A few thoughts, musings, ramblings and other things from MediaCom people...

Dumb and dumber and consumer behaviour

A recent article from Newsweek gives an answer to the question “How dumb are Americans?”  The answer?  Very.

The article looked at research across a number of different areas of science, geography and other relatively straightforward facts and quotes some startling figures:

Only 39% of Americans believe in evolution… but 41% believe in ESP
32% believe in ghosts
20% believe the sun revolves around the Earth
63% can’t locate Iraq on a map
90% can’t locate Afghanistan on a map

I haven’t seen similar figures from Australia however I wouldn’t be surprised if responses here were similar (although hopefully a little better).

So if people struggle to understand or believe fundamental facts about the world, how are you going to convince them that your product or brand is better than the next one?  These types of statistics suggest that no matter how true something might be, you won’t be able to convince people by appealing to rational thought.  Instead, they highlight the importance of emotional appeal, even in seemingly rational categories.  So things like trust, excitement and fun are going to be much more effective than facts, figures and logic in persuading consumers to buy.

For the full story: http://www.newsweek.com/photo/2010/08/24/dumb-things-americans-believe.html

DT

Who do you trust?

It's the time of year we've all been waiting for - the release of Roy Morgan's 'Image of Professions' survey, which looks at the most ethical and honest professions. 

This year, for the 16th year in a row, nurses have come out on top with 89% of people saying they are trustworthy.  Closely following are pharmacists and doctors.

Interestingly, the biggest improvement has been public opinion pollsters, up 4% (we're an honest bunch), talk-back radio hosts and lawyers.  Judges and police have seen their integrity drop the furthest, which based on what I've seen on Underbelly is entirely justified.

Rounding out the list as the least ethical and honest professions are advertising people (8% - but I'm convinced this doesn't include media people) and car salespeople (5%).  Which prompts the question: who are the 1 in 20 people who trust car salesmen?

DT

You, me, Ross and Rachel

 

“One example of the Savanna Principle in action is the fact that individuals who watch certain types of TV shows are more satisfied with their friendships, just as they are if they had more friends or socialized with them more frequently.”Satoshi Kanazawa, evolutionary psychologist in Psychology Today.

Astonishing but true. Evolutionary psychology has discovered that our brains have difficulty distinguishing between “TV friends” – characters they see repeatedly on shows and their real friends. It’s called the Savanna principle and you can read more on it here.

It’s yet another example of the incredible power and influence that media holds over peoples’ lives and of the redundancy of ideas like real and virtual worlds. I’m sure there are loads of clever things people could do with this idea that could bring real benefits to peoples’ lives. I just thought it was really interesting and validated my lack of actual friends.   

OzTam Time Shift Viewing - What does it mean to us?

As you may all be aware of by now, OzTAM will change their TV methodology at the end of December to include Time Shifting viewing - that is to include all viewing that has been recorded and viewed at a later stage. 

 

More importantly than the change in methodology is the fact that the sample itself is going to change.  Currently within the OzTam MTV sample there are zero people with the PVR/DVR technology.  As of 27th December, 2009, 25% of the sample will have PVR/DVR capabilities as OzTam will be changing a quarter of their sample to allow for this.

 

Let’s look at the numbers (cause that's what I love to do), the total Australian MTV Potential is 14.6 million people with the total Sample Size of approx 7,300 people.

In 2010, 25% of these people (around 1,800) will be changed (like for like eg Male 30-35 leaving and Male 30-35 coming in with PVR/DVR).

Whilst the makeup of the sample will remain the same in regards to demographics, there will be new people within the sample with possibly different viewing habits Channels viewed / Programs / Weight of viewing).