I pay attention to marketing, advertising etc. I took a couple of electives in marketing way back in teh colleges and since we started our practice, it's something we have to deal with on almost a weekly basis. When watching commercials, I'll look for the hook that makes you watch and draws you to the product. And people remembering the product or service is the one and only goal.
We've gone through, and are still pretty much going through a phase of the woman coming off as the smart and clever one while the man plays the buffoon. Another trend, which has been going on for a while and is just plain good marketing sense 101, is that any time you see a group of people, they try and cover the gamut of ethnicity. A Corona gets it's lime and at this beautiful sunset party at the beach house, the white girl, black guy, Asian babe....everyone has a bottle and they're the happiest people on earth. Simple, effective and you target your marketing to everyone. It's common sense.
You're seeing more gays in advertising now. I believe it's Zales that's been featuring gay couples a lot in their ads and you see more and more pop up in advertising in general. I get it. But one trend I can't figure out in marketing is mixed couples. Over the last year plus, advertisers have been using mixed couples in their marketing at an almost unbelievable rate. Last night, I watched 3 commercials in a row with mixed couples. It's not a handful of companies, it's across the board.
Of course, I have to give a disclaimer here. I'll make it simple. I don't give a shit. You can date, live with or marry anybody you want as far as I'm concerned. It's your life. Happy for you. Whatev!! But, I'm trying to figure out the purpose here. Is this some market that's been sorely neglected or overlooked? Has there been an outcry from the mixed couple community about advertisers not being "inclusive" enough? Is there even a mixed couple community that I missed along the way?
Just trivial deep thoughts by Jack Snags Handy