‘Wireless’ has become the buzzword of today, no longer causing us to think of our favorite radio shows, but instead to focus upon the freedom and convenience that new wireless technology can provide.  This change in concept is largely due to the skill of the marketers who have dedicated themselves to finding the best way possible to sell the wireless dream to the consumer.  What they have discovered, through trial and error, is that the people who most wanted wireless solutions in their lives needed to be told that they wanted them and that a description of what the technology could do was, to many, useless unless put into an everyday lifestyle context.  

 

The Consumer Decision Making Process

It’s important to bear in mind that one of the key aspects of consumer psychology lies in the decision-making process.  This comes about as an attempt to ‘solve problems’.  A problem, in the consumer psychology sense, can be described as “a need or desire that is, as yet, unfulfilled.”  For example, a businesswoman may want to reach her office in under thirty minutes by car, but is subject to constant traffic delays which slow her down.  In this instance, a service that could offer a personalized daily route planner to steer her clear of any traffic hold-ups would be of particular value, as it would fulfill a need by solving her particular problem.  

 

Major and Minor Problems

Problems can be major or minor.  Major problems such as unemployment have an impact upon minor problems and push them into the background.  This, of course, means that unforeseen changes to the economy can consequently have a huge knock-on effect upon product sales, no matter how many consumer problems they may appear to solve during times of economic growth.

 

Problem Recognition

Consumers will often create their own problems by drawing internal comparisons upon what their life is and what they want it to be.  Discrepancies will undoubtedly be found in some areas and, once the consumer has pinpointed these, a psychological balancing act will take place to determine whether the weight or difference is great enough to justify action being taken.  If justification is made, then either consciously or unconsciously the consumer will begin to search for solutions, usually in the form of a product or service.  

 

Active and Inactive Problems

There are two primary types of problems in consumer psychology: active and inactive.  An active problem is one that requires immediate attention; for example, you have a toothache and you need to relieve the pain without delay.  With an inactive problem on the other hand, the consumer may not be aware that their situation is indeed a problem; for example, they may not realise that they could double their modem speed by using a particular plug-in device.  

 

Links to Maslow

Maslow taught us through his hierarchy of needs theory that active problems follow a strict order of internal significance.  In other words, once we have satisfied our primary instinctive need for food, warmth and shelter, our psyche is free to attain higher levels of satisfaction such as those relating to self-esteem and a sense of belonging.  The search for attainment of these higher-level needs initially falls into our category of inactive problems, as they are not considered a necessary part of our internal life-style model and exist, for the most part, on a subconscious level.  Necessity is born only when our inactive needs are stimulated and enhanced by both our external and internal perception of the world around us. Our search for fulfilment of these needs then becomes an active problem when their characteristics become seen as necessary to our life-style. 

 

Lifestyle Model Reinforcement

Furthermore, active problems are often effectively stimulated and reinforced by marketers in their drive to provide prospective purchasers with the perfect lifestyle-model, that is, a glimpse into the perfect lifestyle where the attributes of your product are seen to be key to finding a better way of life. The power of the life-style model lies in its subconscious link to the feelings of fulfillment and acceptance being sought by the consumer.  Good technology marketers know that inactive problems are the ones most commonly used to introduce new products into the marketplace.  Indeed, the marketer will often create a problem for the consumer that is initially inactive, but then gradually grows in significance to the consumer through repeated media exposure routes, until it becomes an active problem that requires immediate attention.

 

Find out More

Find out more by reading ‘Marketing Wireless Products’ by Gratton & Gratton (Butterworth Heinemann, 2004).  The book comprehensively explains how, by fully understanding consumer lifestyle elements, we can help to build an effective bridge between product development and on-shelf success.

 

 

Valley Stream, NY – August 18, 2008 – In our world of ever-changing technology, we are constantly bombarded by names like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and TIVO. Our nation is one of  consistently evolving electronics and in the rush to move forward, some get left behind.  One such trailing entity is the advertising industry. The increasing inclusion of TIVO and DVR’s in American households is causing some consternation among marketing executives. Ace Marketing & Promotions may have the solution to the advertising industry’s current conundrum.

 

The problem lies with the inability of companies to continue advertising their products or services through traditional means, such as television and radio. Digital recording devices allow home consumers to skip past commercials, which, as you can imagine, creates a problem for those who advertise through those same commercials. A similar issue took root with radio several years ago as more and more stations were made available. Now, listeners only have to press a button to move on to another station, sans advertisement.

 

Ace Marketing & Promotions, out of Valley Stream, New York and publicly traded under the symbol AMKT, have developed an amazing system that could answer some of these rising concerns. The Blue Bite proximity marketing system utilizes Bluetooth and wireless technology to market directly to consumer’s phones, laptops, and PDAs.  The system works with over 950 mobile devices, from virtually every manufacturer, which guarantees the largest possible audience.  It supports all of the most popular models, including the Apple iPhone, the Blackberry Pearl, and the Palm Treo.

 

The Blue Bite system allows the company to send information, such as images, video, and audio, directly to consumer’s electronic devices that come within range of the broadcasting unit.  One of the many benefits is that, because it is transmitted via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi and not over a wireless telephone network, it is completely free to the consumer. Additionally, the Blue Bite proximity marketing system is FCC compliant and not considered spam advertising. They will simply receive a text, video, or audio message with the client’s advertisement or marketing offer.

 

Just imagine going to a concert and your favorite band or artist tells you how much they appreciate you, their fan, and that you will be receiving something special from them on your mobile phone. Seconds later, you receive a message describing how to download a free wallpaper or song from your favorite band. Maybe you’re walking down the street in New York’s Time Square and you notice a billboard for a new television show. Seconds later, your cell phone receives a message letting you know that there is a free 15-second preview of that show available to watch on your mobile device. The direct marketing potential is seemingly limitless.

 

Ace Marketing & Promotions has already completed successful marketing campaigns for several major entities, such as the Canada Tourism Commission, BBC, CW, and Turner Classic Movies (TCM).  Shows and movies have included The Bourne Conspiracy, Gossip Girl, Life is Wild, and Robin Hood.  Blue Bite’s most successful campaigns, to date, have been ones for the BBC’s Robin Hood with a positive engagement rate of over 87% and for the Canada Tourism Commission with more than 9,600 downloads over a four week period.

 

One of the greatest things about this technology is that we’ve only begun to see the potential of it. The number of possible venues would seem to be almost unlimited. Shopping malls, movie theatres, airports, museums, subways, and sporting events are just a few of the target locations that are perfectly poised to fully utilize the capabilities of the Blue Bite proximity marketing system. Blue Bite also has the ability to track shoppers, let’s say in a mall, and can even analyze their shopping behavior!

 

Ace Marketing & Promotions has established, through testing and a number of successful marketing campaigns, themselves as a serious competitor in the race for advertising audiences.  Their Blue Bite proximity marketing technology has opened the door to an incredibly unique, and relatively unknown, method of reaching out to consumers. The new face of advertising is no longer a reference to the next hot model or pretty face, but to the changing appearance of an industry that has largely remained the same since the inception of the television. No longer can agencies rest on their traditional techniques and simply create a jingle and a catchy slogan. The new face of advertising is here and it is Ace Marketing & Promotion’s Blue Bite proximity marketing technology.

 

For more information on the company, its products and services, visit their corporate website at http://www.acemarketing.net.

 

Michael Trepeta received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Applied Economics and Business Management with a minor in Communications from Cornell University in 1993. Since that time, Mr. Trepeta has been associated with various broker/dealers as a stockbroker where he was involved in the funding of numerous development stage and growth companies. Mr. Trepeta was a Vice President of Investments at Joseph Roberts & Co. in 1994 and a Vice President of Investments at Rickel & Associates from 1995-1996. From September of 1996 through February 1998, he has served as President of MDT Consulting Group, Inc., a corporation contracted by publicly traded companies to serve as a financial intermediary to investment  bankers and to assist in developing products, services, and business strategies. In 1998, Mr. Trepeta co-founded Ace Marketing and became an officer, director and principal owner of the company as well as a full time employee. You can contact Mr. Trepeta at 516-256-7766

 

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