OPPORTUNITY: Tomorrow night (10/23)

If you have 3 hours and $60, you should seriously consider taking this class, offered through MSU Extended University. You'll add a significant tool to your skill set as a marketing professional, even if you're not interested in "creative" work (i.e., advertising).

Graphic Design Fundamentals for Non-Designers

Wednesday, October 23, 2013 from 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Downtown Education Center 

 

Through critical analysis learn the basic strategies of graphic design for use in posters, brochures, ads and other promotional materials. Become a more successful designer of printed materials. Learn about the "job" of a design and analyze if your designs fit your needs. If you work or plan to work on developing printed material, this class is for you.

Info and registration here: https://eu.courses.montana.edu/CourseStatus.awp?&course=13FWGRAPHIC

A really interesting interview on brand management

Hi everyone,

When you've got time, check out this fascinating interview.

I hate the title of the article, but the info therein is quite compelling.  It's excellent insight into lots of aspects of marketing strategy: Segmentation, marketing communication, PR management, brand management, consumer loyalty, how to measure success...

Happy Monday!

More on #hashtags

 Wow, when I brought up the topic of hashtags (the symbol formerly known as the "number sign") earlier in the semester, I didn't know it was trending!

Apparently, while they're incredibly useful in some contexts, and are therefore here to stay as a means of aggregating electronic data (i.e., as metadata), they've already flamed out in certain circles.

Here's a scathing look at the phenomenon, complete with quotes from eminent linguists, such as Geoffrey Nunberg (admittedly a hero of mine) and Noam Chomsky.

This, of course, has generated responses in the hashtag's defense... because #YOLO

Happy weekend!

Century 21 ad from 2006

Oh, how persuasive people can be... 

Fun facts about marketing research, strategy, and advertising!

 Does anyone read Cracked.com?

It's a surprisingly decent, often crowdsourced online publication that contains quick and funny lists like this one: "The 7 Sneakiest Ways Corporations Manipulated Human Behavior"

In a single, short article, they discuss Ernst Dichter, Chivas Regal, advertising ethics, and bacon. And more!)

Good stuff. A worthwhile time-suck, if such a thing can exist... 

NOTE:  For those CB students who think the blogging assignment is simply busy work that I've designed to torture you, here's another post from the same website that you should read (scroll down to #3 if you're short on time). My apologies for the, uh, colorful language.

Image above taken from "The Birth of Mad Men, Ernest Dichter, Psychoanalysis and Consumerism," required reading for students in both classes. It's quick, easy, and fun -- I promise!

How to retire at 30

This morning, I was listening to Marketplace Money (one of the best shows ever -- check it out Saturdays, 10:00 am, 102.1FM), and they had a interview with Mr. Money Mustache, who retired at 30 and now gives others free advice on how to follow in his footsteps.  Want to retire at 30? Follow the links I'm embedding in this post!

Anyway, I went to Mr. Money Mustache's blog to see how I can make sure I'm comfortable and happy when I decide to stop working, and noticed that he has a blog post on how to create one's own more real, permanent blog.  So CB students, if you've fallen in love with blogging, you can learn how to take it to the next level here. Principles students, if you do this you'll be so far ahead of the curve...

Happy weekend!

Storytelling

Why do I have you all talk to so much? Tell each other your stories?  It really does help learning!

CB students: Don't forget your love stories are due next Tuesday.  Directions are on D2L, and if you have questions about the assignment, please ask me!

Along the lines of learning from each other, and our brains "talking" to each other, here's the latest on mirror neurons. The current thinking isn't quite as definitive on how effective these are for regulating / moderating our behavior, but that's the way scientific progress happens, right?

Masculine identity construction

Hey CB class,
Thanks for such a great conversation today! Class with y'all at 8:00 am is a fantastic way to start my day  :-)

As I was checking my email after class, this article, "Productive Consumption in the Class-Mediated Construction of Domestic Masculinity: Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Home Improvement in Men’s Identity Work," clicked into my inbox.  What a coincidence!

It's not required reading, and yes, I know the title is off-puttingly long, but it's actually a fun read, and fascinating research. 

I'll post the full-text PDF in D2L, in case the link above doesn't work. 

Of course, reading this article made me think of the "Overly Manly Man" meme (pictured at the top of the post)...

Hmm... I wonder what happens in the metaverse if I type #overlymanlyman ... ? Will this post show up somewhere? I'd give an attendance point to each person who can find this post (my post) in a new place. Let us know what you find in the comments!

Kicking off the school year...

This newly released ad campaign from Apple has been getting quite a bit of attention, and press, and it's not good.

The Slate headline was "Designed by Doofuses in California," and the article gives a blow-by-blow analysis of why the ad isn't pulling well. Meanwhile, the LA Times provides empirical support for Slate's claim in "Apple's 'Designed in California' TV ad flops with consumers."

If you don't know what I'm talking about (I understand, the beginning of the school year is really exciting!), you can check out the ad here:



The campaign contains print elements as well:

Which have, naturally, inspired parodies:

 As Seth Stevenson, the Slate writer, says of the ad copy, "It panders to your self-conception." 

Along similar lines, my 16 year-old daughter, a high school junior, says, "It sounds like something a 16 year old would think is deep. I bet I have Facebook friends who have posted parts of this as their statuses."

Earn participation points, and my admiration, by weighing in on what you think about this campaign in the comments.

Hooray for studying CB!

Hi everyone,

Welcome to spring 2013!

This is going to be really fun, since the more you learn about consumer behavior, the more interesting people -- and the world around us -- become.  You'll start noticing all kinds of funny stuff...

I think the blogging assignment is one of the best parts of this class, and hope you agree with me (even if you find blogging to be a slog... which I'm guilty of!)  It can be really fun to come up with a topic, analyze it, and find really great pages / images/ videos that help illustrate your chosen subject matter.

One of the best aspects of studying consumer behavior is that when it comes to finding source material, pretty much everything is fair game.



Okay, let's let 'er rip!  Happy semester!