top five new entrants charts followed by Worldwide Media, which is a part of The Times Group.Everest Industries, Delphi Computech and Ayur Sudha Ayurvedic Centre completed the top five new advertisers’ list for the month of April.
Despite the rise in time spent on smartphones, over 1,600 brands stopped advertising in April’20 as opposed to March’20. Out of the total 6,500 brands, more than 3,000 new brands appeared on the digital medium in Apr’20 compared to Mar’20. Amongst the new entrants, Nyati Group emerged at the numero uno position with Amity Future Academy coming in second. Union Bank Of India followed Amity with Worldwide Media Books and Vajram Tiara trailing behind.
Brands are constantly trying to engage consumers and impart the message of social distancing as we see many brands going online including many small businesses.
McDonald’s, Audi and Volkswagen are creating visibility and awareness in these dark times of coronavirus by tweaking their logos and taglines to spread the message of the necessity of social distancing . MNCs like Unilever and P&G have pledged their support in fighting the global pandemic by providing essential hygiene goods across different markets. Google and Facebook are supporting small businesses with free ad slots. In papers and social media timelines and on television more social distancing and Covid-19 awareness campaigns are being launched by brands every day.
Lately there’s been a bit of talk about algorithms that control the content we consume on Instagram, YouTube, and elsewhere.
There’s been controversies about the power of advertisements and its money exert over the content, ideas, and structure of social media sites, and more broadly, how we as a society consume, discuss, spread, and come to hold ideas, beliefs, culture and ideologies.
I begin to wonder how my seemingly trivial personal choices about which YouTube video to watch or which brand of toilet paper to buy affect culture as mentioned above.
It seems we all like to think that our choices are deliberate and rational, and not much affected by advertisement, but that’s obviously not the case, otherwise there wouldn’t be so much advertisement in the first place.
The question really is What do we -GenZ -want to see in the advertising world and what change would we bring in this space?
