DIFFUSION OF INNOVATION AND ADVERTISING MESSAGE

DIFFUSION OF INNOVATION

The diffusion of innovation refers to the tendency of new products, practices, or ideas to spread among people. Usually, when new products or ideas come about, they are only adopted by a small group of people initially; later, many innovations spread to other people. The bell shaped curve frequently illustrates the rate of adoption of a new product. Cumulative adoptions are reflected by the S-shaped curve. The saturation point is the maximum proportion of consumers likely to adopt a product. In the case of refrigerators in the U.S., the saturation level is nearly one hundred percent of households; it well below that for video games that, even when spread out to a large part of the population, will be of interest to far from everyone. Several specific product categories have case histories that illustrate important issues in adoption. ATM cards spread relatively quickly. Since the cards were used in public, others who did not yet hold the cards could see how convenient they were. Although some people were concerned about security, the convenience factors seemed to be a decisive factor in the “tug-of-war” for and against adoption. Rap music initially spread quickly among urban youths in large part because of the low costs of recording. Later, rap music became popular among a very different segment, suburban youths, because of its apparently authentic depiction of an exotic urban lifestyle.

DIFFUSION OF ADVERTISING MESSAGE

The diffusion process of advertising message refers to the acceptance of new products and services by the members of a community or a social system. For a marketer, it would be obviously beneficial to have an understanding of a process by which people learn about new products, try them and eventually accept or reject them. The diffusion theory, a body of knowledge that has been evolved from sociology, provides this kind of understanding. Central concept of the theory is that there is a process of diffusion by which an innovation about product or service spreads from its source of invention or creation to its ultimate users or adopters.