The Problem with Micro-Marketing

Abstract

Will a shift toward micro-marketing, away from creative advertising, erode underlying motivation to consume?While traditional media advertisements are designed to appeal to a particular audience, each of us is constantly amid a veritable sea of advertising that has not been designed for us, whether due to the nature of the message or the goods or services being advertised. They act as a constant reminder of consumption of one kind or another. They represent a mass.Micro-marketers take a dim view of this aspect of advertising, citing it as wasteful in comparison to highly targeted communications wherein the individual or family unit becomes the focus of marketing activity. They do not stop to consider the cumulative effect of creative advertising on primary demand. Nor do they realize that internet advertising is essentially sales promotion elevated by the utilization of computer technology and that retail point-of-sale promotions are merely targeted price promotion.In light of current commercial adoption of micro-marketing philosophy, the advertising industry requires to calculate the effect of a diminution of its output upon the motivation of society to consume. It is foolhardy to assume that without the motivating push of creative advertising such consuming behavior will persist at current or projected levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]