Comment by n8m8 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by n8m8 | Hacker News Reader

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Good point. Has me thinking: In any field, over time, there's R&D for it to become more effective. How this progression might apply to marketing:

1. Printed ads, newspapers, billboards, magazines -- You can explain your product and show a picture of what it looks like to demonstrate the value to customers

2. Television ads, black and white -- We can demonstrate the value to customers so well!

3. Wait a minute, if we put music in the TV ads, the songs get stuck in peoples' heads, this is good for our brand

4. Color TV Ads -- We have all the previous benefits but can get more attention with color!

5. We can target regional TV ads in different parts of the country!

6. Oh, we can target any ad based on demographics on social media? This will be effective

7. Ok, now we want to keep targeting ads, but we're gonna A/B test multiple versions of the ads in real time to maximize effectiveness

8. Ok, I need to maximize effectiveness of this ad, let me generate an AI mockup of the product I'm selling to create an illusion of the lifestyle my brand represents

My point is, marketing has been optimized over time and will continue to optimize for profit in the future, and the result has been a divergence in the actual goal of marketing: We've gone from "Demonstrate the value of our product" to "Create an illusion of our lifestyle".

>We've gone from "Demonstrate the value of our product" to "Create an illusion of our lifestyle"

Scott Galloway occasionally mentions that he thinks most consumer spending is irrational and marketing spends purpose is to make people buy irrationally. Anecdotal observation supports his observation, most strikingly in fashion, where people buy the branded item that costs 100x (or more) than the equally useful unbranded item. Many other examples exist, of course, in almost every market. I tend to agree with Galloway that the goals haven't changed, only the marketing tools (and their effectiveness). Any increase in irrational behavior can be linked to tool efficacy and not to the motivation of the firm, which has remained constant.

I'm not familiar with him, thanks for sharing, will check out his work

I read once that the goal of (most) advertising is to make the person you are envy the person you could be if you bought whatever they're selling. In other words, they're trying to steal your satisfaction, and then offering to sell it back to you.

Don't remember who said it, or I'd give credit where due...

> 1. Printed ads, newspapers, billboards, magazines -- You can explain your product and show a picture of what it looks like to demonstrate the value to customers

I implore you to look at the advertisements and propaganda from ~100+ years ago. This was not the case, manipulation happened in the same ways it does today. Hell, go back ~250+ years and you'll see the same thing. Propaganda played a huge part in the founding of the US, for example.

Similarly, look up early Nazi and Third Reich propaganda. There are internet memes today that look like they were copied directly from some pamphlets printed in the 1930s.

Makes sense, yeah I definitely handwaved "old media"!

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