But there’s the thing. Advertising is fascinating. If you are geek enough to watch ads, ( one of my interests) you see the better advertisers split test. Virgin certainly do on the web. That is : they randomly send different versions of ads to different viewers and calculate which get better click through and buyers. They build from that base to maximise sales.Originally Posted by Mike T
Pictures draw attention,What works depends on the nature of the product and buyer. Faces always work better in some media, advertising on Facebook without them is a waste of time, and even the expression, happy or sad, and whether the face is looming straight at you, towards the headline can matter. Good advertisers test all of it.
If you want financial advice, young and pretty wont work. For customer support , not too pretty and not to young is the face people trust. Female certainly works better. I am certain to advertise clinical services or surgery needs something far more staid and professional.
I am guessing virgin has tested pictures to death and have confirmed that for records and selling airline tickets to primarily middle age male business class executives and also holiday products, young and pretty and lots of them works. Is it branson’s fault that sex sells, or part of the human condition?
As the author of the seminal work “ influence” on psychology of persuasion has said. We are all patsies. We go where we are led, not realising just how much.
Which is rather the subject of Bowers book.
Is it all a mask Branson wears? For advertising I am absolutely certain it is.
So the Branson behind the cameras may well be a different man.
Or just maybe it is the real Branson, who has happened to hit on the markets , in which pictures with women readily convert to sales.
