Probably because men's fashion, at the very, very high end(suits and the like) tends to change very little over time, whereas women's fashions come and go like mayflies. REally fascinating to look at, sometimes.

Just in case anyone thought that this word of mouth advertising thing is not seriously used by companies, my own company has reached the following conclusion...

"Due to the increase in both the cost of TV advert slots and the level of suspicion that people are developing towards advertising, the cost benefit ratio of traditional advertising methods is decreasing."

and...

"It has been found that word of mouth advertising has much greater powers of influence in terms of creating or maintaining buying habits."

The example given to us was that if you are looking for a new place to get your hair cut, you are much more likely to take the recommendation of a friend to heart rather than respond to a flashy piece of advertising.

This is not to say that traditional advertising is of no use. It is just that word of moth advertising is more powerful in individual circumstances, whether it comes from satisfied customers or any other location.

it happens in a lot of different ways to. as a housewife (pah) i'm regularly targeted by market research people. fact is, they're not only concerned with what i say about their ads or products. what they want is for me to go back to the playground and the mums i chat with when i pick my daughter up, and mention the fabbo new ice block or cheesy snack or mixer drink or thrush treatment.

quote:

Originally posted by limitingfactor:
Just in case anyone thought that this word of mouth advertising thing is not seriously used by companies, my own company has reached the following conclusion...

"Due to the increase in both the cost of TV advert slots and the level of suspicion that people are developing towards advertising, the cost benefit ratio of traditional advertising methods is decreasing."

and...

"It has been found that word of mouth advertising has much greater powers of influence in terms of creating or maintaining buying habits."

Wow!
Makes sense, though, really...
Should it be called the 'Gibson' effect?