Fad is a phenomenon which cannot be ignored in the modern business scenario. It is highly effective and has a deep impact on the consumers. Advertising and other promotional tools should be used properly to cash in on the success from fads. This article discusses the implications of fads, their usages in different areas including the Internet.
Speed and intensity of impact are the essential features of any type of marketing communication, especially advertising. If the impact on the target audience due to advertising is very high and deep, it is bound to show positive results. The usage of fad in marketing and advertising is very crucial in this regard. "Fad refers to a fashion that becomes popular in a culture relatively quickly, but loses popularity dramatically" (www.wikipedia.org). Fads may come back at a later period as the new generation engrosses themselves in that fashion again, for eg., bell-bottom trousers or old-fashioned jewellery faded for sometime in 1990s but has made a clean come back yet again. Some fads may become a trend or fashion as it develops along with time. It is then accepted by everybody as a regular culture, custom or trend . For example, Internet advertising or even the Internet itself, rock music, jeans etc. Fad also becomes important in case of communication towards a niche market. Any fad in case of marketing is a managerial intervention which is more innovative than rational, but also functional in reality, that ultimately improves the performance of an organization. The best example of usage of fad successfully in communicating with the target audience is that of MTV which employs a team of campus executive officers. These officers visit different colleges all over India and gather information on the likes and dislikes of the channel's target audience (youth) because they have to catch hold of the latest fad and these fads change rapidly amongst youth. Although it can be said that banking on fad is risky, still it can deliver very high returns, as it is often associated with high degree of differentiation.
The use of fad is more pronounced today in the era of fast paced electronic medium like the Internet. During the early days of Internet marketing, there were a huge number of fads like banner advertisements or pop-up advertising, pay per click business models, mass e-mailing etc. All of these were fads in Internet communication (online advertising to be more precise), which were initially effective and remained popular for sometime. Back then, they were used by a very small number of people. However, as more people joined the bandwagon to explore these avenues, all of them started loosing their popularity. This points to the fact that fad should not be overused since their appeal fades in due course of time.Moreover, first movers in fads are the people who gain most. |
