Marketing to the unreachable customer

I always wondered about myself as a target group of any kind of advertising, via any form of media. To tell you a little bit about myself, I would say that I am a very difficult fit for most marketing people.

I almost always change channels during advertisements on the TV and radio, I don't even glance at ads in the news papers, and even when it comes to electronic media, I have installed an Ad Blocker in all my web browsers. Using this, I never watch an Ad on YouTube, or Facebook, or anywhere at all.

Even when I go out to malls to buy groceries, etc., I do not go by the brand name, or the advertisements. I almost always do my own cost and benefit analysis by looking at the prices, ingredients, etc. Even with my own Honda bike, I went for it because it is a Japanese product, and I really believe what they do is among the best. I knew how much I wanted to spend, and what specifications of the bike I was looking at, and then took it for a test ride. No advertising affected my choice.

Basically, I do not believe what companies advertise. I have it set in my mind that it's just promotion of a product, and may not really reflect what the product is really capable of. I have a poor recall value of brands.

So I was thinking of this, and it recently struck me that there are ways to reach potential customers like me as well. And this is related to a video game retailer called 'Best Buy'. I was playing this racing game, which is set in an open world. You race in a city, with buildings all around you. I noticed that some of the buildings within the game were named 'Best Buy'. 

I feel that this is one of the most effective marketing strategies ever. Because I am of the target group, I am interested in knowing about the retailer as I would definitely be buying more games. Best Buy has managed to reach its potential customers in a way that the customer cannot really avoid noticing their brand logo. Also, the customers will not get irritated by it, because they are performing actions that are pleasurable to them while they see the brand logo.

This concept amazed me. Though, I cannot comment on the feasibility of using this strategy by every company, of delivering your brand name in a moment of concentration and pleasure for the customer.

Thousands of dollars are spent to capture the advertising spot during the Super Bowl, while the intended target customers are using the restrooms after consuming liquids during the game. They never get to see the advertisements. Companies need to be more clever in the way they reach customers.

I believe that if a company could reach me, any company can reach many more customers.