Posts Tagged ‘corporations’

Marketing Psychology and the new Audi

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009

Have you seen the new Audi commercial? Watch the commercial below: (nope I'm not even getting paid to post it here)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8MTpaBUCpc[/youtube]

I saw the commercial last night and it bothered me until this morning.

Then I put my finger on it.  The marketers do a great job of subtly telling you that only by buying their product will self-actualization be attained.  While for years marketers have been urging us to keep up with the Jones, I had never seen materialism so subtly and clearly expressed.

Here's the subtext and buildup behind the advertisement which I saw playing during the Championship NCAA basketball game.

  1. It played during a time when many collegiately educated people are watching.
  2. Collegiately educated people generally have a higher disposable income.
  3. Collegiately educated people mainly work in office or 'white collar' or corporate jobs.  Large, corporations and group tend to strip people of their indivituating characteristics.
  4. All people desire to be unique, and loved for who they are.  This is self-actualization.
  5. Few people feel that they are really loved for who they are.
  6. As a culture we are shifting many of our values but one thing remains: individualism.

Thus this advertisement gathers a group of people who are by and large indistinguishable from each other at work,  at home,  education-wise and income-wise.  Many characterize this as the suburban lifestyle of 'quiet desperation' .

But enter the Audi SUV.  In reality the main distinction of the black Audi SUV and the gold generic SUV's is it's color.  But the text says it all... "Identity Theft".  Contrapositively, the text might have said 'Identity Protection'. The advertisement thus proposes to those without an identity (or those in danger of losing theirs) that an identity might be obtained or protected by owning the new Audi.  And so, in purchasing a new black Audi SUV, one remains part of the upper middle class pack but is now an individual.  One can remain educated, wealthy, and corporate, but now with a soul, an identity a self.

The Audi advertisement in short promises to restore selfhood to those who have lost all hope of being loved for who/what they are instead of what they own!   If you can't be loved for your self, be loved for what you own!

Yes, it is understood then by the audience that being loved for who you are is a fool's dream.  Only (poor, dirty, weird, lowly) hippies still believe in love!

It even goes so far as to insinuate that by owning an Audi one's children will again love and respect their parents.  The children exiting the school are bewildered and perhaps angry at their parents for failing to differentiate themselves materially.  But not little Johnny who fortunately has a 'cool' dad!

The truth is that by next year, the identity brought about by the new Audi is quite easy to steal.  A new identity will have to be found sooner or later.

I forgot how smart those marketers can be!

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Posted in Green, Miscellaneous, Philosophy | 2 Comments »

The Post Capitalist Economy

Thursday, January 29th, 2009

Not every bit of news about the current 'economic climate' is all that bad.  Consider the proposition that we are entering a post capitalist economy.  What could be so bad about the empowerment of the average citizen and the downfall of the robber barons that have ruled for so long?  Here's why I believe the day of the capitalist ruler may be coming to an end (for now at least).

Traditionally there have been 3 costs for doing business:

  1. Research and Development - the cost of developing the first of a new technology or product.  Traditionally, R&D is done by scientists and engineers.  Several prototypes would be created and tested in the real world.  But as computers have gotten cheaper (very nearly free these days), simulations have replaced trial and error experimentation.  It is now possible to run through millions of versions of the product before even a single physical prototype is made.  Advances in statistics, AI, and computer science along with open sourcing and crowd sourcing are quickly dropping the time and cost involved for birthing an idea into the world.
  2. Manufacture/Raw goods - this is the actual cost of the inputs for the product including labor, raw materials, and energy required to shape those raw materials.   Traditionally humans were used in all of the stages of production.  From digging up the coal and metals to chopping down and hewing the trees to pounding the rivets and welding the metal, humans did everything.  But humans are not machines.  Humans are living, thinking and creating beings.  With the advent of cheap energy and increasingly intelligent machinery one man can now do the job of 100 men (probably more).   If we continue our progress towards free energy and intelligent machinery, manufacturing will become virtually free.
  3. Transaction Cost -   the cost of matching up the product with a buyer.  Traditionally this cost has been prohibitive for the average home business / individual producer.  In fact, in order to overcome the high cost of finding a buyer for the widget one had to gather the capital required to first oduce the good at the cheapest price and then to reach the largest audience possible[1]. But the transaction cost is dropping more and more as the tools to reach the exact buyer (e.g. Google) are being developed.  The internet and home PC has quickly been revolutionizing the way buyers and sellers complete their exchange of goods.

Amongst other things the sharp decline in the cost of doing business is the reason why the economy is currently faultering... or rather it is shifting.  It's faultering for the outdated and outmoded companies that have failed to transition to a faster, more agile and flexible market, a market easier for small businesses to thrive in.

Whereas GMC needs loans of billions to stay afloat, specialty electric car company Tesla has a back order of hundreds of cars.  Whereas Lehman Brothers and AIG are collapsing under their own weight, Paypal, community lending sites and internet banks like ING are thriving.   The New York Times and similar news papers are folding across the nation, but there have never been so many journalists (bloggers are journalists too right?).

Even scientists who have previously been restricted to working only for governments and corporations wealthy enough to afford the hundreds of thousands of dollars of computational and laboratory equipment can start their own enterprise with Amazon's EC2 and the latest 'labs on a chip'.  If the business model is correct, the scientist could potentially scale his company over night, especially with services like Amazon's EC2 computational time sharing service.

It is in this business climate that the behemoths are starting to fall.  They're not quick enough, and their products are not good enough.  For too long they've relied on the muscled advantage that large amounts of capital brought them.  Now as the barriers to entry lower, and more competition arises the only outcome can be cheaper better goods produced exactly for those who want/need them.  In other words, this downfall indicates that we are moving towards a more open and efficient market (the downfall also indicates that massive greed and corruption can in fact bankrupt an industry).

And that's great news, unless, of course, you are a robber baron!

  1. Seth Godin calls this the 'average product for the average person' way of business [↩]

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Posted in Entrepreneurship, Miscellaneous, Utopian Politic | 3 Comments »

Working from Home

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

Having worked at home for the last 8 months or so I thought I'd give my top 10 reasons to work at home.

  • The daily commute is about as good as it gets.  From my bed to the kitchen (for coffee) to the office my total commute is about 50 steps.
  •  Really great coworkers.  My two dogs Tommy and Nelly are always there for moral support. Few coworkers will ever be as cheerful and carefree as two young black labs.
  •  I can wear fuzzy slippers and no one will give me a speech (or dirty look) about unprofessionalism.  For the record I have regular and not fuzzy slippers.
  •  Productivity.  It really has increased.  Without having to check on hundreds of emails, or attend hours of phone or in person meetings my productivity has drastically increased. It's possible to increase productivity at the office by taking control of your schedule and placing limits on email checking ... but it wont be easy...
  • The view.  I used to work in a semi-dungeon.  It would have been decades before I got a window.  Now I get plenty of sunshine throughout the day, and a tax break that goes along with the fact that it's in my spare bedroom.
  • No politicking.  Being judged strictly on results is rare and refreshing.  Tommy and Nelly only know how to politic to see who gets to be pet first ... also a plus.
  • Lunch with my wife.  I get to eat lunch with her just about everyday now for about 30 minutes.  I also don't have to go out for lunch or pack a lunch anymore.  It's surprising how much time/productivity/cost this saves/increases/decreases.
  • Ability to multitask with thinking and small chores at the same time.   A surprising amount of key insights in my work lately have been achieved while doing the dishes, plucking weeds or going to Vitamin Cottage.
  • Living locally, Living Green.  I can now walk almost everywhere that I need to go on a daily basis.  Freedom is not just the ability to "roam about the country", but also the ability to stay exactly where you are.
  • Freedom.  As long as the bills are paid (i.e. the obligations of the contracts you work on) you really are free to work on the jobs you want to work on, the way you want to work on them, with the schedule that you desire (as long as it doesn't negate the contract).  You are also free to choose your own insurance, your own vacation time (subject to paying your bills of course), your own equipment and most of your coworkers.  What's better than working at home?  Working in that foreign country you've always wanted to live in but never had the cash or courage to do so.  What's better than quitting your job?  Quitting a small portion of your job and finding another contract to replace it without suffering a monumental shortfall in income (make sure you have an escape clause in your contract!).

As an addendum to my list I would also like to point out that the number 1 reason most people do not work from home, or for themselves (as a contractor, consultant or entrepreneur) is fear: fear of failure and fear of the risk of unemployment or varied employment.

However, in the last 8 months since leaving Google two conclusions have been solidified for me:

  1. Mathematically you are far less likely to suffer a catastrophic loss with a diversified portfolio of income.  For example, working 4 contracts is far less likely to result in the loss of all 4 contracts at one time than working 1 full time job is to result in being laid off.  Self-employed diversified income is usually more variable, but long term it is far more dependable.
  2. In the United States all employment is 'at will', mostly meaning at the will of the employer.  You may leave your job any time you wish, but more importantly your employer may ask you to leave at any time.  When it suits the company they will have absolutely no loyalty to you no matter what you've done or how much time you've put in.

Here's to freedom for the working class!

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Posted in Green | 1 Comment »

A few articles on the Federal Reserve and the bailout

Wednesday, October 1st, 2008

I've come across a few articles that are well worth reading.

From my brother:
http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/its_the_derivatives.php

Ron Paul's take on the bailout with keypoints drawn out by me:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/09/ron-paul-bailou.html

"This $700 billion bailout will only increase that debt, and increase the amount of money we pay merely to service the interest on that debt. The end result of this is higher taxes on our children and grandchildren, and the full-scale destruction of the dollar."

"As with many other government proposals, the opportunity cost of this bailout goes unmentioned. $700 billion tied up in illiquid assets is $700 billion that is not put to productive use. That amount of money in the private sector could be used to research new technologies, start small businesses that create thousands of jobs, or upgrade vital infrastructure. Instead, that money will be siphoned off into unproductive assets which may burden the government for years to come." 

 And of course a wiki entry on the Federal Reserve Act in case you were interested enough to gain insight into the non-government entity that has the largest influence on our economy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve_System#Central_banking_in_the_United_States

Also, note that the same year that the Federal Reserve Act was passed 1913, the 16th amendment was passed and we started legally paying personal income tax.  Previously it was unconstitutional.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Income_tax#Ratification_of_the_Sixteenth_Amendment

I think you might start to see a pattern emerging here.

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Posted in Utopian Politic | No Comments »