June 7, 2005

Turning the Tables

Ever notice how we have a tendency to put down what's new? "The shock of the new," Robert Hughes used to call it, I think.

It might be art, or music, or TV shows, or how kids spend their time.

Smart marketers need to embrace what's new, try to understand it, see the patterns between it and what has come before AND what may lie ahead.

And, in today's conservative world, that can be a challenging mind set.

Take games, for example. Kids - and adults - spend an inordinate amount of time with video games. And that has lots of legislators all worked up, worrying that the youth of America is being corrupted by violent video games...wasting time that could be better spent.

Well, maybe not.

I'm really enjoying Steven Johnson's "Everything Bad is Good for You," a book with the subtitle "How today's popular culture is actually making us smarter."

Johnson makes a compelling argument for how video games strengthen decision-making skills.

As he says, "Novels may activate our imagination, and music may conjure up powerful emotions, but games force you to decide, to choose, to prioritize. All the intellectual benefits of gaming derive from this fundamental virtue, because learning how to think is ultimately about learning to make the right decisions...No other pop cultural form directly engages the brain's decision-making apparatus in the same way."

Johnson gets right into the way the brain works...something that I've read lots about recently, and it's so fascinating to see the science behind how consumers make decisions.

It turns out that video games can be great mind trainers, as can today's much more multi-faceted TV shows like "24" that maintain multiple plot lines and a fast pace that not only engages but challenges the mind.

That's the environment out there. And our marketing messages need to understand and resonate within that environment.

And, going back to conservatism, will someone explain to me this logic: It's OK to have medical morphine, but not medical marijuana. How come?

Is Anyone Else Sick of Wal-Mart's Self-Congratulatory Ads?

Who do they think they're kidding with those happy-face employees telling us how great Wal-Mart is, while they're earning much less than Costco workers and being deprived of standard benefits? And what the heck has Wal-Mart ever done to give back to this community in any way that is commensurate with what this community pays in to Wal-Mart?

Bruce mentioned the other day that Wal-Mart is the place everyone says they hate but they go there anyway (presumably because of the prices). Perhaps that's true today. But I think that the disconnect between what Wal-Mart says and what Wal-Mart does is too great not to have very serious consequences.

Something's gotta change.