Ads Value?

I often wonder about advertisements - television advertisements I'm talking about, here. How well do they work for actually selling things or attracting buyers to a brand? I mean, obviously they work, or they wouldn't be a huge industry. What I mean is, how well do they work on me? They must, I am not some special wonder being resistant to all outside influences - no island am I, but it sometimes seems to me that I can't remember the crucial information that they would be designed to impart.

I frequently vaguely remember the premise or a visual from an ad, for example, but often I don't remember even the type of product it was for, or in almost every case, the brand it was advertising. I suppose they are hoping that once in front of the available options, the visual will be buried in there somewhere, and steer me towards it? But I am pretty brand loyal to the things that I have come to prefer, while in other cases, it's sheerly about price.

I mentioned this to misterpie the other day in reference to yogurt ads that have been on for some time now. There are a few different brands of yogurt promoting probiotics cultures in their yogurts. They seems to each have designed some specific culture with a specific result in mind, and named it accordingly. Not that I remember which is which. But to confuse the issue even further, all of them (2 or 3 or 4, however many) seem to have chosen yellow nad green to represent this active culture varietal. One brand shows it as an orbit around the model's midsection, another with dots in an arrow configuration, another with a belly dancing middle superimposed, and I think there might be another doing something else. So if I get to the store, I'm going to see several yogurts, each wtih the same markings on them. How does this help them? and as Misterpie put it in response: "I have no brand loyalty to yogurt. I buy what's on sale. $2.99 is my brand."

Perhaps it's because what is advertised is mostly things I'm not in the market for anyhow. Perhaps if I were going to buy a car, I would pay more attention to car ads, or if I decided to try foundation, the ads for various makeup companies might catch my attention a little more. I might take note if something sounded worth trying.

I am sure, as I say, that ads must work, and even work on me, though I don't see myself changing my buying patterns. I will say, in fact, that I notice myself noticing print ads in magazines more than television ads, as I can pore over the image or read the blurbies and decide if I like what I'm seeing/reading. Perhaps I'm just a girl who needs to take my time. I don't know. and I would also add that I think the marketing in-store in terms of shelf position and specials affect my buying once I'm there. That is a science I am definitely impacted by.

How about you? Do you remember television ads, or look to buy something you saw on tv? Do print ads sway you? I think ads themselves are rather fascinating, in terms of trends and ideas you see used over and over. Do you watch them, or flick / fast-forward? I'm curious about this, as I've been watching and forgetting them for years, wondering about how well they really stick in people's brains.