Comments on: Marketing That Makes the Product Better http://www.creativedistraction.com/analysis/marketing-that-makes-the-product-better/ Jonathan C. Hall's blog / anti-blog. Mon, 30 Aug 2010 04:10:36 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.3 hourly 1 By: Jonathan C. Hall http://www.creativedistraction.com/analysis/marketing-that-makes-the-product-better/comment-page-1/#comment-10 Jonathan C. Hall Fri, 07 Aug 2009 03:49:25 +0000 http://www.creativedistraction.com/?p=19#comment-10 @Ted, thanks for the link. And @mike thanks for your comment. I'm glad you like what you see so far, and I hope you will stick out the uncertainty with us. I myself don't know what the blog is about, as evidenced by the unfinished "About" page. I think I'm trying to write something thoughtful and original related to pursuits I find exciting -- design, the Web, entrepreneurship, etc. -- while giving due consideration to the ambivalence that attends these pursuits, or, as I put it in the title, "their opposites." You don't find much ambivalence in blog writing. Most blogs are topical, and the writers are sold on their topic. The same seems true with most academic degrees, careers, TV shows, etc. To my detriment, I've never been good with that kind of focus. Seems like more and more about less and less to me. @Ted, thanks for the link. And @mike thanks for your comment. I’m glad you like what you see so far, and I hope you will stick out the uncertainty with us. I myself don’t know what the blog is about, as evidenced by the unfinished “About” page. I think I’m trying to write something thoughtful and original related to pursuits I find exciting — design, the Web, entrepreneurship, etc. — while giving due consideration to the ambivalence that attends these pursuits, or, as I put it in the title, “their opposites.” You don’t find much ambivalence in blog writing. Most blogs are topical, and the writers are sold on their topic. The same seems true with most academic degrees, careers, TV shows, etc. To my detriment, I’ve never been good with that kind of focus. Seems like more and more about less and less to me.

]]> By: mike griffin http://www.creativedistraction.com/analysis/marketing-that-makes-the-product-better/comment-page-1/#comment-8 mike griffin Fri, 07 Aug 2009 00:56:54 +0000 http://www.creativedistraction.com/?p=19#comment-8 i went to georgetown, have a graduate business degree and perhaps most importantly, i subscribe to the New Yorker but i still really i don't know what this blog is about, but i like it, can you explain this? i went to georgetown, have a graduate business degree and perhaps most importantly, i subscribe to the New Yorker but i still really i don’t know what this blog is about, but i like it, can you explain this?

]]> By: Ted Bongiovanni http://www.creativedistraction.com/analysis/marketing-that-makes-the-product-better/comment-page-1/#comment-7 Ted Bongiovanni Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:01:35 +0000 http://www.creativedistraction.com/?p=19#comment-7 Here's a link to Rob Walker on the PBR phenomenon http://www.robwalker.net/html_docs/pabst.html Here’s a link to Rob Walker on the PBR phenomenon

http://www.robwalker.net/html_docs/pabst.html

]]> By: Jonathan C. Hall http://www.creativedistraction.com/analysis/marketing-that-makes-the-product-better/comment-page-1/#comment-6 Jonathan C. Hall Thu, 06 Aug 2009 05:17:37 +0000 http://www.creativedistraction.com/?p=19#comment-6 Here, here, Stephen. I think your analysis is spot-on, and thanks for taking the time to expose some of the theory and the mechanics that drive the behavior I described / admitted to. If we have a difference of opinion, I think it lies in the judgment we're willing to exercise on the topic: While I suppose being "taught" to enjoy Corona's or PBR's products through their advertising <em>may</em> be "crushingly pathetic," I'm just saying here that it is -- surprisingly -- pleasurable, even when compared to more self-directed behavior. Drinking a fantasy beer is an experience not available to us <em>except</em> through some kind of conditioning. The fact that such conditioning, in the Corona example, comes in service of a capitalistic enterprise -- well, that does put me ill-at-ease, as I mentioned in the first paragraph. But does that make the behavior inherently pathetic? Would I be less pathetic to drink some swill laced with self-created delusions? Am I a dog taking pleasure in serving my master? I don't think I share your sense of horror, if only because the alternatives are equally horrible. (The PBR example you mention gets nice treatment in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Buying-Secret-Dialogue-Between-What/dp/1400063914" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Rob Walker's book</a>, by the way.) Here, here, Stephen. I think your analysis is spot-on, and thanks for taking the time to expose some of the theory and the mechanics that drive the behavior I described / admitted to. If we have a difference of opinion, I think it lies in the judgment we’re willing to exercise on the topic: While I suppose being “taught” to enjoy Corona’s or PBR’s products through their advertising may be “crushingly pathetic,” I’m just saying here that it is — surprisingly — pleasurable, even when compared to more self-directed behavior. Drinking a fantasy beer is an experience not available to us except through some kind of conditioning. The fact that such conditioning, in the Corona example, comes in service of a capitalistic enterprise — well, that does put me ill-at-ease, as I mentioned in the first paragraph. But does that make the behavior inherently pathetic? Would I be less pathetic to drink some swill laced with self-created delusions? Am I a dog taking pleasure in serving my master? I don’t think I share your sense of horror, if only because the alternatives are equally horrible. (The PBR example you mention gets nice treatment in Rob Walker’s book, by the way.)

]]> By: Stephen Wuensch http://www.creativedistraction.com/analysis/marketing-that-makes-the-product-better/comment-page-1/#comment-5 Stephen Wuensch Thu, 06 Aug 2009 04:03:35 +0000 http://www.creativedistraction.com/?p=19#comment-5 I would like to raise my glass to advertising and it's shared roots with the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. In your example, the ads illustrate a fairly straightforward example of Pavlovian Conditioning. Pavlovian, or Classical Conditioning involves the pairing of a neutral stimulus with a stimulus of some significance. Over time the controlling properties transfer from one to the other. The beer comes to represent those members of that particular response class(a relaxing vacation to a tropical place near the ocean). Through repeated exposure, the sight of a Corona not only causes you to think of these things, but these things cause you to believe ordering a Corona might actually be a good idea. Are you on vacation? probably not. You're probably at a crappy tiki bar in Jersey after a hard days work. But while you're enjoying it remember, the effects you're feeling, while powerful, coldly illustrate the mechanics of behavior. So raise your glass high Jon Hall, the people at Corona have successfully modified your behavior- and good for them, they've spent a lot of time and money trying to teach you. Time and money, I should add, that could have been spent developing a beer of passable quality. The Corona ads exemplify a model for learning, a governing structure that, once recognized can become crushingly pathetic. Think of the Billyburg Hipster in his skinny jeans sucking down can after can of Pabst Blue Ribbon. Is it not painfully clear how the contingencies ruling his hopes and desires also rule yours? Cheers! I would like to raise my glass to advertising and it’s shared roots with the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. In your example, the ads illustrate a fairly straightforward example of Pavlovian Conditioning. Pavlovian, or Classical Conditioning involves the pairing of a neutral stimulus with a stimulus of some significance. Over time the controlling properties transfer from one to the other. The beer comes to represent those members of that particular response class(a relaxing vacation to a tropical place near the ocean). Through repeated exposure, the sight of a Corona not only causes you to think of these things, but these things cause you to believe ordering a Corona might actually be a good idea. Are you on vacation? probably not. You’re probably at a crappy tiki bar in Jersey after a hard days work. But while you’re enjoying it remember, the effects you’re feeling, while powerful, coldly illustrate the mechanics of behavior. So raise your glass high Jon Hall, the people at Corona have successfully modified your behavior- and good for them, they’ve spent a lot of time and money trying to teach you. Time and money, I should add, that could have been spent developing a beer of passable quality. The Corona ads exemplify a model for learning, a governing structure that, once recognized can become crushingly pathetic. Think of the Billyburg Hipster in his skinny jeans sucking down can after can of Pabst Blue Ribbon. Is it not painfully clear how the contingencies ruling his hopes and desires also rule yours? Cheers!

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