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You don't think they have ever tried that. They stopped ad spend in certain locations and in those locations sales went down. People don't have time to researc

You don't think they have ever tried that. They stopped ad spend in certain locations and in those locations sales went down. People don't have time to research every single choice in their lives. At some point you just go with brand trust. When I see Uncle Floyd's Cola and CocaCola, I just go with what I know. Advertising establishes brand trust.

wpietri 7y ago
> People don't have time to research every single choice in their lives. At some point you just go with brand trust. Advertising establishes brand trust. This is a non-sequitur. Brands existed long before advertising, and regardless they aren't the only way to solve the problem of choosing what to buy. If you really care about making things easier for purchasers, you'd be eager to eliminate advertising, which a) adds a great deal of confusion and distraction, and b) reduces the value of earned brands in favor of whomever can spend the most money.
chipperyman573 7y ago
That's part of the problem imo, these companies have done nothing to earn trust (and often are significantly worse than companies that actually try to earn trust by being trustworthy), because they can just rely on the ads to build it for them.
cousin_it 7y ago
Some advertising, like Superbowl ads, does establish brand trust - because you know a fly-by-night company couldn't afford a Superbowl ad. But targeted advertising, which is the whole point of adtech, cannot do that - because you never know if it was shown to a million people or just you.
- DevKoala 7y ago
  All advertising is targeted; the granularity and fidelity of targeting are what changes. Also, the systems used to calculate conversions from Superbowl ads, TV ads, cross-reference multiple data sources that often contain more private information than whatever data sources are consumed by your regular targeted banner advert.
- southerndrift 7y ago
  It works like this but I still don't understand why people trust a company that has the resources to buy a Superbowl ad. If they can afford that ad they must charge their customers more than needed. In other words, the product is more expensive than necessary and the brand isn't offering the best possible value. The brand is signalling that they have convinced many people, or otherwise, they couldn't afford that ad. So I can trust in the choice of those people. But why should I trust the brand itself?
  - amelius 7y ago
    > The brand is signalling that they have convinced many people, or otherwise, they couldn't afford that ad. Or they just convinced a bunch of investors. See e.g. Uber.
Super_Jambo 7y ago
This is why the problem cannot be solved without regulation of the market. Each individual actor is working in their best interest, but as a society it creates unimaginable amounts of waste.
RealityVoid 7y ago
Yes, they did that and sales went down because competitors did not stop advertising. I doubt that if all advertising stops tomorrow that globas usage would stop. Who would suffer would be companies that rlie on hype instead of quality. Advertisement is a zero sum game.
tastygreenapple 7y ago
Curious if anyone has a source on Coca Cola reducing their ad spend in a market (Kansas?). I've heard about it a ton (and believe it) but have never seen a primary source for the study.

wpietri 7y ago

> People don't have time to research every single choice in their lives. At some point you just go with brand trust. Advertising establishes brand trust. This is a non-sequitur. Brands existed long before advertising, and regardless they aren't the only way to solve the problem of choosing what to buy. If you really care about making things easier for purchasers, you'd be eager to eliminate advertising, which a) adds a great deal of confusion and distraction, and b) reduces the value of earned brands in favor of whomever can spend the most money.

chipperyman573 7y ago

That's part of the problem imo, these companies have done nothing to earn trust (and often are significantly worse than companies that actually try to earn trust by being trustworthy), because they can just rely on the ads to build it for them.

cousin_it 7y ago

Some advertising, like Superbowl ads, does establish brand trust - because you know a fly-by-night company couldn't afford a Superbowl ad. But targeted advertising, which is the whole point of adtech, cannot do that - because you never know if it was shown to a million people or just you.

DevKoala 7y ago
All advertising is targeted; the granularity and fidelity of targeting are what changes. Also, the systems used to calculate conversions from Superbowl ads, TV ads, cross-reference multiple data sources that often contain more private information than whatever data sources are consumed by your regular targeted banner advert.
southerndrift 7y ago
It works like this but I still don't understand why people trust a company that has the resources to buy a Superbowl ad. If they can afford that ad they must charge their customers more than needed. In other words, the product is more expensive than necessary and the brand isn't offering the best possible value. The brand is signalling that they have convinced many people, or otherwise, they couldn't afford that ad. So I can trust in the choice of those people. But why should I trust the brand itself?
- amelius 7y ago
  > The brand is signalling that they have convinced many people, or otherwise, they couldn't afford that ad. Or they just convinced a bunch of investors. See e.g. Uber.

Super_Jambo 7y ago

This is why the problem cannot be solved without regulation of the market. Each individual actor is working in their best interest, but as a society it creates unimaginable amounts of waste.

RealityVoid 7y ago

Yes, they did that and sales went down because competitors did not stop advertising. I doubt that if all advertising stops tomorrow that globas usage would stop. Who would suffer would be companies that rlie on hype instead of quality. Advertisement is a zero sum game.

tastygreenapple 7y ago

Curious if anyone has a source on Coca Cola reducing their ad spend in a market (Kansas?). I've heard about it a ton (and believe it) but have never seen a primary source for the study.