• How does the process of making a purchase decision vary when the deadline varies?
  “Under a time constraint, consumers are more motivated to purchase a product that helps achieve the minimal goal of preventing a negative outcome than they are to purchase a product that helps achieve the maximum goal of promoting a positive outcome”
• “Research Attack” – bad questions asked poorly
  Sad-but-frequently-true story of how some people approach asking questions. Nice to hear from the answerer’s perspective. This crap doesn’t work, folks.
• Audrey Carr ¬ª The Use of Design Research in the Creative Process
  Nice straightforward piece about different goals for “design research” and thus the different outcomes. 1. Research as context, 2. Research as stimulus, 3. Research as evaluation.
• The Flusher King
  From last October, a Toronto Star article (now seemingly expired) about the process of testing the flushing power of toilets. Thrill to the details of how they make fake poo out of various other substances, and then try flushing it.
• Doblin bought by Monitor Group
  “Since May 2007, Doblin has been proud to be a part of Monitor Group, one of the world’s premier professional advisory firms.” Interesting.
• Driving directions, the Indian way
  Fantastic example of cultural differences in Param’s post about a new website that gives the “right” kind of navigational info for its Indian customers.

A new commercial for Trojan condoms depicts

women in a bar are surrounded by anthropomorphized, cellphone-toting pigs. One shuffles to the men’s room, where, after procuring a condom from a vending machine, he is transformed into a head-turner in his 20s. When he returns to the bar, a fetching blond who had been indifferent now smiles at him invitingly.

CBS and Fox rejected the ad.

A 2001 report about condom advertising by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation found that, “Some networks draw a strong line between messages about disease prevention – which may be allowed – and those about pregnancy prevention, which may be considered controversial for religious and moral reasons.”

Good example of cultural construction. A product provides a basic set of functionality, but the meaning associated with that functionality rests outside the product itself. The users, and to a large part, society in general, construct that meaning. And so the stories we are allowed to tell about the product are determined along those lines.

I also liked this part of the story:

“With a 75 percent share of the market, we can prioritize growing the category and increasing overall condom usage,” Mr. Daniels said. “Right now in the U.S. only one in four sex acts involves using a condom. That’s dramatically below usage rates in other developed countries. Our goal is to dramatically increase use.”

We know what stomach share is, but what do the marketers at Trojan call their version?

As diners, an online reservation service like OpenTable has obvious conveniences. But as the NYT explains, “The other end, however, is where the service has real benefit.”

The reservations that pop up on the restaurants’ computer screens, especially those made by regulars, are accompanied by an important tidbit or two.

Doug Washington, a co-owner of Town Hall, said the notes were not just helpful, they are occasionally indispensable. Next to the name of one regular, who has a habit of bringing in women he is not married to, is an instruction to make sure the man’s wife has not booked a separate table for the same day.

Another frequent guest asks the restaurant to send over dessert compliments of the chef but to put the charge on the guest’s bill. Of another, who takes many of his first dates to Town Hall, the instructions read, “Do not treat like a regular!”

Cool to think about the other interfaces into a system and the other tasks being supported.

I’ve used this image before to talk about Unconsumption. This semi-space between the formerly binary states of garbage and non-garbage is an interesting cultural innovation. And now it’s been formalized as a movement called replate – a way to prevent unwanted leftovers from going to waste by placing them on top of a trash can.

Very cool.

Seen in the window of a jewelry store in a very respectable normal mall in downtown Seattle. What a collision of imagery and meaning here! Glamor meets rebellion meets underground meets punk meets opulence meets bling.

Not to mention, that necklace/pendant is huge. Look at the size of the skull ring for a bit of scale.

Alter Ego: Avatars and Their Creators is a recent book that presents photos of (online role playing) gamers alongside their online representations (or avatars). The NYT has excerpted images here and the BBC features smaller images (some overlap) but more narrative info here.

Man, am I late to the party. I only just read “Blink” but it was more than 2 years ago when PeterMe wrote

Everything You Need to Know About “Blink” Boiled Down Into 9 Words.

Snap judgments are valuable. Except when they are not.

I’d add 6 qualifying words: Hindsight is 20-20 in determining which.

• Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World, a 2005 Albert Brooks film
  Brooks goes to India on a gov’t project to understand what makes Muslims laugh. Best part is the Brooks-level-of-awkwardness as he tries to stop people on the street and ask them what makes them laugh. Hilarious skewering of market research that reveals why intercepts suck.

Disappointing if revealing nuggets from this article about the TV series Jericho, recently brought back by CBS in response to demanding fans.

Mr. James, the actor, said he believed the revival of “Jericho” would cement the idea that the traditional Nielsen ratings “are going to become a more and more old-fashioned notion of monitoring television.”

CBS executives, however, are not so certain. Ms. Tassler’s message was more of forming “a marketing partnership” with online viewers and fans who record the show, one that would result in their “bringing more eyeballs to the network” and its traditional broadcasts.

Last week in Seattle I checked out of the hotel, loaded up the rental Jeep and as I turned onto the main road, I saw this crazy advertruck

As I gawked and fumbled for the camera, the ads in the windows rolled up to reveal the world’s largest carbo-cholestero-monster lurking within

Seconds later, as I pulled alongside, a message appeared on my cellphone, asking if I would accept a Bluetooth connection from KFC-something-something. I declined, but whoah.

I was watching them, and they were watching me. I guess this is the sort of thing you read about, but to see it deployed and actually happening right in front of me, that was quite intense.