I write this blog, for the most part, about my own experiences and opinions. However, these are usually framed in the context of my role within Advertising & Marketing. Some of it professional, some of it recreational, but all of it from one side of the fence.
I don’t really address myself as a consumer.
This is partially because I don’t want to add to the incredibly damaging process where marketers think the consumer is like them. This atrociously self-indulgent activity has been a major factor in our trajectory towards head-up-arse creative (culminating, I believe, in spreading bits of our logos out).
If you’re in any doubt on the dangers of this, check out anything Mark Ritson has ever written about market orientation. It’s all brilliant, all spot on.
However I am still a consumer. I buy things, watch things, click on things, ignore things, and swipe things.
Although I will never base my work on what consumer-Alex thinks, I believe the pattern of influence does go the other way.
Sure some of what I do is natural, but I believe a lot of it is a direct product of my position within the industry itself. My experiences within marketing influence how I respond to marketing.
Inception.
So I tried to figure out what some of those behaviours are, jotted them down, and put them in a list. I’ll let you figure out which I got from the other side of the fence…
- I will never be influenced by an influencer
- When I drive a car, I don’t picture myself in a movie
- I have no emotional attachment to coffee chains
- Or detergent brands
- Or 99% of the brands I use every day
- I still watch TV, even though it’s apparently dead
- Adverts based on my search activity annoy me
- I will never, ever, take part in a brand’s hashtag
- I don’t think exclusive things are referred to as such
- I like adverts that make me laugh
- …or feel happy
- …or feel sad
- …or feel anything
- If something sounds too good to be true, I’ll assume it is
- Fake advert scenarios annoy me more if they pretend to be real
- I have never understood a perfume advert
- Too frequent, shouty, adverts make me hate a product
- Too infrequent, crappy, adverts make me forget a product
- I still like going into real shops
- I don’t remember subscribing to your newsletter
got words? The blog. 