The Magical Effect of Bandwagon Advertising

The advertising industry is overflowing with endless tips and tricks for successfully bewitching the minds, emotions and wallets of consumers. With so many advertisements flooding our vision every day, it can be difficult for businesses to remain relevant. However, one of the oldest tricks in the book of ad wizardry is bandwagon advertising. Despite being a seemingly ancient practice, it has consistently been a reliable advertising strategy that has secured profits for the smallest businesses to the largest corporations we see today. In this article, you'll discover the magical effect of bandwagon advertising. We'll go over what it is, how to use it and provide creative advertising ideas to ignite inspiration; all so you can successfully hop on the bandwagon of bandwagon advertising!

What is a Bandwagon Advertising?

Bandwagon advertising is a type of advertising that uses the bandwagon effect to encourage people to buy a product or service. The bandwagon effect is when people are influenced to do something because others are doing it. It's often used to create a sense of urgency or a fear of missing out on an opportunity. For example, say you are making a creative advertisement for a new product. You might include a statement like, "Everyone's using it!" to try and persuade people to buy the product. This type of advertising can be very effective because it plays on people's emotions. Bandwagon advertising can be very effective, especially if the product or service is popular already. However, bandwagon advertising can also backfire if people don't believe that others are actually using the product. In this case, they may view bandwagon advertising as being dishonest or manipulative. Therefore, before using bandwagon advertising, it’s important to consider your target audience and whether this type of advertising will be effective or not. If you do decide to use bandwagon advertising, make sure that your claims are truthful and that you can back them up with evidence.

What are the Ways to Use the Bandwagon Effect in Advertising?

There are many ways to use the bandwagon effect in your advertising, but we will just share with you the top three most essential methods guaranteed to set you up for optimal success.

The Desire

Great bandwagon advertising will summon a desire in consumers to purchase a product or service. This is because the ad subconsciously elicits the idea that if they buy your product or service, they will gain a higher quality of life and be seen as the people are seen in the advertisement. Allegra commercials are a great example of this because they always show happy people enjoying a more vibrant life after taking their allergy medication. If you can make your product or service look desirable to potential consumers, they are much more likely to buy it. At Wizard of Ads®, we help businesses make impactful, persuasive and creative ads that boost lead generation, conversions and profits. Contact us today to learn more!

The Embarrassment

No one wants to feel like they're on the outside looking in and not a part of the group — and when you think about it, it's actually quite embarrassing. This is where bandwagon advertising comes in. It gives customers the need to be included by showing what will happen if they don’t purchase your product or service. When customers feel like they need to be a part of something, they'll do whatever it takes to join in. Take Secret's creative commercial about stress-tested antiperspirant deodorant. The commercial shows a woman attempting to dry her armpits under a hand dryer. When a co-worker walks in, she tries quickly goes into an odd yoga position in order to avoid embarrassment.

The Transformation

The transformation approach to bandwagon advertising combines both desire and embarrassment techniques. The transformation technique portrays what happens when customers don’t use your product or service but then shows what happens when they change your mind and try it out. A great example of this is the Betty White Snicker's commercial where a group of men are playing football. One player, Mike, is doing terribly and his teammates tell him that he is playing like Betty White, which is certainly not a compliment. Then, Mike eats a snickers bar, which transforms him back into the star football player he truly is. This tells viewers that if they don’t try out Snickers, they will never know how good they could have been.

Examples of the Bandwagon Effect:

Social Networks

Bandwagon advertising is a highly effective way to sell social networks. People want to be a part of the latest and greatest thing, so when they see their friends or family members bandwagoning on a particular social network, they are more likely to join in. One social network that successfully achieved the bandwagon effect is Snapchat. Originally starting as a photo messaging app, Snapchat gained a lot of popularity in the early 2010s. This was largely due to its unique feature that allowed users to send funny filtered photos that would self-destruct after a set amount of time (usually 10 seconds). The sharability of this feature caused people to join so they can get in on the fun as well, and by the end of 2012, Snapchat had over 30 million active users.

Fashion Trends

When people see that everyone else is wearing a particular style, they are more likely to want to buy it too. This type of bandwagon advertising can be very effective, especially when it comes to popular items like clothes and accessories. A brand that executed this flawlessly is Fendi. In the early 2010s, they started using bandwagon advertising to sell their baguette bags. The bags were named after a popular French bread, and they became very popular very quickly. Fendi’s bandwagon advertising campaign was so successful that it helped to make the baguette bag one of the biggest fashion trends of the decade.

Coolest Gadgets

Everyone wants to get the latest and greatest gadgets on the market. With effective bandwagon advertising, you can easily persuade people to buy cool new gadgets by featuring a celebrity in your ad or by showing how others are already enjoying the product. For example, Peloton has skyrocketed in sales due to bandwagon advertising. The company was founded in 2012, but it wasn’t until Peloton began featuring celebrity endorsers like Drew Carey and Sean Combs that its popularity took off. In addition to using celebrities, Peloton also relied on social media to create a bandwagon effect. For example, the company would post photos of people working out on their bikes with the caption, “Join the Peloton community and get fit with your friends.” This type of social media post created a sense of FOMO (fear of missing out) in potential customers, which encouraged them to buy a bike.

Diet and Fitness

Bandwagon advertising can be especially effective when it comes to weight loss and fitness products. People are often motivated to lose weight or get in shape so that they can fit in with the rest of the group. Bandwagon advertising can tap into this desire and help convince people to buy a product or service. For instance, many diet and fitness brands use before and after pictures from past customers or even customer testimonials to get people motivated to purchase. Seeing results from others can help people feel more confident that they will see the results themselves and make their buying decision much easier.

Why Exactly Does the Bandwagon Effect Occur?

The reason behind how the bandwagon effect occurs is mainly psychological. It plays on consumers' emotions, thoughts and the desire to want to be a part of something popular in order to be socially accepted. Factors that can influence the bandwagon effect:

• Groupthink: This happens when a group of people make decisions that they might not make if they were thinking individually. Great bandwagon advertising gives consumers the pressure to conform.
• To be right: People naturally have the desire to be right. When your customers feel like they are on the winning side when buying your product, they are more likely to continue supporting your business.
• Belongingness: We are social animals and we want to feel like we belong. Fear of exclusion causes consumers to go along with what others are buying to gain social acceptance.

How Can the Bandwagon Affect Customer Demand?

When it comes to customer demand, the bandwagon effect can be a powerful tool for companies looking to increase sales. This is because when people see that something is popular, they may be more likely to want to try it out for themselves. And, as we all know, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If your company can create a bandwagon effect around its product or service, you can expect an increase in customer demand. However, it’s important to note that bandwagon advertising can also lead to a bubble where demand becomes inflated to levels that are not sustainable in the long term. Therefore, it’s important to be wary of bandwagon advertising and to make sure that you do your research before buying into a product or service that’s being hyped up. Bandwagon ads are a powerful marketing and advertising tool, but they must be done correctly in order to be influential and effective. At Wizard of Ads®, we help businesses create ads that tap into this human psychology principle and transform sales numbers. If you’re interested in learning more or want us to help you create an ad campaign that will skyrocket your sales, contact us today!