Is Amateur Advertising More Effective?
We have been learning in class about information cascades and network effects, and how these phenomena can drastically affect our decisions. In modern society, we often decide to base our decisions off of the people around us. If other people think a particular product is cool and hip, then wouldn’t we probably agree with them? Shouldn’t we want the product as well? Check out this article as an example of how network effects can bias our decisions. The article explains how trends can begin, and lead to conformist actions that lead the trend to grow. This is why some products (such as succulents) can succeed to a great degree (if people think that other people like them), and other products can fail so miserably (if people think that other people do not like them). So, if our opinions are so biased by how we think that other people feel, then wouldn’t advertisements from these other, seemingly impartial, people be more effective than advertisements created by experts?
This article examines some of the pros and cons of advertisements done by amateurs rather than by experts. From a network effect point of view, there seems to be great reason to invest in amateur advertisement over expert advertisement. The article even points out that with the increasing technology available to amateurs, the quality of amateur advertising can rival the quality of expert advertising. But the article also points out that experts seem better at holding the attention of viewers, whereas amateurs can only attract attention for short spans of time, before the viewers get bored. This aids in viewer retention and makes it more likely that the viewer will remember the product later. The article concludes by suggesting that the optimal strategy for advertisers might be something that resembles a mixed strategy in game theory: using expert advertisements sometimes and amateur advertisements at other times. While it may be surprising that amateur advertisements could be as effective as advertisements made by experts in large corporations, when you think about it in terms on network effects, it makes a lot more sense.
Sources:
https://newrepublic.com/article/123668/i-love-big-succulents-and-i-cannot-lie
http://www.thevideoink.com/features/branded-tv/branded-content-best-produced-amateurs/#.Vkz2BvmrShc