But the appeal of content marketing to children and young persons simply went through the roof-they found gambling content marketing posts nearly four times more appealing than those over 25. Not surprisingly, gambling content marketing was much more appealing to all three groups than ads with a clear call to action. We measured both whether their reactions were positive or negative and the intensity of the emotion. So neither group is likely to make the mental counter arguments needed to resist being taken in by content marketing.įor our new study, we worked with 650 participants and compared the reactions of 11- to 16-year-olds, 17- to 24-year-olds, and those over 25 to gambling content marketing on Twitter. And while young adults might be able to recognize that the posts are advertising, they find it much harder than older people to resist being persuaded. When presented with content marketing, it is nearly impossible for children to immediately recognize the posts' persuasive intent. And 17–24 year olds are more prone to process advertising affectively because, as neuroscientific research confirms, their brain structure is undergoing dramatic changes and the neocortex (where rational decisions are made) is in upheaval. And this is the group that, according to our research, engages-likes, shares, follows-the most with gambling content marketing on Twitter.Ĭhildren have fewer skills for recognizing advertising than adults-they just don't have the experience. Under-25s-including children below the legal gambling age-are not so good at putting up mental defenses. So content marketing is more sneakily effective.īut there is one target audience for whom the effects can be disastrous. Coming back to those natural mental defenses that we build up immediately and automatically when we detect an ad-if the ad's telling us to gamble, the defense will be even higher. We found that 40% were content marketing. In a recent study, we analyzed more than 888,000 Twitter gambling adverts. While some brands sell chicken, others sell addictive, potentially dangerous products-from alcohol to gambling-and for them, content marketing is as attractive as sheep's clothing is to a wolf. But somewhere in your brain (and in the brains of your network and your network's network), a synapse fires, a new connection has started to build up: Aldi is one of the cool kids. It doesn't matter to you that the post is from Aldi-you might not even have noticed. So, you share it, showing others that you get it. If you've seen the show, you will get the inside joke and feel like part of the in-crowd. But imagine you see a funny post like the one from Aldi shown below, which references the Netflix series Squid Game.Īfter tonight's game, levels of arrogance are at their highest since 1996, and the W.H.O has this advice for non-England fans. Would you like or share a supermarket advert saying, "Chicken fillet this week only £2.99"? Probably not. As these followers like, comment on and share any ad, it gains momentum-the holy grail, for marketers, being to see it go viral. Which, in the age of social media, is a pal gaining followers. This way, a brand turns from a market crier to a friendly pal. Instead they are designed to create a warm fuzzy feeling or to make their audience giggle. To avoid this, content marketing ads are designed to trigger as little cognitive engagement as possible. Research has shown how they result in consumers constructing raising mental defenses as they realize they're being sold to. In fact, hard sales and direct calls to action do the opposite. Minimal engagementĪs a brand, if you succeed in building up positive emotional associations in the minds of your consumers, you won't need to drive a hard sale for your product. And when the product being sold is addictive, or potentially dangerous, the impact on the most vulnerable audiences is alarming. Product placement has been around since the mid-1890s-it is as old as the moving image itself.īut the combination of content marketing and social media creates something far more powerful. Stealth advertising is of course nothing new. Anything works so long as it promotes positive emotions in the consumer. There isn't even an obvious connection to the product or the service being advertised. Notably, it features no call to action, no "buy this, it's great!". Using funny memes, insider-driven stories or inspirational content, this type of advertising disguises its commercial nature.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |