I really don't understand this entry. People are supposed to proud of nice looking food stamps? Maybe that's not what you meant.
People should view forced charity as an "opportunity" and not a hand out? I don't get that at all. What does that mean? That it isn't a hand out (it is)? That hand outs are good as long as you are getting them? *confused*
Since probably around the late 1950s, almost all major advertising is 100% based on emotional connections or "perceived" value.
Advertising has nothing to do with logic. All of our purchases are pretty much based on several emotional, non-logical, connections with the message being sold to us. Not the product, the MESSAGE.
When was the last time you saw a commercial for Starbucks on TV? You don't have to, they're selling an "experience" not coffee, and there is a good chance there is one or two within a mile of where you are sitting right now.
Women: Tide, Bounce, Snuggle, and all other detergents are not selling you soap for your laundry....they sell you "empowering" ideas like - you are a good mom/housewife because you care enough about your family to make sure their whites are white.
And, perhaps you buy Jiff peanut butter. Not because you think it tastes the best, but because, if you are a good mom, and of course you are, you will be like all the other "choosy moms" that choose Jiff.
Coca-Cola really never needs to spend another dime on advertising, yet, we continue to see super-produced ads with cute polar bears or animated carbonated bubbles dancing with hip kids on the street. All in an attempt to maintain that warm and fuzzy feeling about Coke.
Speaking of beverages.....what do you think the top selling bottled waters are in the world? Evian? Perrier? Fuji? no, no and no.
#1 - Aquafina = filtered tap water from Pepsi Co.
#2 - Desani = filtered tap water from Coca-Cola Co.
Consumers could just buy a water filter, put it on their own faucet, and get EXACTLY the same thing. So why do folks continue to buy so much bottled water (creating a huge increase in plastic bottle waste).....because we've been sold on the emotional ideas that 1. we will die a horrible death by drinking our own tap water. 2. we will die a horrible death because we are all on the verge of dehydration.
I make weekly credit card payments instead of once a month. What ever I use my cc for during the week gets paid at the end of the week. This way I help knock down some interest charges. I like to use my cc instead of debit card for security reasons.
I did give this point a thought. The trouble with solely banking on the fact that they stand out is that most stores have the placement all wrong. Stick the bag of M&M's on a shelf with all red and pink, you may have a winner; put them on an end cap next to the checkout line (where I've been seeing most of them) and people think, "Why the heck are they advertising for St. Patty's already?" It's an annoyance rather than serving it's original purpose.
Maybe M&M needs to communicate to their retailers and merchandising staff better on this one.
Yes, there's the green is the horny color thing, but there's something simpler to this than that. Look at the Valentine's day candy in the grocery store. It's all red / pink. The green packaging makes the green M&Ms immediately stand out and get attention - they're the sore thumb. The opposite. And of course, being noticed on the store shelf usually means being bought. It's the exact marketing process that laundry detergent has been going through. 10 years ago, detergents were all packaged in white bottles. Tide released their product in a bright orange bottle. Tide became #1. Now, all detergents are packaged in bright color bottles and the white ones are getting noticed instead. Detergent is detergent. Chocolate is chocolate. The real key to selling the same thing as everyone else is to get it noticed and marketed in the right ways. M&M made a very smart move here.
I have tried a similar method, which I learnt through a book called 'the Artists' Way', it suggested writing morning pages every morning, i.e. fill in 3 sheets of paper with whatever pops in your head or whatever you feel like writing, and just fill 3 pages of paper. There was no time limit, as long as you do it everyday.
I didn't mean to imply that a large group of "certified financial planners" (or any other group of people trained in the field) advocate this strategy, just that a lot of people who informally offer financial advice do.
I first ran into the idea in an article in the Wall Street Journal sometime in the mid-1990s (the dotcom bubble was just getting going). In that case, it was part of a whole strategy that included putting 90% of your money into stocks and 10% into zero-coupon bonds with a maturity that matched your planned retrement date. Then, when you retired, you'd get a chunk of cash from the zero-coupon bonds, which you could use to live on. The article included a strategy for selling your stocks to replenish cash that allowed for market downturns. Having all your money invested was supposed to be okay, because you had credit cards.
If you go back to most of my previous articles on emergency funds, you'll find people in the comments saying that they're relying on credit cards or HELOCs for emergencies, and I've seen other financial bloggers make the same suggestion.
'There's a large group of financial advisors who suggest using credit in place of an emergency fund.'
I think that's simply not true. I've been a financial advisor for 13 years and that's probably the last thing I would ever tell somebody.
I'm sure it's happened, but to say a 'large group suggest this' is plain wrong. Where are you getting this information? I'd like to hear it.
The advisory business has received quite a few black eyes and I think it faces a crisis in certain respects, the last thing they need is to take the blame for something like this.
People that use HELOC's or any other form of 'overdraft protection' as an emergency fund are generally doing so on their own or against the advice of any capable financial advisor, I think the word for it is 'greed.'
Hah, this is hilarious! I have heard that the green ones had special powers, but what is more interesting is that just today my wife filled up our candy jar with a bag of peanut M&Ms. When I saw the bowl, I noticed they were all green, and I was a bit confused. I asked her if she bought a special kind or something, and she said "no, these were in the valentine candy section, but maybe I bought St. Patrick's ones instead, but that is in March."
Now that I know the reason behind it, I'm sure she will get a good laugh when I tell her.
I am an equal opportunity consumer of Ms. (Take a look, do they say M&M?) I like the blue ones more than the others, but they all have the same effect when consumed.
I had heard about the historical meaning of green in European cultures, but never from that point of view. Maybe there is more to their campaign than I thought... but then again, probably not :)
Green is the color of the heart chakra or energy center. It has always been associated with compassion and unconditional love for many years and by many different cultures. When the energy center is imbalanced, jealousy and envy occur and so they are also 'green' (though those who can see auroas say it is a dirty green, different than the vibrant green of a healthy balanced chakra).
Funny, in that red is the color of our root chakra, and so our culture and traditions of red meaning love, has a much lower vibration to it, purely physical love rather than the more inspiring unconditional love.
When my baby died, I wasn't thinking too much either. I was looking at expensive urns, trying to figure out which was The Right One for his ashes...
The director suggested that the default urn was actually quite lovely, and might be the right choice for us. He could have made more money, but he made the effort to guide us in a reasonable direction. He was correct; the sweet white urn with a cluster of flowers on top was pleasing and does its job just right.
If I ever need to plan another funeral, I'll be back there. Here's hoping there are many more years before then...
When I first saw the commercial for the "new color of love" being green, I was a little confused because isn't green the color of both jealousy and envy? I think this marketing strategy is going to be a big flop - sorry M&M!
I really don't understand this entry. People are supposed to proud of nice looking food stamps? Maybe that's not what you meant.
People should view forced charity as an "opportunity" and not a hand out? I don't get that at all. What does that mean? That it isn't a hand out (it is)? That hand outs are good as long as you are getting them? *confused*
Since probably around the late 1950s, almost all major advertising is 100% based on emotional connections or "perceived" value.
Advertising has nothing to do with logic. All of our purchases are pretty much based on several emotional, non-logical, connections with the message being sold to us. Not the product, the MESSAGE.
When was the last time you saw a commercial for Starbucks on TV? You don't have to, they're selling an "experience" not coffee, and there is a good chance there is one or two within a mile of where you are sitting right now.
Women: Tide, Bounce, Snuggle, and all other detergents are not selling you soap for your laundry....they sell you "empowering" ideas like - you are a good mom/housewife because you care enough about your family to make sure their whites are white.
And, perhaps you buy Jiff peanut butter. Not because you think it tastes the best, but because, if you are a good mom, and of course you are, you will be like all the other "choosy moms" that choose Jiff.
Coca-Cola really never needs to spend another dime on advertising, yet, we continue to see super-produced ads with cute polar bears or animated carbonated bubbles dancing with hip kids on the street. All in an attempt to maintain that warm and fuzzy feeling about Coke.
Speaking of beverages.....what do you think the top selling bottled waters are in the world? Evian? Perrier? Fuji? no, no and no.
#1 - Aquafina = filtered tap water from Pepsi Co.
#2 - Desani = filtered tap water from Coca-Cola Co.
Consumers could just buy a water filter, put it on their own faucet, and get EXACTLY the same thing. So why do folks continue to buy so much bottled water (creating a huge increase in plastic bottle waste).....because we've been sold on the emotional ideas that 1. we will die a horrible death by drinking our own tap water. 2. we will die a horrible death because we are all on the verge of dehydration.
Advertising = 100% emotional 0% logical
This is lovely.
This sounds like a great idea! Thank you for sharing it.
I make weekly credit card payments instead of once a month. What ever I use my cc for during the week gets paid at the end of the week. This way I help knock down some interest charges. I like to use my cc instead of debit card for security reasons.
I did give this point a thought. The trouble with solely banking on the fact that they stand out is that most stores have the placement all wrong. Stick the bag of M&M's on a shelf with all red and pink, you may have a winner; put them on an end cap next to the checkout line (where I've been seeing most of them) and people think, "Why the heck are they advertising for St. Patty's already?" It's an annoyance rather than serving it's original purpose.
Maybe M&M needs to communicate to their retailers and merchandising staff better on this one.
Thanks for the comment!
Yes, there's the green is the horny color thing, but there's something simpler to this than that. Look at the Valentine's day candy in the grocery store. It's all red / pink. The green packaging makes the green M&Ms immediately stand out and get attention - they're the sore thumb. The opposite. And of course, being noticed on the store shelf usually means being bought. It's the exact marketing process that laundry detergent has been going through. 10 years ago, detergents were all packaged in white bottles. Tide released their product in a bright orange bottle. Tide became #1. Now, all detergents are packaged in bright color bottles and the white ones are getting noticed instead. Detergent is detergent. Chocolate is chocolate. The real key to selling the same thing as everyone else is to get it noticed and marketed in the right ways. M&M made a very smart move here.
You're right, of course.... I just like to drop a few subtle hints from time to time. :)
Kate : Nice post! And thanks for making Zoho a part of it :-)
David & Hayden : Thanks for using Zoho!
I like some of these ideas. I'll try them out and see how it goes.
I have tried a similar method, which I learnt through a book called 'the Artists' Way', it suggested writing morning pages every morning, i.e. fill in 3 sheets of paper with whatever pops in your head or whatever you feel like writing, and just fill 3 pages of paper. There was no time limit, as long as you do it everyday.
I didn't mean to imply that a large group of "certified financial planners" (or any other group of people trained in the field) advocate this strategy, just that a lot of people who informally offer financial advice do.
I first ran into the idea in an article in the Wall Street Journal sometime in the mid-1990s (the dotcom bubble was just getting going). In that case, it was part of a whole strategy that included putting 90% of your money into stocks and 10% into zero-coupon bonds with a maturity that matched your planned retrement date. Then, when you retired, you'd get a chunk of cash from the zero-coupon bonds, which you could use to live on. The article included a strategy for selling your stocks to replenish cash that allowed for market downturns. Having all your money invested was supposed to be okay, because you had credit cards.
If you go back to most of my previous articles on emergency funds, you'll find people in the comments saying that they're relying on credit cards or HELOCs for emergencies, and I've seen other financial bloggers make the same suggestion.
Here's some I found in 2 minutes of googling:
So, I thought it was worth advocating against.
Hi, like your idea very much. will do it asap
This gave me such a chuckle to read over coffee this morning. Thanks.
They make you horny and rot your teeth - what a fun mix!
I'd rather just have the love, myself. I don't need the gold.
'There's a large group of financial advisors who suggest using credit in place of an emergency fund.'
I think that's simply not true. I've been a financial advisor for 13 years and that's probably the last thing I would ever tell somebody.
I'm sure it's happened, but to say a 'large group suggest this' is plain wrong. Where are you getting this information? I'd like to hear it.
The advisory business has received quite a few black eyes and I think it faces a crisis in certain respects, the last thing they need is to take the blame for something like this.
People that use HELOC's or any other form of 'overdraft protection' as an emergency fund are generally doing so on their own or against the advice of any capable financial advisor, I think the word for it is 'greed.'
Hah, this is hilarious! I have heard that the green ones had special powers, but what is more interesting is that just today my wife filled up our candy jar with a bag of peanut M&Ms. When I saw the bowl, I noticed they were all green, and I was a bit confused. I asked her if she bought a special kind or something, and she said "no, these were in the valentine candy section, but maybe I bought St. Patrick's ones instead, but that is in March."
Now that I know the reason behind it, I'm sure she will get a good laugh when I tell her.
I am an equal opportunity consumer of Ms. (Take a look, do they say M&M?) I like the blue ones more than the others, but they all have the same effect when consumed.
I had heard about the historical meaning of green in European cultures, but never from that point of view. Maybe there is more to their campaign than I thought... but then again, probably not :)
I had forgotten all about the green ones making you horny. Too funny!
Green is the color of the heart chakra or energy center. It has always been associated with compassion and unconditional love for many years and by many different cultures. When the energy center is imbalanced, jealousy and envy occur and so they are also 'green' (though those who can see auroas say it is a dirty green, different than the vibrant green of a healthy balanced chakra).
Funny, in that red is the color of our root chakra, and so our culture and traditions of red meaning love, has a much lower vibration to it, purely physical love rather than the more inspiring unconditional love.
When my baby died, I wasn't thinking too much either. I was looking at expensive urns, trying to figure out which was The Right One for his ashes...
The director suggested that the default urn was actually quite lovely, and might be the right choice for us. He could have made more money, but he made the effort to guide us in a reasonable direction. He was correct; the sweet white urn with a cluster of flowers on top was pleasing and does its job just right.
If I ever need to plan another funeral, I'll be back there. Here's hoping there are many more years before then...
wow I never heard of the green ones make you horny thing. I guess I grew up in Hawai'i and we were more innocent.
When I first saw the commercial for the "new color of love" being green, I was a little confused because isn't green the color of both jealousy and envy? I think this marketing strategy is going to be a big flop - sorry M&M!