Time is Money in Advertising

Identification

Studies by Mogilner and Aaker (2009) suggest that emphasizing either the monetary aspect or the time aspect of a product has different results on consumer behavior, depending on the disposition of the consumer. They suggest that for specific products in which mere ownership of the product (say, a famous brand name) is the goal of the consumer, advertising the monetary value leads to more positive response to that product. For most other products, however, advertising language emphasizing experience and time (an advertisement encouraging consumers to “spend time” was particularly successful) leads to more positive responses toward and purchases of a product. This shifts the consumers’ focus away from spending money and on to the potential for positive memories and experiences.

Example

Rather than advertising the low-low price! of a new digital camera, it would be wiser to instead grab shoppers attention with: Document the adventure of a lifetime with our new camera!

Solution

Gather price information before reading about the product, either by doing prior research or scanning for the listed price in-store.

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