New advertising method developed uses flashing images at a certain frequency to make the brain subconsciously trust the product being advertised. Freaky. Found it on digg.com, here is the link
great stuff, i tried the apple one and i thought 'i dont feel like a want and apple......although i woudlnt mind one' and proceeded to the fridge to find i only had a chocolate penguin which i ate instead
First let me say i specialize in "Psychographics" that is the study of the "emotional reasons why people buy" which has nothing to do with logic (in america) this is the reason why commercials are so comedic, dramatic and romanticized. a woman buys "more bounce and body" not "soap for your hair"...she buys EASY TO MANAGE HAIR - therefore making her MORE ATTRACTIVE to the opposite sex...she could care less about the ingredients of the shampoo...she is not buying "hair cleaner", she is buying "beauty". anyway thats another topic... with that said....as for these "trust banners" well... don't believe everything you hear (see) now, keeping in mind that in the UK they are big on self-hypnosis etc...so maybe across the pond this works a little different but to americans overstimulated. advertising bombarded minds....its just another flashy banner in my own personal case it was annoying at first, made me blink because im forcing my self to focus on the middle static image while wierd stuff is going on the sides of the banner I like fruit....but had no desire to get an apple I don't like pepsi, but I do like to dance....howevever, I had no desire to dance or get a pepsi also, it says you have stare in the middle for 5 seconds. wtheck? considering most people don't even look at web banners for a TOTAL DURATION of time of 5 seconds, it's much less likely they will just stare at the middle image of one of these banners while on their favorite webpage. so EVEN IF THE THEORY DID WORK....and somehow magically force a person to desire to "consume or buy" subconciously (which is a ridiculous thought, because "BUYING" and "EATING" are two distinctly separate portions of the brain...just think about it...no science needed for that one) -even so, it couldn't work with the current browsing habits of todays web surfer. maybe in way back in 1999 when banners were still new and worked like a charm....in 2008? hardly. Remember, today's surfers are on a page looking at content, and the advertisement up top, the one usually ignored, is trying desparately to get their attention, they are passive to the ad...they are not looking for whatever is being offered, they are looking for whatever content they were looking for. Its not like they did a search and the banner came up....no, instead its just another ad IN THE WAY of whatever they wanted in the first place. What about the studies you say? HAHA got me there...not! Well, think about it...surely the majority of it is the fact they told people "stare at the image in the middle for 5 seconds" this would work with just the old picture card as a kid A apple B banana C cantaloupe have a person stare at that image for 5 seconds and ask "how do you feel" majority of people will say "hungry" WELLLLLLLL, common sense says if you're hungry, and you stare at a slice of pizza for 5 seconds....BAM - you want pizza! Especially us fat gluttonous pigs in america...we are on the seefood diet...we "See" food, and want it. I am guilty of it myself. so wow, a scientific breakthrough indeed...maybe not. just because ONE "DOCTOR/SCIENTIST" signs off on the endorsement (he was probably paid for)...doesnt make it "scientific" Nor any more credible than the fact that "3 out of 4 dentists recommend dentine gum." Now what is pure GENIUS IMO, is it's actually a great spin and marketing hook to SELL BANNER DESIGN! so kudos to them for that...as it's true PSYCHOGRAPHICALLY FOCUSED MARKETING They got the wii.fm of small businesses. (whats in it for me) You see there are several keywords that psychologist tell us go straight to the subconscious. when we use them they "trigger" an emotional response...just the usage of the word is enough to instill trust...and we DO NOT ASK FOR VERIFICATION you know some of them....like FREE...others you may not, so here is a portion of the list i have in my ebook (no im not trying to sell it, i give it free to clients) Free - Master - Power - Discovery - Easy - Guaranteed - Love - Money - New - Scientific - Proven - Results - Incredible - Discover - Breakthrough but more importantly the words SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGH GUARANTEED As I said, I have an ebook that touches on it...its designed to help marketers make headlines for advertisements...it gives a longer list of those words...again, not trying to sell it, i just wanted to point out to you the words exist, and are known to work...you can see them in sales copy often. So what is really happening here? Small business marketers are looking for an "edge" -- the ONE MAGIC BULLET -- the BEST BANNER AD.... There is no such thing as any experienced marketer knows. There is no best anything when it comes to marketing. It is always a series of many little things put together, that are implemented, then tested, then improved..but there is never a "best place to advertise" or "best type web advertisement -- PPC, banner, seo?" in the end...all have their pros and cons, and are based on how you implement them in accordance to your marketing plan each can perform spectacularly or poorly for the SAME TYPE BUSINESS, depending on HOW they are done, and by WHOM. However, these guys have effectively "SOLD" the idea that they have created a magic bullet...a magic banner to be exact. How attractive to the small business that desparately wants to believe its true. and surely its all: SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN a BREAKTHROUGH GUARANTEED to get RESULTS many, even if it gets ONE CLICK...thats enough for people to swear by it saying "SEE _ I TOLD YOU!" simply to be on the "winning team" which is a different phenomena in marketing SO overall I give this one a thumbsdown as a product thumbs up as a sales piece to it's TRUE target audience: The many small business marketers looking for a "magic bullet"