A lot of money is spent in advertising for adapting campaigns to various demographic groups. Recent study in Psychological Science suggests that it may be more effective to adapt advertisements to personal characteristics of consumers across demographic groups.
The authors worked with a group of 324 individuals. They prepared 5 types of advertisements promoting a mobile phone, with each focused on one personality trait: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability and openness to experience. Every type of person should be stimulated by different means.
The ad was a picture of a phone accompanied by text, which was adapted to motivate various personal characteristics. Extraverts were offered XPhone, with which they will be where all the excitement is. While neurotic individuals were offered a handset that will be make them feel safe and secure.
The survey participants were asked to assess which advertisements would help to convince them, based on which of them they would go and buy the phone, etc. In addition, each of them completed a questionnaire to identify their personality. In all cases, those ads were assessed as effective, which matched the profile of the respondent.
The survey analyzed a single product. Buying motives were divided according to normal personality traits. The perceived value of the product depended on the reasons emphasized in the ad.
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