Whether consumers know about popular culture, this can still be

recognisable in people’s everyday lives as it is frequently referenced in books,

movies, or marketing activities. / Whether consumers are aware or not, the impact
of pop culture is still present in many respects of life, especially in marketing and
advertisement. This implies the role of mass culture in promoting new products as
more and more entities are integrating pop culture into their commercials. This
rising trend can be explained by the numerous advantages outlined below. One of
the main benefits of incorporating mass culture in marketing is that brand
awareness can be improved, and thus leading to higher market share. This can be
achieved by developing content around popular topics or using celebrities to
promote goods. An example of this could be AXIA - a now-defunct Japanese
cassette brand. During the mid-1980s, AXIA was endorsed by a 19-year-old
aspiring idol who was popular among teenagers at the time. In addition to enhanced
product quality, using a well-known singer helped AXIA’s market share witness a
fourfold rise (from 5% to 20%) - able/enabling it to compete with big names like
Sony or Hitachi Maxell. Another advantage of integrating mass culture in adverts is
to help marketers establish connections with targeted customer segments and their
interests. For instance, hip-hop culture, a popular lifestyle trend nowadays, was
widely referenced in the advertising for Adidas Superstar sneakers. By adding
‘coolness’ to sports, Adidas changed its brand image and thus built a new customer
base by reshaping its consumption patterns. Besides the abovementioned
advantages, the mass culture encourages more creative and unique selling
approaches, especially soft-selling, emphasising/including soft selling that
emphasises consumers’ emotions and atmosphere over product features. In Japan,
for example, soft-sell tends to be applicable thanks to the endorsements of popular
idols or celebrities, which highly contribute to consumers’ positive perceptions of
advertisements. As a result, brands can evoke feelings of intimacy in consumers via
commercials where well-known figures tend to look like someone living next door
or studying in the same classroom. In short, a practical application of mass culture
in advertising can help firms raise their brand recognition and increase soft-selling
thanks to a solid consumer base.