"T" Is For Terrorism And "M" Is For Marketing
February 9th 2008 01:39
In the great A-B-C's of modern media the line between terror and good business is virtually nonexistent. To frighten, terrify and genuinely demoralize your target audience can only solidify their need for your product. The more you prod at the back of their mind, the more uncomfortable they feel without you.
Perhaps I'm not doing justice to the nature of the business. Think of it like a recently healed wound. It used to gush and bleed but now it's healed up some and it's got a nice crusty,flaky scab over it. So you're a company with a product and you get yourself a nice, long, rusty skewer. Then you ever so gracefully cram that skewer into that scab over and over until it oozes blood and puss all over. So now the person who's bleeding needs a bandaid and of course they're going to pay you an extremely inflated price for it. After all, you're the one who caused the wound, you know what's best right?
The real trick to the business though is being tactful about it. You've gotta break their arm today and take them out for a beer the next. You're their best friend and their worst enemy at the same time.
So while every company would love to pitch an ad campaign like this at you:
The chances of you ever coming out of your house to actually buy the insurance are nil. Thus defeating the point of ever running the ad in the first place. However this ad is still pretty close to brilliant. If does exactly what any insurance company wants to do: Scare you to death so you stock up on your coverage.
So when someone blows up your country to scare your whole population into submission, is it really so different than someone barraging your mind with fears and insecurities to get you to fork over money?
Who are you more of afraid of? A culture who doesn't understand you and fears your way of life? Or perhaps someone who understands your culture so well they can herd you like sheep into their wallet of a slaughter-house?
Welcome To The Twilight Zone.
Perhaps I'm not doing justice to the nature of the business. Think of it like a recently healed wound. It used to gush and bleed but now it's healed up some and it's got a nice crusty,flaky scab over it. So you're a company with a product and you get yourself a nice, long, rusty skewer. Then you ever so gracefully cram that skewer into that scab over and over until it oozes blood and puss all over. So now the person who's bleeding needs a bandaid and of course they're going to pay you an extremely inflated price for it. After all, you're the one who caused the wound, you know what's best right?
The real trick to the business though is being tactful about it. You've gotta break their arm today and take them out for a beer the next. You're their best friend and their worst enemy at the same time.
So while every company would love to pitch an ad campaign like this at you:
The chances of you ever coming out of your house to actually buy the insurance are nil. Thus defeating the point of ever running the ad in the first place. However this ad is still pretty close to brilliant. If does exactly what any insurance company wants to do: Scare you to death so you stock up on your coverage.
So when someone blows up your country to scare your whole population into submission, is it really so different than someone barraging your mind with fears and insecurities to get you to fork over money?
Who are you more of afraid of? A culture who doesn't understand you and fears your way of life? Or perhaps someone who understands your culture so well they can herd you like sheep into their wallet of a slaughter-house?
Welcome To The Twilight Zone.
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