33 What might be the future of advertising?

I’ve sen a documentary about the shifting focus of advertising. Some time ago the keyword was ’lifestyle’, which meant advertisers were trying to create an image of an attractive ’lifestyle’, which people could relate to. If you bought a certain brand, you could feel you belonged to a ’social group’ that was cool. These days, however, the consumer is undergoing some very serious changes. We (the buyers) are more set on self-expression and individualism than ever. This also means that we are more set against rigid classification and pigeonholing. What customers are looking for these days is a more personal ’image’ that a company should have. If companies wish to be successful, they need to demonstrate a clearly identifiable set of values we can also relate to. We don’t want brands as much as we crave ’ideas’. We are more likely to buy a product these days because it is ’green’ or because donates money to fight disease. In the old times, in all probability, we bought products to show off the brand.