What Does a Consumer Want From Your Ad?

The Eyes Have It.

Posted on December 4, 2007 | Permalink

By Lane Casteix

It is said "the eyes are the window to the soul" and that may be doubly true in advertising. Consider this similar statement, "The eyes are a reflection of consumer goals."

That came from an article at http://www.sciencedaily.com/ about a recent study conducted in the Netherlands and Michigan that has given us some interesting insight in designing advertisements. Most marketing textbooks advance the theory that looking at ads is a predominantly "dumb process," driven by visual stimuli such as the size of the ad or the color of the text. That may not be true.

The study tracked eye movement of consumers viewing a series of ads. The consumers were divided into three groups, each with a different objective. Interestingly, each group's visual tracking of ads and their content differed according to the goals they had. This suggests the marketer needs to identify what their consumer may be looking for it their ads in order to design an ad that satisfies their goals.

I would also suggest this has profound implications for packaging as well.