marketing-psychology

Often, I see a company marketing their goods and services and wonder if ANYONE has stopped and thought through their audience’s reaction to the whole effort, or is it just a case of “that’ll do…”?

Big businesses regularly employ very well-respected, highly rewarded ad agencies to do all the necessary work ensuring their ads reach the intended eyeballs and ears of their target market. Far too often, this has clearly not been thought about, or discussed prior to them creating and airing the ad and the evidence is right there on the screen. 

But understanding the customer and their needs is my primary line of questioning when I am building a website for a customer: who is the website for? Who will be using it? What are their main motivations, and does your site, messaging, and overall customer journey align with the end user’s desired outcome?

But this seems to be an afterthought for a lot of campaigns and for me the whole approach seems flawed, especially from a neurodiverse perspective.

From the initial concept to the execution of the ad it’s a baffling mess and this can be amplified if you are Neurodiverse and struggle with social context, attention switching and processing communication literally.

I’ve seen a lot of ads that have required me to have repeated exposure to, before I can make any sense out of it or decode the relevance of the ad to the product or service.

Here’s an example: putting up a text-heavy ad that disappears before you have a chance to acknowledge, read, comprehend, and decide if you need to take action or and ad makes a bold assertion and a (supposedly) ‘startling revelation’ about a new thing, process or service. 

In our attention-starved, dopamine-seeking times, the need to keep the viewer addicted to their screen is the primary concern of the channel, website, or streaming service. But I’ve often thought that the needs of the channel outweigh the best interests of the advertisers. The adverts are a necessary intrusion if the channel wishes to make an income. sure. However, the brerak from the program gives the viewer the opportunity to switch attention and go make a cuppa, scroll on Facebook, or, if forced to, speak to their partner, child, or pet.

It’s the attention economy, and these days, it is EVERYTHING, I would have thought that advertisers would make their campaigns as engaging as possible. Becuase once you have the audience engaged you can keep their attention on your products or services. But, it seems a lot of campaigns have little or no understanding of how to capitalise on the attention once given.

“Get the eyeballs and the wallets will follow” seems to be the mantra but those eyeballs are highly distracted these days. And, like most things, the neurodiverse needs in this arena are rarely a consideration. Large companies may pay lip service to their DEI policies, proudly exposing how wonderfully rainbow and equitable their inclusivity policies are for staff and customers alike, but then it’s business as usual. 

Where Ads Go Wrong

What am I rambling on about? Well, here is a worked example of how advertising and marketing miss the mark for me and others like me.

I realise that most people try to avoid ads and marketing, but there are times when visual or audible communication is vital, and clarity is paramount. So, this doesn’t JUST apply to ads, but ads are where it shows up most frequently and noticeably for me.

Lets start with concept and context switching, which can be a real challenge, especially with ads that start with a bold assertion, claim, or non-sequitur apropos to nothing before.

Example: A man stands in a plastic poncho, struggling to keep dry in a simulated rainstorm, while a gruff male voice states something like;  “Still struggling with disposable ponchos? Stop wearing a plastic poncho and use our jacket.”

Now, apart from the absurd notion that there’s a whole slew of people out there, soaked to the skin every time it rains, struggling to stay dry in their plastic ponchos and unable to figure out a more permanent weatherproof alternative, is frankly, laughable. And not laughable in a laughing “with you” way.

But despite these issues, this ad would seem straightforward at first glance. Ah… but…

Let me share the neurodivergent user experience.

A Brutal Transition

The issue starts with how the program transitions to the ad. We used to have ‘bumpers‘ in the UK, small stings or short 5ish second mentions for a product or service associated with the program or channel sponsor.

“‘Six Idiots Spout Absolute Drivel’ is sponsored by Crap-is-Us, providing crap to the public for 250 years.” wipe/cut to commercials…

I’ve not seen a live TV program on a major UK commercial channel for many, many years. These “bumpers” may still exist, but not so much on Amazon Prime or Netflix. No sirree, Bob!

Instead, it’s straight from the program you’re enjoying to the ad without delay. No interstitial wipe, no bumper, no nothing. Just, BOOM! ADS!!

“You’re going to have my baby, Sylvia? My mother’s dying and you tell me now!”

Song kicks in – singer: “DARLING HOLD MY HAND.” Visuals show a laughing young lady, arm stretched backwards, from your POV you seeher running ahead, giggling and laughing on some sun-drenched beach.

Slam cut. Program’s gone. New visual. New scene. No Context.

In an instant, I’m scratching my head, forced to attention-switch faster than a professional whack-a-mole player.

I’ve been luxuriating in the program I’ve chosen to watch, immersed in its story, when suddenly this overly harsh, brash, bright ad bursts in. Imagine you’re having a lovely meal with someone you care about, and suddenly someone runs up and goes “WANNA BUY A PONCHO?”… You’ll rightly have questions, and maybe a few choice words for the individual rudely interrupting your meal. But do you think you’d be spending the rest of the date thinking “Well that’s our poncho needs sorted“?

I am always wrong-footed by this crash cut to an ad. Even if I have seen the ad before. My first instinct is always: “This seems to be a stylistic departure. How does this fit into the narrative? Are these new characters? Is this a flashback, flashforward, or maybe worldbuilding?”

Then, as in the poncho example, I have to figure out what the heck is going on. “Are they selling ponchos? No. Do I own a poncho? No. Do I ever struggle with a poncho? Huh? Why am I even thinking about ponchos? Stop hijacking my internal narrative!”

Now, I’ve said “poncho” too many times, and the word sounds weird. But I can guarantee I’ll be obsessing over the word poncho for about three weeks.

PONCHO!

This rapid-fire switch makes no sense.

Then, before I’ve figured out what the ad is about, BOOM, the next ad begins. It’s like that feeling you get, running downhill a little faster than you feel comfortable about, anxious about losing your footing and face planting. Maybe you’re not even sure why you’re running down the hill in the first place…

All this is going on and therefore the “call to action” is completely missed, and the intent of the ad (to sell stuff) is lost on me. ALL. THE. TIME.

Also, my Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) and Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) mean that as soon as someone tells me to do something, there’s no chance I’ll comply.

“You need to buy X…”

Yeah, and you need to fuck off. Oh, apologies. Reflex action. Do continue…

The struggle is very real.

Confrontational Messaging

The confrontational tone of many ads also gets my hackles up. The formula is usually:

“Do you think/buy/do this? Then you’re an idiot. You need to stop being such a massive idiot and buy our stuff. Or you will continue to be an idiot. Do you really want to be the person who continues being an idiot?”

Followed by some smug line designed to make you feel like “one of the gang” with a sentiment along the lines of: “Buy our crap. Laugh at twats.”

I may have paraphrased somewhat.

Obviously, TV ads are quick-fire by necessity, and I doubt advertisers are likely to make major changes for those who find them difficult to process. But here’s the thing: neurodivergent people are usually very loyal and like predictable routines. It may involve taste testing or other trial runs of the product before committing to it. Win us over though and we may be the most loyal customer you have. Switching brands is a considered step we do not take lightly.

We just need a little more time to think, plan, and switch.

The Bottom Line

So, to all the advertisers out there, all those businesses seeking customers through ads, PPC, or other marketing strategies:

Consider who might be in your audience.

Think about their needs. When you alienate us with your ads, you effectively lose our business, possibly for life. There are brands and companies on my personal “no-fly list” who will NEVER see a penny of my money again. I’m looking hard at you, Google PPC, Tesco Bank, NatWest, you all know what you did.

Marketing is pretty straightforward: Allow your customer to understand the benefit and value of what you offer and tell them the next step if they are interested. That’s it. Sure, dress that up with fancy phrases, in-depth studies, focus groups and the rest of the ad production merry-go-round. But effectively communicating your value and telling the customer the next step is all you do. Yet, most of the ads I see these days are not fit for purpose. It’s as if a lot of ad agencies have allowed the interns to run the place.

If you have a business, whatever the size, I hope that episode Four of our humble little podcast gives you food for thought.

Let us know; maybe I am missing something (not for the first time), or there are considerations I haven’t thought of. Feel free to jump into the conversation, and let’s hear your thoughts on this topic!

Listen to our Podcast Here: https://businessoddcast.com/podcasts/