Month: October 2010

The key takeouts:

After an internal draft memo was leaked that seemed to indicate Chevrolet’s management team was forbidding employees from using the brand’s “Chevy” nickname, LaMuraglia’s team used social media to clear up the misinformation and avoid a PR crisis.

— Video allows for greater authenticity. GM originally responded to the misinformation with an “official statement” — but bloggers and brand fans weren’t impressed. LaMuraglia’s team then stepped in and filmed an executive offering a plain-English, authentic explanation of what had happened and posted it to YouTube — which significantly reduced the online criticism.

— It’s about the message, not the production value. LaMuraglia’s video was shaky and lacked the production quality of a traditional corporate video — but because the message was genuine, it still worked just fine.

— It’s OK to say, “We were wrong.” LaMuraglia explains that it’s OK to admit when you’re wrong and that in doing so, you build long-term credibility with fans and critics alike.

In as few words as possible from Garry Tan himself:

First, hate the problem. This means you really connect with something that SUCKS A LOT and you know is a real problem. Come on people, we work in tech. There are a lot of things that are terrible. PC LOAD LETTER, what the heck does that mean!?

Second, ship the solution. The product. Get the smallest possible quantum and don’t boil the ocean. You don’t know whether your product is goodt il it’s out there.

Third, love your users. If you build it, they won’t come. Building consumer web startups is absolutely not like building a car, but that’s how we think about building them. It’s logistics and technology and mechanisms. No, no, no. It’s more like throwing a really awesome party. And nobody throws parties for people who they don’t love.

So that’s what I got in a nutshell. I can’t believe how many people have helped us along the way (and we are so far from done!) but it feels great to be able to give back and help more people get to fulfill their dreams.

Seattle is probably the biggest collection of amazing software engineers and product creators outside of the Bay Area — but they’re all locked up in massive vaults called Microsoft and Amazon. Come on out guys, the water’s fine.

Use a yellow price tag:

The purpose of this article is to find out the relationship between yellow price tags and consumer reference prices. A laboratory study was conducted among 150 respondents, who were put in an experimental purchase situation and their initial internal reference prices were compared affected reference prices. The results revealed that consumers perceive yellow price tags as presenters of discounts. A comparison of the mean values showed that yellow price tags influence the reference price and, moreover, a yellow price tag increased the reference price. As a practical outcome, the results of the study indicated that companies have the opportunity to increase the consumer’s reference price and thereby to raise revenues by changing the colour of the price tag without offering an actual discount.

Source: “Do Yellow Price Tags Matter to Consumers? The Relationship Between the Presentation of the Price and the Reference Price” from University of Tartu, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration

This fascinating TED talk by Sebastian Seung.

He is one of those scientists who adds humor and charisma to explain complex concepts, makign them engaging and easy to understand.

Our brain functions by creating a series of connections between the most interesting and memorable “events” that happen in our life. And this connections are constantly changing depending on our mental experiences.

Consider that everytime we think of something, we create or modify our connections, therefore defining our brain, our vision and understanding of the world.

What I think is really interesting about this concepts is that neuro connections and actual personal connections are about the same thing.

The more we connect with people the deeper is their impact in our lives.

Connections between us and interesting people, rewarding activies and richer experiences won’t happen unless we actively seek them, over time and with repetition.

Simple enough.

Lets develop data storytelling skills.

These results suggest that the most powerful effect of advertising is just to create a good feeling about a product by surrounding it with other things that you like. It is also important to point out that affective conditioning is most effective when you don’t realize that it is happening. That is, trying to pay less attention to the ads you see on TV and in magazines may actually make this type of advertising more effective.

So, why do we choose things just because we feel good about them? The world is a busy place. It is hard for us to feel confident that we have all of the objective facts about anything, whether it is products, people, or choices of things to do. The feelings we have are often a good marker of what is safe to do and what is likely to turn out well. If we have to make a choice, and one of the options just feels good to us, then we are likely to go with the one that feels good.

Most of the time, of course, that is a good idea. Often, we feel good about something because we have had positive experiences with it in the past. The problem is that we allow advertisers to have access to our mental world. They have paid for the opportunity to slip information to us about what feels good. That information ultimately affects the way we make choices, whether we know it or not.

Really interesting from Psychology Today.

Affective conditioning is most effective when you don’t even realise its happening. If you’re like me and consciously paying attention to ads, denouncing or praising them, its alleged that if we paid less conscious attention to them, they’d be more effective. What dya reckon?