Insert label here

The assumptions we make, and the subsequent labelling we apply, is always a dangerous pastime. So this struck a note when it dispelled the commonly held belief that the poor eat the most fast food.

Sticking with labels and assumptions: Bob, good ole Bob:

The idiotic idea that all millennials are this or all baby boomers are that is just the stupid lazy thinking that makes most of marketing a joke.

To Boston, UK. And another label: the face of Brexit. A great, scene-setting collection of photos of those faces.

 

Your own personal myth

Of all the myths we invent about ourselves, 2 are very interesting, they help define and form our narrative identity.  Redemption and Contamination:

“For one person … a childhood experience like learning how to swim by being thrown into the water by a parent might explain his sense of himself today as a hardy entrepreneur who learns by taking risks. For another, that experience might explain why he hates boats and does not trust authority figures.”

 

The mental mug tree

And talking of stories and behaviour, here’s a conversation with Rory Sutherland. OK OK. It’s 42 minutes, but worth every minute. Of note, his thoughts on cost signalling:

One of the problems of email is there’s no cost attached to sending it, so we don’t have a useful heuristic for deciding what to read first.”

Clue: any email from me 🙂

 

Videobook

Darling, lovely Facebook has not only introduced us to Watch – nice name 😉  but they are also rumoured to be working on a video chat device. This is good news for anyone that has to endure Skype on a daily basis.

But it’s also good news for the research world. Especially with its apparent ability to make you  feel like you’re in the same room as the person you’re talking with. Zuckerberg does have a mission to bring (Facebook) users closer together.

Ah yeah, getting closer to your user/consumer etc. Good idea!

Hot on the heels of those ruby red shoes, LinkedIn launched Native video (if there was wagon, a band would be playing on it). So here’s Patrick MacFie explaining how to not make average video content. Could be a useful read… for some.

 

The realities of realvertising
Here’s the Marketing Director of TalkTalk, and the challenges and pitfalls of Realvertising:

“I think what we did differently is we were completely authentic. We set the house up with motion sensors, and let the cameras roll for a few weeks.”

This approach meant there was a faint possibility, he acknowledges, of watching through the footage, and at the end discovering there was nothing worth using. His “biggest nightmare”… but worth the risk:

“As soon as you put a script in their hands, or set up a slightly staged situation, you immediately lose that authenticity.”

+1. A1. Right on.

 

Taking laughter to the stars

Nearly there and worth the wait: these photos about and from Voyager, now 40 years into its journey. Picture 33 puts all things into humble perspective:

“That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. … on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam.”

 




From the archive

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