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Cyberterrorism
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Big Brother Well, maybe not “love” exactly, but at least peacefully coexist and accept the new realities of privacy and security in the digital era (apologies to Dr. Strangelove). I can’t verify it, but I’m fairly sure that the first fictional account of cyberterrorism was in Theodore…
Read MoreMaximizing Return On Your Trade Show Exhibit
For many industrial marketers, trade shows are the biggest outreach to customers and prospects, representing the largest single commitment of marketing dollars and manpower. But getting attention and drawing visitors is a huge challenge, especially for smaller companies without the deep pockets to take enormous space filled with glitzy displays and crowd-drawing celebrities. The results…
Read MoreGetting Beyond WEIRD
[imageframe lightbox=”no” style_type=”none” bordercolor=”” bordersize=”0px” stylecolor=”” align=”right” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ class=”” id=””][/imageframe] Marketing and advertising are both firmly rooted in the social sciences. Consciously or not, we employ the principles of psychology, sociology and economics in developing campaigns and, most certainly, in conducting and applying market research and statistical analytics. Consequently, we can all benefit…
Read MoreWhat Is Advertising?
[imageframe lightbox=”no” style_type=”none” bordercolor=”” bordersize=”0px” stylecolor=”” align=”right” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ class=”” id=””][/imageframe] Okay, that might seem like an odd question to be coming from someone who has been involved in advertising and marketing communications for more than 40 years. The perspective that my long tenure provides, however, is what brings the query to mind. On…
Read MoreJohn Wanamaker … We Have an Answer
[imageframe lightbox=”no” style_type=”none” bordercolor=”” bordersize=”0px” stylecolor=”” align=”right” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ class=”” id=””][/imageframe] He opened the first department store in Philadelphia, is credited with inventing the price tag, and he may well have created the idea of the seasonal sale. In 1874 he became the first retailer to place a half-page newspaper ad, and the first…
Read MoreSubliminal Seduction 2.0
The Hidden Persuaders, Vance Packard’s bestseller from the 1950s, exposed how advertisers employed psychological tricks to manipulate the public consciousness in order to build brands and stimulate demand for products. Considered to be somewhat scandalous in its day, many of tactics Packard wrote about are mainstream elements of advertising and marketing today. About 15 years…
Read MoreMarketing in the Post-industrial Age – 3D Printing
There’s a quiet revolution going on. Some see it as a third industrial revolution. The first gave us steam power, factories and railroads. The second brought new sources of power, new materials and the assembly line. The essence of both was mass production; the new industrial revolution turns that concept upside down. In the process…
Read MoreBig Data Is Watching You
Technology has a a fascinating way of turning yesterday’s paranoid nightmare into today’s commercial opportunity. This is true partly because the adoption of any technology takes place over time, giving society the opportunity to adjust its values and norms accordingly. And these things never quite affect our culture in ways we expect. Look back at…
Read MoreReflections on Web 2.0 and social media from the franchise that time forgot
I’m sitting at the counter of a Waffle House restaurant just outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, watching a double order of hash browns…“smothered” and “covered”…sizzling on the grill and destined for my plate. Above that grill is an unobtrusive placard that respectfully requests that firearms not be brought into the restaurant. I doubt that the…
Read MoreVirtuality – A Cautionary Tale
For several years now, social media guru and author Erik Qualman has produced and posted an animated video on YouTube that presents statistical evidence regarding the influence of social media on both marketing and global culture. If I made that sound boring, I apologize. Yes, it is statistics, but startling ones presented in a thought-provoking…
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