The astonishing explosion of information in the age of the internet has supposedly sounded the death knell for traditional communication. Information has become democratized, so I’m told. Yet the paradox is that the more information we have, the less that we know. Or rather, the less that we truly know, compared to what we assert that we “know.”

The sacking of Shirley Sherrod, an employee at the US Department of Agriculture, arose out of a media storm that escalated from Andrew Breitbart’s conservative video blog post that was then picked up by Fox and turned into a major news story. The New York Times subsequently pointed out that the video was “misleading and highly edited.” That did not stop a rush to judgment; by Fox News anchors, politicos and, worse, The Secretary of Agriculture who fired Sherrod … then apologetically sought to rehire her once he realized his error.

What the Sherrod incident illustrates is that more information just means less knowledge by comparison. Democracy is now some XXX version of a Disney-like politics; the business of peddling gimmickry and talking head entertainment posing as expertise. How we shall miss journalistic greats like Daniel Schorr. How we miss newspapers that actually employ fact-checkers!

As we learn more about cognitive dissonance, it becomes clearer that we do not develop our beliefs out of a rational, considered review of the facts. We develop the facts according to our beliefs. And with so many beliefs being propagated on the internet, the facts are morphing into any number of interpretations. They are no longer facts, they are some sort of fiction. They are the new ficts.

America is or, rather, was full of what Lily Allen might call weapons of massive consumption. This brings to stark relief an ongoing and interesting ethical debate for marketers: How to develop effective marketing without pernicious manipulation.

In recent years, some 70% of the American economic activity was generated by consumer spending. With the trauma of the recession, however, the rate of consumer spending has declined markedly. Recent positive spending indicators are still modest and are dwarfed by the worst unemployment rate for twenty five years. Many households saddled with debt have seen the wisdom of saving. With a savings rate near 0% in early 2008, that has risen to 6.9%, its highest rate in fifteen years. (more…)

The rapidity of adoption of a variety of innovative online tools has every marketer on their toes. Which is a good stance to take considering that we would also describe the current online landscape as one of shifting sands. A question facing many marketers is how to adjust their brand management strategy and media buy in the context of online developments?

A few figures from The Nielsen Company Online’s Global Online Media Landscape report illustrate the changes:

There has been a massive surge in the use of online video. The availability and ease of use of inexpensive personal video technologies, the number of online sharing sites and enhanced internet infrastructure capacity has enabled this growth. (more…)

“All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players.”
Shakespeare’s As You Like It

Social media has been with us for a little while now, but we have a strong sense that its use is growing rapidly. Over the last six months, the 35-54 year old user base of Facebook has grown by 276.4% and the over 55 year old user base has grown by 194.3% (statistics from iStrategyLabs here) Use of twitter has risen as well. Interestingly, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 10% of online 35-44 year olds use twitter.

Even the venerable news source, National Public Radio, has been exploring the issue of why we tweet.  Entertainingly, and interactively, on February 28 they asked the question “Why do we tweet?” They got plenty of replies, which you can see online here. (more…)

Sellers of both puppies and cars have known this for a while … customers interacting with, or just holding, your product for longer periods are more likely to buy. Of additional interest from a recent scientific study is that these customers will be more likely to pay more!

Length of ownership influences the owner’s perception of value and this study demonstrates that it applies to pre-ownership scenarios also. Additionally, it aligns with psychological principles of loss aversion, where people tend to be more averse to the potential of a loss than the potential of acquiring a gain.

Marketers should be considering ways that they can get their product and, indeed, their service-based experience, in the hands of their target customers. The question is simply how do we get our customers to interact with our offering and for how long? In particular, how do online retailers address this opportunity? Think about it. Give me some suggestions. I will share my own thoughts with you.