Agreed. To some extent, it's like people just want to believe that companies simply throw money away or don't track the productivity of different channels through proper metrics. Bitching and moaning is much more effective, if not therapeutic. <my effort at sarcasm>
With that said... I empathize with many who are not pleased with targeted ads. However, I generally have no empathy for those that within the same breath will not pay to read an article or chat on a nice forum such as this.
All the above can be true, and sadly it's the bad actors that can ruin it for the rest. I'm sure there were a few honest lawyers and used-car salespeople, ya know? <one more try>
It's a downer when people bash your profession.
It seems that everyone is going to the
subscription model.
I just saw this ad on Tv to remodel
Your bathroom tub to a walk-in shower
tub in one day. Only $99.00 dolars a month.
If you read the fine print, you pay for
180 months, $17820.00 Dollars For putting
a chunk of fiberglass in the smallest
room in your house with less than
8 hours labor.
subscription model.
I just saw this ad on Tv to remodel
Your bathroom tub to a walk-in shower
tub in one day. Only $99.00 dolars a month.
If you read the fine print, you pay for
180 months, $17820.00 Dollars For putting
a chunk of fiberglass in the smallest
room in your house with less than
8 hours labor.
Regarding used-car sales.... something here to make you smile.
WARNING..... sarcasm/language.... and don't be sipping a beer or beverage while watching, you might spit it all over your screen.
I've seen those same ads all the time on tv here in Philadelphia.
Of course I think their nothing but garbage.
Besides.... I like a tub, once in a while to relax in.
At the MPLS airport now heading your way...
Love the used car ad... Glad I had headphones on and didn't have a mouthful of beer. 🙂
-------
On the line of 'subscriptions'. Personally, I don't lump 'rent-to-own' or absurd payment plans for bathroom remodels into 'subscriptions' per se. Related to car sales, there was a time when almost every customer was termed a 'payment buyer'. They (sometimes to their own detriment) never asked anything else about the financing of the vehicle other than, "What's my monthly payment?"
With subscriptions, in my general classification, which is probably not technically correct... the customer never winds up owning anything. It generally applies to services. More relevant to the conversation, yes, they do seem to be becoming more popular as companies attempt to diversify revenue streams and cut outdated models. As an example, I offer Software as a Service. I perfectly understand why companies do it, but for me, it's caused issues, and in the long-term, it always seems to cost more.
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You ought to be glad to see the perception of consumers that don't share your marketing professional's mindset. As an engineer I don't grouse about deficiencies in my designs; I address them.
The fact of the matter is that many people view marketing and its galling and tiresome cousin advertising as an annoying fact of life, like dandruff.
@ItsAllInMyHead
Glad you enjoyed the used car ad, it's hilarious.
I like satire, sarcasm, and humor like that.
We need that these days to balance out and cope with the BS repeatedly tossed at us.
Regarding 'time payments' and financing, it's always been around, but most people don't 'look past their nose' into the future to see the reality/consequences of it all.
I'm of the type that buys things outright, to hell with having monthy installments and interest fees.
What people should do (in most cases) is to put aside money for future use like that.
But they don't, they spend spend spend...not my problem.
A good friend of mine is smart.... financially.... was able to buy a beautiful 2018 Honda Accord for $18K, loaded.... cash.
Paid off his mortgage years ago ahead of time too.
Has smart investments also.
Most people just don't think ahead like I said.
It's in part the results of the 'dumbing down of the people'.
Glad you enjoyed the used car ad, it's hilarious.
I like satire, sarcasm, and humor like that.
We need that these days to balance out and cope with the BS repeatedly tossed at us.
Regarding 'time payments' and financing, it's always been around, but most people don't 'look past their nose' into the future to see the reality/consequences of it all.
I'm of the type that buys things outright, to hell with having monthy installments and interest fees.
What people should do (in most cases) is to put aside money for future use like that.
But they don't, they spend spend spend...not my problem.
A good friend of mine is smart.... financially.... was able to buy a beautiful 2018 Honda Accord for $18K, loaded.... cash.
Paid off his mortgage years ago ahead of time too.
Has smart investments also.
Most people just don't think ahead like I said.
It's in part the results of the 'dumbing down of the people'.
The irony of someone posting this on a forum that is hosted in a data centre like that is not lost on me.
And if you could be bothered to do the wise thing and do some basic checking rather than just shooting off you would see that data centre power consumption is and has been a major concern for some years now. Some projections have 'the internet' which is a silly metric but basically all servers in data centres consuming up to 20% of the global electricity generation in a couple of years. Now the gold rush days are over electricity is the big ticket item in data centre costs so companies are spending a lot of time working out how to reduce that.
It also leads to great headlines to wind people up like the recent one where Nammo complained that they could expand their factory in Norway due to a Tiktok data centre using all the spare power. Tank shells or cat videos?
As promised, some interesting extracts from the NYT article hopefully a small enough %age to be considered fair use.
I've omitted the bits about how they work out the 20 or so items women in their second trimester all seem to buy and jump to when they realise they have hit jackpot in being able to accurately ascertain due date (I have read one report that claimed more accurately than the doctors but sack of salt needed there)
Big snip then he repeats himself
Clearly the article did not go down well with Target
For context this article was written in 2012 talking about stuff that happened 2002/3 timeframe. There was also an interesting discussion on how febreze realised they had their marketing all wrong and fixed it, but that is for another time 🙂. But the historical interest, at least for me is that this is where the wider public first started to find out that their supermarket knows more about them than they do. From this was a short jump to the likes of facebook and google where you are now the product.
I've omitted the bits about how they work out the 20 or so items women in their second trimester all seem to buy and jump to when they realise they have hit jackpot in being able to accurately ascertain due date (I have read one report that claimed more accurately than the doctors but sack of salt needed there)
Big snip then he repeats himself
Clearly the article did not go down well with Target
For context this article was written in 2012 talking about stuff that happened 2002/3 timeframe. There was also an interesting discussion on how febreze realised they had their marketing all wrong and fixed it, but that is for another time 🙂. But the historical interest, at least for me is that this is where the wider public first started to find out that their supermarket knows more about them than they do. From this was a short jump to the likes of facebook and google where you are now the product.
And for some light reading, hopefully not blocked abroad https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64801683 Not sure if many of those adverts were shown outside UK, but sure the levi's ones must have been. They made button flies cool again, which annoys me as I fumble with them. But some interesting and balanced comments from one of the old guard. Particularly resonant is "One of the most profound and fundamental things you can say about the value of a brand is that it is made by people who will never buy it." Bears thinking about.
Right I'm off to reminisce watching some flat Eric adverts from a simpler age of dial up modems and no facebook 😀
Right I'm off to reminisce watching some flat Eric adverts from a simpler age of dial up modems and no facebook 😀
It was a sad day when P&G sold charmin europe and it was rebranded. The concept of selling loo roll with a bear shitting in the woods was superb.
It is also a shame no one in Uk licenced the trunk monkey...
It is also a shame no one in Uk licenced the trunk monkey...
Not sure if this is what you mean, but I've heard that about NEW car buyers. The dealer line is something like "We'll take your old car in trade, pay off your old loan [roll it into the new loan], and your monthly payment will be only ..."
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