Driving on a Sunday morning,
I noticed billboards advertising products that I enjoy.  Taking more notice, I was amazed at how many billboards I have trained myself to ignore on the path of my common routes.  The highways are littered with old school billboards and the new BIG LCD ones.

Then I noticed on the radio,
that my favorite songs were no longer playing.  In fact, it was a slew of 30 second commercials.  I haven’t noticed them in a long time, as we normally utilize compact discs or one of the 5 Ipods in our household.  When I do listen to the radio, it’s on my drive to work, which is long enough for about 2 songs.  If a commercial interrupts my listening enjoyment, I simply change the channel.

Television is like this too in my house.
70% of what we watch is prerecorded on our DVR.  Another 20% is downloaded or watched streamed over the internet.  Commercials are rarely viewed in real time.  The fast forward button is heavily worn on our remote.  We do stop the fast forwarding if  they look entertaining.  Funny thing is, we can remember those funny commercials, but always forget what company they are for, or what that company actually does.

I’ve trained myself to ignore direct marketing,
like one might think of white noise pumped into an office building.  You know it’s there, but it’s just a gentle hum as you go about your day.  If you choose to take notice to it, you’ll hear it, but most times you’re too wrapped up in everything else that’s going on.   Am I alone on this?  I still buy Sprite, Diet Pepsi, Mountain Dew, and my favorite beers and liquors, regardless of push marketing.  I’d love to hear your take on one simple question:

If we stopped advertising, would people stop buying?

Filed under: 2:00 A.M. | Tagged: advertising, direct marketing, push marketing, white noise