Comments on: July Randoms

By: Ellis Web » Items of Interest: 2006.07.20

Ellis Web » Items of Interest: 2006.07.20 — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:27:14 +0000

[...] Intellectual Bargain Shopping – Jeffrey Veen presents a very good alternative to the design philosophy that “all users are stupid” (via Mike Davidson) [...]

By: Michael Hessling

Michael Hessling — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Those repetitive commercials are geared to those who have Tivo, with the ability to fast forward through commercials. Inevitably, you FF too far, so Tivo smartly brings you back about 5-8 seconds. Just in time to get those last seconds of the last commercial.

By: James AkaXakA

James AkaXakA — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

That’s an excellent quote indeed!
Who said Nietzsche was dead?

(PS. Your slingbox link could do with a .com or better yet slingmedia.com, as slingbox.com doesn’t seem to be responding)

(Editor’s Note: Thanks. Fixed!)

By: Randy Peterman

Randy Peterman — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Repetition is a key thing in advertising. One maxim is that people forget 1/3rd of what they hear. It just so happens that if you hear something three times, or better yet four, you are more likely to remember it because the chances are you’ve heard it enough to fill up all of the thirds.

By: chris sivori

chris sivori — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

We were just discussing that same commercial last night. Apparently, they’re generating buzz (as evidenced by this post among other things) although probably not to buy their product.

Put it on your forehead! The slogan of a generation.

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Any chance of you posting your slides from WebVisions after the fact? Is there a podcast?

By: Devon Shaw

Devon Shaw — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

What part of Alki Beach? I did my PADI certification dives there and frequently returned to the Kiddie Pools (by Salty’s), my favorite Seacrest (boat landing) and the Junkyard (at the very end of the beach by the apartments). There’s definitely a lot to be seen down there. We hit Seacrest for a night dive once a few years ago and nailed it right at slack tide… and could see as far as our lights would shine.

Puget Sound diving is unmistakably one of the most beautiful places to dive, but it comes at the price of dipping into 50 degree water. I did my first fifty dives out here in a 7mm wetsuit before switching to a neoprene drysuit, so I can attest to the value as well as anyone. The Edmonds beach and Tacoma Narrows are great, scenic places to dive, and my personal favorite is Fox Island for drift diving.

Once you start doing boat dives in the tropics, it makes you spoiled and you begin to frown upon trooping off the beach into cold water. Sissy. :)

By: Michael Simmons

Michael Simmons — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Just FYI, the Slingbox doesn’t work on Mac’s. Sorry to burst your bubble.

By: Mike D.

Mike D. — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Michael and Randy: Yep, repetition is always key in advertising, but usually it’s just repeating a certain message a few times during the script. This is literally like a sound byte looped three times at the end of the commercial.

Chris: I never use slides for presentations unfortunately (or fortunately). I just like talking off the cuff a lot better.

Devon: It was Cove 2… just between Salty’s and the Fish and Chips place. Right by the West Seattle watercar. And yes, I’m a total sissy. Warm water only!

Michael: Yep, I would have never considered getting a Slingbox before, but now with Boot Camp and Parallels Desktop, it should work just fine on an Intel Mac. Hopefully, Parallels Desktop will be enough, but I worry about video card reliance.

By: Scott Smith

Scott Smith — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I saw that “Apply Directly to your forehead” ad too. A teacher of mine in high school in our video production class taught this as the “rule of three”. Apparently three times is enough to get your point across before getting repetative. I didn’t think anyone would take it literally…

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Head On! Apply directly to the forehead.
Head On! Apply directly to the forehead.
Head On! Apply directly to the forehead.

Sound familiar? I see it almost every day during Wheel of Fortune(don’t ask…). I don’t think they’re targeting DVR’s during ‘The Wheel’. Do people really record Wheel of Fortune to watch at their convenience?

By: josh

josh — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Great NPR report on this. Worth a listen: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5546086

By: Brian Fox

Brian Fox — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’v heard that commercial… its positively strange. You didn’t miss the first part of the commercial either — that is the whole commercial. Stranger yet, sometimes that same company (whatever their name is) advertises “hemorrhoid cream” right after that commercial… they say their slogan 3 times in a row with a picture of the product box — that’s it… its really bizarre.

By: Mike D.

Mike D. — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Josh: Great NPR audio! That is funny shit.

Brian Fox: Aha, that would explain why I can never mention what happens in the “first part of the commercial”, because there *is* no first part! Right after I see it, I’ve always thought “wow, I must have totally missed what this product actually does” thinking that I just wasn’t paying attention to the first part of the commercial.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Glad you brought this up Mike – I was wondering about that commercial too.

My theory is that this is not some brilliant and intentional viral marketing scheme (I mean everyone IS talking about the product, albeit indirectly), but just a poorly conceived advertisement with poor and undue influences.

I know everyone here has been in that situation where the boss decides that thing on the page HAS to be 50% bigger, or in this color, or with that nasty powerpoint logo. Every molecule in your body screams no, but you crunch the numbers and decide that it’s better to just go along with it (it’s not going in the portfolio anyway) rather than to spend the extra time educating someone with your expertise who doesn’t give two shits about what you do. In this case, someone there thinks the idea of rubbing the product on your head is so crucial, so they pummell you with this logic (apply directly to the source!).

What bugs me more are those ads where they say ‘NEED CASH?’, then offers you money for answering a stupid question (What’s another name for a cash machine? Black box? ATM? Pancake?) and charges you a buck to answer by texting on a phone, and subscribes you to a daily messaging service. At least with HEADON, you have to go to the store and buy it.