Advertising & Blogs: Steal my Ideas!

I love watching videos from Ted.com, it always inspires me. Ethan Zuckerman: Listening to global voices | Video on TED.com As I have spent last year testing out the theory of creating niche networks and subgroups. I always thought it was an inevitable and positive direction. This lecture has pointed out that it is also increasing our ignorance towards other cultures and ideas. Being a xenophile, I've always liked that I have one foot in traditional asian ideals and one in modern western mentality. I see myself as the 'Bridge figure' that Ethan refers to. One from two worlds and endowed with the translating ability between worlds, in my case, at least five worlds. " Language is the access key to knowledge" this quote rings true for me as I know that after learning Mandarin and its writing, you understand how it shapes culture, how it sets the foundation for interaction between humans. I think Ethan makes a very good point that we're all generating this ...

Never ignore the lessons of an Ad man. This makes working within the advertising industry a lot more beautiful. We are making new things familiar, and making familiar things new. That's something that I am going to remember for a long time.

When we make a choice, we think we know what we're getting. We assume that our reasoning is fully capable of making the best choice. Wrong! this video by Dan Ariely demonstrates how default options can strongly affect our decision making. Having an uglier option may be the best option for a marketer. I believe the example Dan gives about the forms or the package deals can play a big part in "tricking" the target market into picking a favored option. I can see this being applied into something as simple as { Please tick the box if you do not want to receive newsletters - [ ] } I know it works because that's what Rmit's Student Union does. hahaha. We have nearly a full 100% that leaves that option unticked. Which explains the spam people :)