Consumers

Well yes there has been a tremendous shift in consumers and their tastes as well as preferences and in all overall purchasing power, based in India i see that happening more closely with all the development happening around and the perception of people changing.

Today a city like Mumbai, which has consumers you more closely associate with, is cluttered with billboards, television advertising to such an extent that more time is spent on watching ads then actual programs. In India we still dont have complete freedom to filter unwanted ads however we are moving closer to that day thus what marketers are doing is to get more creative,

There has thus been a drastic change in the kind of billboards i see today, even the ads are more focussed towards a particular trend or fad thus making consumers take note or associate with it more easily, then we have the start of mobile message advertising, where a person can send a free message to anyone’s phone and attached to that message is a small text ad.

We are also moving towards more creative floor and table graphics which i find in cafes, where every time a person spends a good half an hour he will get a glimpse of the ad.

Then there is the usual viral advertising that again plays with the fact that its sometimes comes across as word of mouth or reference promotion than general advertising, all our gmails, yahoos, flickers and orkuts have used this.
and to mention a few good viral videos on youtube i would suggest the Cadburys gorilla campaign as a reference,

and talking about videos – plz dont miss the goa fest videos on youtube they are brilliant

then of course there are blogs however i don’t personally see their use as an advertising medium due to lack of credibility HOWEVER they are out there and deserve a mention.

None the less the best way to reach out easily is to piggy back on a trend or fad, or a promotion that serves a dual purpose, so that it leads to word of mouth. and as far as a consumer goes tickling the funny bone is always a good way of reaching out