Viral… Look who’s talking now!
In the world of marketing and advertising there has been too much emphasis put on mass advertising. Not to say that TV or radio ads are bad, but they have to be planned correctly. From my experience TV and radio ads have a great place as a trigger to a product or brand that already has customer influence or higher brand awareness. These ads however don’t seem to be a choice in order to build brand awareness in this day and age.
With the number of brands that we are exposed to we tend to shut out anything we don’t have a personal interaction with. This is why more and more brands are taking a viral approach to marketing, and why the viral marketing field will continue to expand into the future.
As I was walking through Walmart the other day I saw something that made me laugh. They had the game RockBand set up in the young mens clothing section.
A video game POS display in the clothing section.
To create brand awareness you need to engage your audience. Find a way for them to experience you. To know exactly where you’re coming from. If you’re product is well designed, and benefits your end consumer, then you will be able to, through viral strategies, gain not only one time customers but begin relationships with customers that will build lasting value.
All this to say, if people haven’t experienced your product or your brand in some way, mass media won’t do anything but fill the airways. To truly gain a unique brand experience people must be able to reach out and touch you.
Words from a rambler.... 
The reason? The average age of a “gamer” is 35 years old and since most of them don’t enter the toy department very often, it makes sense to put one in an area where they might be – so it does make a LITTLE sense in that regard. The breakdown as of a 2008 study is 25% are under 18, 49% are 18-49, and 26% are 50+.
Click to access ESA_EF_2008.pdf
Oh I absolutely agree! I am not saying it wasn’t a very innovative way to reach people and I actually thought it was a great perspective to take in that sense. I’m glad you threw those stats out there. They really show where the demographics are, and really that’s where marketing lies. In demographics. Thank you for your insight!