If all the consumer products that are manufactured by us were stacked up I am sure the need for going to a prayer house to seek God would hardly be necessary! We either innovate or copy to bring a line of vital and some rather absurd consumer goods to life. From the development of Photons for transferring piles of data from New Delhi to Atlanta in about six minutes to an eye exercising apparatus, the myriad products available today will go on increasing year after year.

This is the primary reason why advertisements dot everything we see, hear and in the future probably what we feel. The need to get noticed in the already crowded market requires marketing and ad agencies to come up with something unique that people can instantly connect too. People do not like to be told what to do but if the message is rolled into a concept that might be able to connect then it is a whole different ball game altogether.

Studies conducted by Trade Pundits around the world have tried to zero down on the exact elements that influence consumerist behavior. Although none have been truly successful only due the fact that we as individuals are not just random but can like or dislike something for no particular reason. To catch this fleeting attention ad campaigns now days range from ridiculous and extravagant to great. Almost everything is used for marketing. Right from weddings and homes to actual home body, everything is now up and open to advertising. Even environmentalists are using bikini clad women as bio fuel vendors. With more than a billion people thriving on this cycle that does not seem to be stopping the need to innovate or even copy has become almost a mainstay to survive and well, prosper.

The latest in the line to hit the market is the fusion of print and video technology. According to reports a magazine in the US will feature a tiny video screen on the pages complete with rechargeable batteries and a speaker. Ads will play out on the screen as you open to the page. But here is my question if people have to see ad videos wont they try the web where millions of advertisement videos are available for free. Even if we consider the novelty factor the fact that if this technology catches on the mass production will lead it towards becoming obsolete. If we take into account the business value of this marriage it still doesn’t add up as the screen and its components are twice or even three times costlier then the magazine itself. If I would have seen this at a Future Vision fair I would have been amused and rather taken aback by the ingenuity.

Direct, indirect, contextual, surrogate, paid, free, innovative and maybe just odd, ads take on various aspects only to engage the human mind. The need to innovate is necessary for survival and in the years to come I will try and not be surprised about the ads I see or the channels they take to captivate a billion like me. A complex concoction of curiosity, random behavior, influences, originality and maybe even greed come together to form our choices and decisions in using a product. I say stop trying to pin down the cogs that run this amazing and varied human perception. Innovate for the sake of innovating and feel the high of taking a risk that is based on your instinct and not patterns put together by analysts.

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