Things Real People Don't Say About Advertising • Hacker News Board

Re: Things Real People Don't Say About Advertising

#41

Post by pak » Sat, Jan 15, 2011, 12:34 AM UTC

alexophile wrote: post #28

You could just as easily make a blog "Things Real People Don't Say About Your App" "I like the functionality, but it doesn't follow best practices." or "Things Real People Don't Say About Science" "These findings are compelling, but I'd like to see some corroborating studies in peer reviewed journals". Any consumer facing industry is going to have a world of jargon that is inaccessible or ridiculous to the layperson.…

But you couldn't put those sayings on stock photos and have it work so well.

This blog works because the "fakeness" of the stock people nicely parallels the ridiculousness of the slogan to create a satirical meta-advertisement... about advertisers.

Unless you make satirical apps for app developers, or satirical science papers about scientists, you're not duplicating the irony of this blog.

Re: Things Real People Don't Say About Advertising

#42

Post by j_baker » Sat, Jan 15, 2011, 12:52 AM UTC

alexophile wrote: post #28

You could just as easily make a blog "Things Real People Don't Say About Your App" "I like the functionality, but it doesn't follow best practices." or "Things Real People Don't Say About Science" "These findings are compelling, but I'd like to see some corroborating studies in peer reviewed journals". Any consumer facing industry is going to have a world of jargon that is inaccessible or ridiculous to the layperson.…

Actually, I like the idea for "Things Real People Don't Say About Your App":

"Clearly this app is unusable because it doesn't follow HIG"

"This minimum viable product just isn't minimal enough"

"This site works with just me on it, but I don't think it will scale to millions of users"

Re: Things Real People Don't Say About Advertising

#43

Post by Stormbringer » Sat, Jan 15, 2011, 1:00 AM UTC

In the real world, people hate advertising.

This is why as an app developer I am deeply sceptical about Google's model. Okay, so the consumer saves a buck, but then you chip away at their goodwill every time you show an ad. And note, when you're showing an ad, to make it effective you have to make it intrusive, you either have to lock them out of the free functionality for a while or you need to make it eye-catching.

I don't know anyone that said "I'm so glad Google bought Youtube and plastered ads all over the videos".

People hate advertising so much they will go out of their way to avoid it.

In economic terms, as an app developer the way I see it is that free+ads is really just burning up my user's good will to enrich Google. The more I annoy my customers like this, the less likely they are to recommend my app. To the extent that it is less than a zero-sum game... it's not just an even 50:50 trade-off between for pay and ad-supported.

Re: Things Real People Don't Say About Advertising

#44

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jan 15, 2011, 1:02 AM UTC

Stormbringer wrote: post #43

In the real world, people hate advertising . This is why as an app developer I am deeply sceptical about Google's model. Okay, so the consumer saves a buck, but then you chip away at their goodwill every time you show an ad. And note, when you're showing an ad, to make it effective you have to make it intrusive, you either have to lock them out of the free functionality for a while or you need to make it eye-catching…

[deleted]

Re: Things Real People Don't Say About Advertising

#45

Post by madair » Sat, Jan 15, 2011, 1:29 AM UTC

blhack wrote: post #14

I don't think that advertisers want consumers to consciously think these things. Relevant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYEf8XZKlUU

the point is not whether advertising is effective, what i see here is laying bare the subtext juxtaposed and letting the reader draw their own conclusion.

the picture isn't pretty, unless, that is, Commerce is your middle name.

Re: Things Real People Don't Say About Advertising

#46

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jan 15, 2011, 1:57 AM UTC

blhack wrote: post #14

I don't think that advertisers want consumers to consciously think these things. Relevant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYEf8XZKlUU

[deleted]

Re: Things Real People Don't Say About Advertising

#47

Post by andreyf » Sat, Jan 15, 2011, 1:58 AM UTC

I thought the music on pinkberry's website was pretty cool: http://www.pinkberry.com/

Re: Things Real People Don't Say About Advertising

#48

Post by aphyr » Sat, Jan 15, 2011, 2:21 AM UTC

alexophile wrote: post #28

You could just as easily make a blog "Things Real People Don't Say About Your App" "I like the functionality, but it doesn't follow best practices." or "Things Real People Don't Say About Science" "These findings are compelling, but I'd like to see some corroborating studies in peer reviewed journals". Any consumer facing industry is going to have a world of jargon that is inaccessible or ridiculous to the layperson.…

"These findings are compelling, but I'd like to see some corroborating studies in peer reviewed journals"

Uhh, I say exactly that on a monthly, if not weekly, basis.

Re: Things Real People Don't Say About Advertising

#49

Post by p_nathan » Sat, Jan 15, 2011, 3:28 AM UTC

timwiseman wrote: post #37

gills wrote: post #25

Let's just go ahead and coin the term "lol ads".

Ad fail. In all seriousness though, humor used well for the right type of product is extremely effective. I can no longer find the source, but I read somewhere that the Old Spice Body Wash sales went up close to 100% when the Old Spice Guy commercials were running. My wife even bought some for me the next she went shopping after she saw the ad. She said it was just to reward them for the ad itself, then she decided s…

Old Spice Guy was a pretty striking ad series. I don't know that it resonated with me, but it sure is memorable!

Re: Things Real People Don't Say About Advertising

#50

Post by p_nathan » Sat, Jan 15, 2011, 3:33 AM UTC

Stormbringer wrote: post #43

In the real world, people hate advertising . This is why as an app developer I am deeply sceptical about Google's model. Okay, so the consumer saves a buck, but then you chip away at their goodwill every time you show an ad. And note, when you're showing an ad, to make it effective you have to make it intrusive, you either have to lock them out of the free functionality for a while or you need to make it eye-catching…

The right kind of advertising is pretty awesome, because it provides value for me. Right now, Stack Overflow and Amazon have the best ads out there, IMO. SO took a while to get decent ads too.

I watched some stuff on Hulu the other day. Fancy cars, teeth whitening commercials, drugs I don't ever anticipate using, and other useless stuff to me was marketed at me. That's just not a good ad model I think. I would love to see some really new and interesting products - not Another Car|Soda|Beer commercial.