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Flurry

I received a bunch of books today from Amazon and Fishpond (the New Zealand online bookseller). Interestingly I ordered both lots on the same day - actually while I was in Garr Reynolds presentation at Webstock - they were recommendations from him.

Brain Rules - by John Medina
The Back of a Napkin - by Dan Roam
Made to Stick - by Chip & Dan Heath

What surprised me is that it took far less time (per kilometer) for orders to arrive from the US as it did from the local supplier. The reason I ordered the Made to Stick book from Fishpond was for speed. I figured I'd have it read by the time the Amazon delivery arrived. That's why I forgave the considerably greater price of buying locally.

Given that most books are freighted in anyway I won't ever feel bad about air miles again - I get the feeling Fishpond are drop-shipping anyway.

I am studying how information is presented and absorbed. Unconvinced that we're getting it right in advertising. In fact, convinced we're getting it wrong.

Comments

  1. Unknown8:04 am

    Hi, David!

    “I am studying how information is presented and absorbed. Unconvinced that we're getting it right in advertising. In fact, convinced we're getting it wrong.”

    This reminds me of something I’ve been thinking about for the past two weeks: millennial cynicism. The second a huge brand logo gets slapped on something in a commercial, the ad has immediately lost my 22 year old interest (and trust). If a commercial is cheesy, or at all in bad taste (aesthetically, or if it’s corny or generally/plainly stupid), it does more harm than good to the brand in my mind--the very opposite effect than what was originally intended. This, unfortunately, is what most ads (in the US, at least) are like.

    Many people in “my demographic” flock to brands like American Apparel because they don't put a little tiger or alligator on their shirts. Though my age group is the increasingly-profitable millennial, my feeling is that personally I represent a segment of the market that’s not worth the trouble: I’m thrifty, buy used, am vigilant about scouring the net for deals, am irritated or disgusted by advertising 95% of the time. It seems that by contrast marketers target the consumers; people who buy and buy often.

    Most commercials, of course, are tedious interruptions. I—the millennial--want commercials to be entertaining, enlightening, sublime, like a good mini-music video. The more unobtrusive the actual brand is, the better. In my imagination, the most ideal way for the brand itself to appear is briefly, at the end of the commercial, with a small white logo in the bottom right of the screen—obvious enough so that you just notice it. It's like that old rule in writing: show, don't tell.

    I would guess, though, that this approach doesn’t sell. Perhaps it’s a little different in NZ; I’m very much aware of how much more “enlightened” much European advertising is, for example, compared to American.

    My question, from all of this, is: is there much effort required to get into the headspace of your buyer and their market? Do you have to disassociate yourself from what you personally value in advertising and culture and think totally outside yourself? I find it difficult, if not impossible, to think like your average mall-going American. Do you, as well? Might this gap have anything to do with this “getting it wrong?”

    Alec
    www.alecquighardworker.com

    ReplyDelete

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