Hit Makers: Why Things Become Popular

by Derek Thompson

In both politics and business, research shows that advertising is most powerful when consumers are clueless. Political advertising, for example, is most potent when voters are ignorant of politics in general or with the choices in one particular election (that’s one reason why the influence of money tends to be greater in local elections that voters don’t follow as closely). Similarly, corporate brands are most powerful in markets where consumers have little information, according to Itamar Simonson, a marketing professor at Stanford, and Emanuel Rosen, a former software executive. It could be because the product is somewhat technical (e.g., toothpaste, since most consumers don’t actually know what gel is best for their enamel) or because the product is refined (e.g., wine, where studies have found that consumers prefer any vintage they think is expensive). But just as cable and the Internet have washed away the power of political authorities, challenging the theory that the party decides, the Internet’s flood of information is also diluting the brand power of several consumer products. Consider the market for flat-screen televisions: There are only a few relevant details about a big screen that projects images, like width and resolution. Anybody can find those details online, so who needs to consult the plastic name at the bottom of the screen? No wonder, then, that the business of selling flat-screen televisions has been a disaster: The price of TVs declined 95 percent b...

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