Redmond, We Have A Problem.

When businesses can make money by removing your latest product from people's computers, you don't really need to look at the groupthink research that tries to convince you that it's a success.

Make Marketing Confident.

Guinness's new advertisement featuring the elegant gentlemen of Brazzaville ties in well with their theme of individuality and is unquestionably interesting and visually arresting. But, oh how they shoe-horn in the product shots towards the end and emphasise that this is indeed an advertisement and not a slice of culture.

Personally, I'd have settled for a single mention at the end of the piece and the assumption that  the viewer was intelligent enough to make the connection. This way, I fear the reaction is much more likely to be along the lines of "What's this got to do with Guinness?"

It's possible that the fact that I watched the accompanying five minute mini-documentary before the ad has swayed my reaction. But while the drink is in that film too, it's very much in the background and not messaged at me in the way that Tom Fishburne skewers in this cartoon  (that I coincidentally received today as result of commenting on his post).

Enjoy the ad and try to watch the mini-documentary. It's truly fascinating and features the assertion by one of the sapeurs that people who dress up cannot be violent. Given the history of both Congo and Ireland, that's something that could be used to make a very interesting follow-up.

Marketing By The Numbers.

This year,  I've been mostly hearing people (usually politicians or religious folk) defending their viewpoints by saying things like "I think most people would agree that".  Business executives aren't immune either.

Anecdata has its place. It can hint at behaviours that are worthy of investigation. After all, who needs focus groups or trend analysts when a gym membership allows you to overhear and "learn" so much.
But that's all they are - random overhearings and observations filtered through heuristic biases and your worldview.

Reckons are useful, but statistical significance is what counts, especially when it's so easy to test and evaluate these days. Yet ,innumeracy remains widespread. That's inexcusable.