Comments on: “when advertising meets the ‘because’ effect”

By: alan herrell - the head lemur

alan herrell - the head lemur — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 02:53:18 +0000

Traditional Advertising will die a grim and pathetic death as the last practiioners are rounded up and sent to McDonalds Re-Education Camps.
As the other commenters mentioned, recommendations will be the wave of the future. This has it’s perils as we can reuse marketing types in WalMart houses, where everything is from WalMart. Equipt with web cams just like Dorm Room Porn, we can watch the nuclear family use shit till it breaks.
24 Hour product channels!
Reality TV for the people!
The whooshing sound you here is the migration to more central government controlled countries so these folks can continue to ply their nonsense.
Richard Edelman as Minister of Truth, Steve Rubel as the Assistant, and Kathy Sierra as the gate keeper.

By: Ryan Anderson

Ryan Anderson — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 22:40:36 +0000

Here’s my communications theory geek answer to this.
In 1942, Katz and Lazarsfeld developed the notion that information goes through a two step flow before it is widely believed. Simply, most people don’t believe what they hear in the news, but they do accept the opinions of the “opinion leaders” within their sphere of influence on various topics. The problem with this is still that the opinion leaders still get their information from the media, so they’re essentially just filtering the information, not creating anything particularly new.
Enter blogs 60 years later, and things get more complicated, of course, but the point remains that before someone can recommend something, they have to try it. I of all people think traditional advertising is completely screwed, but I think it will still have a role in generating trial, especially on low-risk investments like toys, drinks, etc.
Also, not every new product class is going to receive enough recommendations to drive a product launch. For the most part, their only choice will be traditional advertising.

By: sarah

sarah — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 19:57:27 +0000

Art. An increasing proportion of advertisements in TV/film slots are wittier, more beautiful or more interesting than the programmes in which they’re inserted. Doesn’t mean I buy the stuff, but I remember the company fondly.