Consumer Behavior Internet Exercise

Introduction

 The purpose of this paper is to compare two general interest or entertainment websites, and two company websites that show advertisements. For each category, I will define each of the selected websites to describe what they entail and how each of these incorporate their ads. I will then select one of their ads and will discuss how that particular ad triggers problem recognition for their intended audience.

General Interest / Entertainment Web Site

The two general-interest and entertainment websites that I selected are Facebook.

com and Yahoo.com. I chose these two because these are the most familiar websites for me, and they both promote enough advertising.

One of Facebook’s advertising approaches is by sponsored advertising that shows in your wall’s feed as a suggestive post. The wall is basically your space to share other online content, comments, a status update and so on. From what I’ve noticed, these ads tend to be items that may appeal to me based on my previous searches or based on my previous online browsing history.

Yahoo’s approach is different from the typical ad or banner. For someone unfamiliar with Yahoo’s main page, it includes a series of articles or blogs, which are collected from different sources. Blended in with these articles are several others ‘stories’ that may appear similar to as the real stories, but these are purely to advertise a product.

Web Site Chosen

There is an ad circulating my Facebook feed, which has appeared in my wall almost every time I login, and it is for a bike called Taga 2.0. I am sure this ad started to show up because during my most recent vacation trip, I was browsing for bike accessories online that I could use to transport my one year old. Nevertheless, this ad is an immediate response to an active consumer problem from my end since this is something I would love to have right away.

I would describe this ad as an active consumer problem solution for parents that may enjoy riding a bicycle but may feel restricted to do so after having an infant child. In my case, I enjoy riding a bike but have not been able to do so with my kids as one of them is one year old and did not like sitting behind a bike-trailer before. I also do not feel this would be an ad for an inactive consumer problem because new parents are usually not aware of these types of problems until their newborn arrives.

This ad is targeting the young millennium moms with images depicting a young mother with her infant child. Browsing through the company’s website and products, this company is targeting upper class households that can afford above-average bikes and strollers.

Visual of Web Site

Below is a screenshot of the Facebook website with the ad in question.

Company Web Site

The two company websites that I selected are Air-Watch.com, the company that I work for, and Apple.com. I selected these two companies because I am quite familiar with both of these companies; both as a consumer and from a business perspective.

Air Watch is an Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) software company that specializes in Mobile Device Management (MDM). For those unfamiliar with Air Watch, our software helps secure and manage enterprise mobile devices to include personal devices that wish to have access to corporate resources and data through a set of profiles that are configurable through that company’s IT department.

Apple.com is by far a more famous company that has revolutionized technology, particularly smartphones, since the past decade. Apple is more commonly known for their latest mobile devices, such as the iPhone and the iPad. Apple’s products are not limited to hardware as they also develop numerous software solutions for enterprise customers, their most famous being their proprietary iOS operating system for mobile devices and macOS for their laptops.

Web Site Chosen

The website for AirWatch.com includes an ad with the title “Mobilize Education and Enable Limitless Learning” with an image of a little girl holding a mobile device in what appears to be a classroom environment; along with a couple of options for Primary, Secondary and Higher Education solutions – screenshot provided below. This ad does not fully describe what the problem might be, but the title of the ad and the associated image imply that with the aid of our mobile technology, educational institutions can improve the student’s learning processes by facilitating educational services or activities with the use of tablets, smartphones or other mobile devices.

Although it is ultimately the students that would be making use of our products, this ad is not targeting the users, in this case the students, because these are services that should be part of the student’s services provided by their school. Rather, this ad is targeting decision-makers and Information Technology (IT) professionals in the education industry for both government and private sectors.

In this ad, Air Watch is addressing the active consumer problem situation where now a day, end-users are making heavy use of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Laptops are another form of mobile devices, but these have been around for quite some time and are often more restricted when attempting to access corporate or educational resources. Smartphone and tablet devices on the other hand are different, as these use different Internet protocols and security constraints so they must be handled differently.

For example, such case that must be handled different is email. With a laptop emails can only be accessed while online, thus, it is safe to assume that students could only access their secure email box after connecting to an online provider and after authenticating their credentials. With mobile devices on the other hand, students are always online and the authentication methods can be easily accessible by someone else borrowing their device. Therefore, the ultimate message to the IT department is to make them aware that their IT infrastructure can now expand beyond their current limitations and into the mobile revolution.

Visual of Web Site

Conclusion

The Facebook.com advertisement for the family bike is appealing to young millennium mothers that may enjoy riding a bike but have recently ventured into becoming a mom, and was perhaps concerned on how they could continue this healthy sport whilst bringing their kids with them. The AirWatch.com ad is appealing to IT professionals in the education industry that may be concerned about new technology, particularly with security and related processes around mobile devices. In short, both ads selected from the entertainment and the company websites are addressing an active consumer problem for individuals that may be seeking current solution for a problem they are aware of.   

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