What came first?

As the frenzy of Flipkart’s and Amazon’s sales overpowered my decision-making capabilities, I found myself drawn to buying wireless ear pods. Naturally, my brain tried to find a rationale for this purchase requirement. It didn’t take long as I realized my mind was subconsciously processing the many people at work wearing those devices and looking ‘cool’. Obviously, I wanted to be a part of the It crowd and thus the many searches for ‘best earpods India 2022’ in my web browser.

Pondering further about the rise in wearable ear technology, I mentally mapped its growth. Started (as usual) with Apple launching the AirPods in 2016. After a year of initial ridicule and many memes, other brands released their own versions of Bluetooth-enabled Truly Wireless Stereo (TWS) earbuds. While Apple consumers became the pioneers, a significant number of early adopters further cemented the category as an important source of revenue. Then, started the mainstream ads. As an increasing number of people joined the phenomenon, people like me who were hanging on to their wired headphones began to have doubts about our choices. Come 2022 and having further spiraled into the Diderot effect, I find myself confused between the Sennheiser, the Sony, and the Jabra.

Does advertising impact behaviour or is it behaviour that impacts advertising?

In my opinion, the above statement is marketing’s closest analogy to the chicken and egg causality dilemma.

I first wondered about this problem in 2014/15 when I suddenly began to see a lot of advertising for Selfie phones. Selfie as a concept had been around for a couple of years amongst the more privileged class but after Gionee and Oppo started to sell their phones with a focus on Selfies, I saw the trickle-down effect in action as many of my blue-collar colleagues pampered themselves with this photographic technique.

That is probably where the answer lies. Consumer behaviour of the initial customers impacts advertising, and that advertising then influences the masses. The masses in turn influence the laggards (like this author). I believe the above is true not just for consumer durables but other products/services as well. We see ERP software being first used by large corporations and then by SMBs. Similar is the case with consumer goods- some customers start to use conditioners after shampoo and very soon there are mainstream conditioner ads to catapult the category to the stratosphere.

While this information is not rocket science, it dawned upon me quite late, to be honest. A brand identifies a need, develops a product, gauges initial response, puts the ad money behind it, more people aspire for the product and then consequently purchase it. A category is born. Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper would be so proud. Not so proud is my brain which is now at war with itself for having this piece of information while still longing for those cool earpods. Only if there was Active Noise Cancellation available for the voices in your head.