Archive for July, 2009
Things Marketing People Love
This has been bouncing around for a minute, but felt like it’s worth putting up here anyway. Have to make fun of ourselves now and then and stop taking things so seriously, right?
Especially have to like the nod to the original Office- office dancing, especially on Fridays
AdWeek on The Enduring Recession
A question that’s been bouncing around recently is whether or not the current economic climate will bring about actual long-term, cultural behavior change, or if people will go back to old habits once things start to get better. Personally, I feel like given how different this time is, we’re likely to lean more towards the former. Seems odd that we might just suddenly snap out of things and go back to spending without proper planning.
Anyway, a new study cited by AdWeek and and behavioral econ profressor Dan Ariely seems to support that view.
Some key excerpts:
A look at behavioral economics suggests that while not quite permanent, these changes are for the long haul. As it turns out, we truly are creatures of habit. We pick a pattern of behavior and without thinking too much about its wisdom we stick to it. We go back and rethink about this habit only when we have a very good reason to change our ways. A hard, recessionary hit to our cash flow is a reason to change; a slow financial change for the better isn’t. That’s why new consumer patterns have emerged since the housing market collapsed and why they’ll remain long after we dig ourselves out of this recession.
Why are we such creatures of habit? Because it’s easy. The process of making decisions, however minor, involves a labyrinth of complex computations. The choice to pop into Starbucks again and get our usual is simple. On the other hand, a step-by-step weighing of factors, like whether Starbucks is worth the price (“Should I go with Dunkin’ Donuts instead?”), whether the cappuccino or the latte is a better value for us, and whether we’ll enjoy the brew as much as we think, is a very complex process.
The take-away point is three-fold: Our habits are based on our past decisions; our habits can be formed from a random or arbitrary starting point; and once we start on a habit path, we don’t readily change. This being the case, the challenge and opportunity for marketers is to come up with ways that will compel people to reconsider their current habits.
experience marketing by the drivers of #38
In the city of light, the city of love, the bon bon oui oui goodness of Paris. Been walking my feet off looking at locations for a geo-locative media project we are doing here. Thinking about the future of information layers and how we will interact with our local. Making some site specific art installations and short geo films to express the ideas (more on this in an upcoming post). Anyway, the other day I got to go across town for a meeting, don’t want to take the metro as I still love looking where I am and all the amazing new sites, so I look up on the interwebs how to get where I am going. Take the bus. Cool. Ok which bus. I figure it out and search that bus line and stumble upon this site: http://bit.ly/h2sxh. Crazy, a website for a bus line put together by the drivers. This is the net in action.
What I love about this site is not at all the design, or really that I was able to find out what stop I needed, but that the site fulfills a very basic function of the network to create community out of tangential associations. Using the digital to connect people and information, I had much more than just a list of stops on the line, something the official website I am sure would give me, but with this site I was a part of the city. Also I was mad impressed by this awesome utopian quote from their intro: “The 38 bus line is a team made up of women and men… each and every one having a special talent, mood, character! …Human beings under the bus driver’s suit!”. Who wouldn’t want to meet these people – I wanted to go have a drink with them. I was excited to see which driver I would have. My driver was Didier, who is into astronomy and creates 3D virtual images on his computer. Maybe driving the bus is his hobby. Fantastic.
What else was pretty cool and should be everywhere now is that the bus stop actually had a display that told me how many minutes till the next bus. How is it that in Boston, the center of so much innovation and intellectual capital, I am lucky if the bus comes and the subway is running on time at all. In the end this is all about experience marketing, from the drivers’ website to the expectation and time management of the customer. And this was all good for me. We need to be vigilant and do more more more of this for our clients and our communities. Big up to bus line 38.
Public Spaces, Private Joys
The artist Luke Jerram’s “Play Me, I’m Yours,” installation is a wonderful example of the harmony possible between public spaces and people.
The project, presented for the City of London Festival and Sing London, involves 30 street pianos installed on streets, public squares, parks, train stations and markets. According to the website, “…Like a creative blank canvas, the pianos were there for any member of the public to play and engage with. The pianos were in place for three weeks, after which time they will be donated to local schools and community groups.
According to the New York Times, where Jerram said, “They’re out there to get people talking to one another and to claim ownership and activate the public space,” the pianos are a huge hit. Amazingly, none have been vandalized, and after a few minutes, people courteously give up the seat for someone else to play.
My favorite sentence from the article, in pure Times style (vaguely amused condescension):
Best of all, Londoners have resoundingly disproved the stereotype that they are genetically incapable of spontaneous acts of public exuberance.
Why not install something similar in Boston, only via the Mass Pike and public advertising? Lord knows the Mass Transit Authority needs dollars, and we commuters need a road rage alternative. I’m not talking about pianos in the breakdown lane.
What if the Turnpike authority opened up the electronic billboards, which normally alert drivers to road work, traffic conditions and the perils of not wearing a seatbelt, (and the occasional Boston sports celebratory message) to the private messages of regular citizens? Think of the Fenway Jumbotron combined with Twitter. Limited characters, huge local visibility. Instead of “Cowboy Up” during the Red Sox playoffs, why not:
Marry me, Beth.
I’m sorry, Dad.
Henry – Happy Anniversary. Last night was the best of my life.
Imagine the joy propelled by these messages, directly into the bored and anxious souls of trapped commuters. Imagine the dollars – top dollars for prime inventory and real estate (i.e. the Rte. 128/Pike interchange at 8 a.m. would be far more expensive than someplace in Western Mass at midnight, right?).
Imagine normally vexed Baystaters, devouring pavement in peace and sweet anticipation. Looking forward to their commute the way one looks forward to one’s Twitter page first thing in the morning!
Peeking in, from a public space, on the private lives of your fellow humans.
Somebody call Deval Patrick. Tell him we’ll concept it for free.
M! interns start an internal agency
Our ambitious batch of summer interns recently informed us that they’ve banded together and created their own mini agency- aptly titled !nternista.
They put together a quick video to introduce their idea to the agency. We thought it was worth sharing here.
Enjoy.
Eternal Moonwalk
Whatever your personal opinion of him may be, it’s been hard to ignore or get away from the cultural uproar that has taken place since Michael Jackson passed away. Tribute after tribute has been flying around online ever since that day. It’s been an amazing thing to watch as a world that largely wrote the man off in the last years of his life now steps back and remembers why he caught (and held on to) the attention of so many for so long.
The latest that seems to have caught fire is, as the title of this post would suggest, Eternal Moonwalk, which invites people to submit their own attempt at Jackson’s often imitated move. A running ticker of how many meters have been collectively moonwalked stays at the top, as the video shifts from person to person.
A fitting tribute. Worth a look, and see if you can top some of the submissions so far. Although it’s hard to beat a moonwalking baby.
Winning isn’t everything
Last weekend at my daughter’s soccer game it truly hit me, there are no winners or losers in young kids’ sports. And no, I don’t drive a minivan any more.
My daughter kept asking me what the score was and who won, and I couldn’t tell her. First, I wasn’t keeping track. Second, I asked the Coach, and he said “we don’t keep score.” That struck me as bizarre, since winning and losing is what teaches kids competition. Then I got one of these spam type e-mails and realized I’m not the only one who thinks this, but he said it a lot better.
THIS SHOULD BE POSTED IN EVERY SCHOOL
Rule 1: Life is not fair – get used to it!
Rule 2: The world doesn’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won’t be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
Rule 6: If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes, and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent’s generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they’ll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.
One of these ballers is not like the other…
I’ll give you a hint, it’s M! Copywriter Andy Kadin. See if you can spot him…
