Ever been school shopping for the second grade? You have to get what you know is going to be cool and will make you the coolest kid in your town. Then, just as you think you have got it all, your classmate throws you a curveball and has a new item that totally blew the socks off of what you thought was the best. This might be one of the worst feelings as a kid because then you have to make up lies to tell your parents like, “Mom! Someone stole my Spice Girl lunchbox!”--when really it’s in the cafeteria garbage can-- or, “Grandma! Can I have my birthday money early because I need a new winter coat?” We have all been there and wished that someone could just throw us the ropes of what’s hot and what’s not. Now of days, those people exist and they’re called market researchers and scam artists.
Today’s “anything goes” environment leaves the floor open to anyone who wants to make a statement. From head to toe tattoo art, piercing every inch of skin, and to thongs as pants, anyone can do anything they desire. TV shows like Jackass are even promoting profanity, nudity, and reckless activities. Market researchers discovered that inappropriate behavior is in and sold taboo items, movies, and objects to consumers. Trends today are like a huge circle. Markets create focus groups and account reviews to find what’s hot, sells the hot, hot becomes even hotter as consumers devour it, and then the shoppers spit out the bones back to the market in hopes they will come up with new ideas to make a product even better.
Media buyers are hitting even closer to home. The Rutgers University Dance Team doesn’t get recognized like the teams they support do, but the same marketing techniques go into their program just as any other would. For example, TRL, DanceFlick, America’s Best Dance Crew, and Victoria’s Secret use the RUDT as a door to open many advertising possibilities for the University and their own products. Being in the Tristate area aids the college team to create windows of possibilities to get their face and name across in the major cities like New York City, Atlantic City, and Philadelphia. The RUDT’s 2008-2009 slogan, “Own It”, attracted marketers to use their slogan to promote other consumers to own their products as well. The expert marketers have more money ideas filling their brains than anything else because money really does make EVERYTHING go around.
Next time you go shopping think about where you saw the idea to buy this product or who was wearing it that made you want it. Celebrities are rich and famous experts looking for ways to suck you in to following their products because if you do you’ll be like them (also known as: famous person testimonial or association principle). Marketers know who to target and are just as well trained to land a hit as the army is so be aware. We all want to be that cool kid on the block, but with times changing, you may never get on top or ahead of a trend. You’re either the nerd who knows the tricks of the market and is too desperate to ignore the gimmicks or you’re the jock who is too cool for anything and is really just a brain full of sports. Either way-you’re stuck. So be yourself and let the cool kid stress about the trends.
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