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agree: .

I still remember the "No Problem" ad of Suzuki Samurai. It sold to masses that Samurai is a no problem bike ! also "Fill it, shut it, forget it" tag line of Hero Honda.

Ads play an important part in selling your wares. It injects the particular product in to the prospective customers mind. Innovative and catchy ads help it to retain the product in the mind of the prospective customer. It helps to bring the product into consideration.

But the final decision making when done by a well informed knowledgeable customer will be based on reviews, reliability, technology, convenience, brand value, price etc etc

Ads never influence me but have helped in keeping me updated about the options i have in the market when i'm in the market looking for something.

Lack of ads of some products (mostly electronics) have made me miss out on some good deals otherwise i wouldn't have missed if they were advertised properly.

I think for somebody who is well-informed and really interested in a particular class of product or products, ads to not influence purchase decision.

I'm a fairly crazy gadgeteer. I've never been influenced to buy even one mobile phone from an ad. I usually know about the phone I want months before it is launched. And the desire for owning it is usually generated much before the phone is actually available in the market and widely advertised. All that an ad will do is let me know that it is available. I even know where it will be available before I see an ad for that phone. And usually (esp. in the case of gadgets), the ads follow only a month or so after actual availability.

As for cars, I have never ever felt the desire to buy a car because of an ad -- newspaper/magazine/TV. (I rarely see ads on TV anyway because I don't watch TV at all). In fact I'd be stupid if I let a purchase decision be made simply on the basis of an ad. I'm taking delivery of a Swift in a few days, and I can't remember a single Swift ad I've seen in the past 6 months, at least. I do remember the Swift launch ads, though. All that an ad has helped me here is to get the telephone numbers I need to call, or the address of the website I need to visit, to get more information.

I guess ads do help in the case of people who are not well aware of the variety/availability etc. of products they rarely discuss/read about in their daily lives. For example, if I wanted to buy a fridge/washing-machine/microwave, the only way could do it sitting at home is either crank-up my lappie (to research on the 'net) or go looking in the newspapers. If I'm not in the market for any of these appliances, I never even notice the ads in the newspapers.

that being said, would be nice if you could be more transparent with your motivations behind conducting this informal market research/focus group discussion. People here are frank with their thoughts, but using the forum for your office work without two way information - What do the mods think about it?

I think ads & punch-lines are always useful to identify the car and what special it has to offer. It doesn't necessarily have to influence a potential buyer, but it sort of identifies with the character of the car.

E.g.

BMW = joy
Safari = reclaim your life, make your own road, etc.
SX4 = men are back

Ranbir Kapoor selling the Micra touting its virtues of driveability, park ability and overall compact ness etc.
A large part of the buying public may be swayed by his ad.
But we Indians are generally well informed and Im sure many people know that his vehicle of choice is an Audi R8.
So what gives?
Will the public really believe him about the Nissan Micra and buy it?

Celebrity endorsement can work well, no doubt. But it has to be believable.
Take the Amitabh and Abhishek ad for the Versa - that was a massive flop.

Force One? - Let time tell the tale.

Personally, I find the nissan ads very lame. When Ranbir Kapoor talks about driveabilitity, I wonder if it is back to 1990s when zen came into the market. Today every hatchback worth its name is very comfortable to drive. Its a hygiene factor now.

This morning I heard that Nissan Sunny is a caaaaar, since it is stretched. As if its the first sedan of the country!

Where is the USP?
If their ads were to influence me, I would stay away!

Well said, Sir. I personally feel the same about the Tata VISTA ads proudly proclaiming "Sedan Class". However, people do get swayed. One of my friends has just booked this Vista and when I pointed out the wannabe Sedan Class markings, he actually said "Its because its provide=ing all sedan type features." I did try and explain that these features were very common across others such as Punto, Polo, Swift etc. But the decision had been made.

So, in the end, these ads atleast get people to your doorstep. Rest is on you.

I think good ad's get prospects to the doorstep but after that it's the product that makes him/her decide weather to go in for the same or not, in todays environemnet getting a prospect to the doorstep and make him consider your product itself is a big thing and if an ad achieves that then it's solved it's purpose in my opinion, atleast it's rang a bell somewhere in the prospects head and made him/her want to know more.