With this post, I intend to prove that most of the time, advertising does not work on smart people, and when it does, they are aware of it. The original reason I started writing this was because of a Lowe’s commercial in which a happily married couple severely screws up every form of home repair possible and then goes to Lowe’s and finds some random employee that solves all of their problems. If you’ve seen the commercial, maybe you’ve wondered, as I have, why they painted an entire room bright green before stopping and saying, “Hmm, this is really green. I don’t like this color.”

Many companies try to sell you on their brand/product/service by making it sound like they’re your friends/family. State Farm comes to mind on this (“good neighbor”). The idea is, of course, to get you to form a positive mental relationship with them by making you associate their brand with the positive relationships that already exist in your life. You already know this, though, and that’s why most commercials don’t come right out and say, “we’re your friends!” and instead try to project the image that they’re your friends through other means.

So we’re still faced with the main question: why doesn’t advertising work on smart people? Well, there’s a simple, two part answer:

1) Smart people know that they’re being advertised to.
2) Smart people already know what they want.

If an advertiser wants to appeal to a smart person, they generally have to find other means of identifying with that person’s group. For example, Old Spice recently put out a crap-ton of short YouTube videos replying to people’s Tweets, Facebook statuses, reddit comments, etc, and it was wildly popular among smarter audiences (like reddit). There was even a thread on reddit by someone saying that they were definitely going to purchase Old Spice body wash. Did the advertising work? Yup, and everyone knew damn well that it worked. People on reddit made a conscious choice to purchase Old Spice body wash because of the commercial.

I have done this before as well. Remember Burger King’s Tendercrisp Bacon Cheddar Ranch commercial featuring Darius Rucker from Hootie & the Blowfish? The one where he was singing a parody of “Big Rock Candy Mountain”? I found that commercial to be so incredible that I went to Burger King and bought a Tendercrisp Bacon Cheddar Ranch.

Anyone remember Tech TV? I can’t be bothered to verify this through other sources, but Leo Laporte regularly says on his netcasts that Tech TV failed because it couldn’t get advertisers, and the reason for that was because advertisers knew they could not advertise to smart people, which is what Tech TV’s audience was.

Finally, let’s look at a company who is very widely credited for having successful marketing campaigns: Apple. First, who is it that buys Apple’s products? Well, that’s everyone – smart people, average people, and people that have to pull out a calculator to figure out 100 divided by 20. Apple’s advertising is very successful on most people, because Apple succeeds in making their products look cool and technologically superior to their competitors’ products. Smart people don’t care if a product is cool, and they aren’t going to fall for it when Apple says that Macs don’t crash; they fact is, they already want a Mac. They know this beforehand, they know why they want a Mac, and they know why they want a Mac, and it has nothing to do with the commercials. Heck, they might even be resentful about Apple coming off as smug.

I think this is probably because smart people tend to not just take things as they are and may analyze and dissect information regardless of the situation. This is probably why Leo Laporte promotes his advertisers the way he does on his netcast network, which has a pretty intelligent fanbase. Rather than just inserting ads into his shows without any context, he flat out says that they’re ads and will only accept advertisers that he would personally recommend to his friends. When he does an ad on This Week in Tech, it’s pretty much something like, “Hey guys, this product is great, and I personally endorse it.” I think this is a successful way to advertise to smart people, because Leo is a smart guy himself and a lot of people trust his advice.

TL; DR – Ads suck.

Anyway, I haven’t updated in a while (surprise, surprise), so it’s catch up time. Back in July, a good bit of my family flew to North Carolina to spend a week at my brother’s cabin. It’s pretty awesome up there (except for the spotty cell phone coverage ).

That’s me on Chimney Rock. The view was awesome.

That’s the sunset over the lake my brother’s cabin is on. Yeah, it was really pretty.

I got to fly in an airplane, ride on crazy curvy mountain roads, swim in a mountain lake, and go white water rafting; all things I’ve never done before. It was pretty awesome. If I ever get to go again, I want to take my car so I can drive on those roads.

I’ve been writing a good bit lately (for fun, not for school/work). I’m just shy of 40,000 words on “Business As Usual,” which I’m trying to get to novel status (50,000) during editing. Also, I decided I don’t like that title. :\

My web hosting expires in about 27 days, and I don’t think I’m going to renew it. My friend James offered to host my site for me, and since I don’t really use it as much as I used to, I may just take him up on the offer and save myself some money.

I recently posted this on Facebook and on reddit (where I got my highest upvote count ever), so I’m going to put it here too so anyone that still reads this can watch it and get all nostalgic all over it with me.

What would one of my updates be without random embedded YouTube videos of music I’ve been listening to? In case you haven’t realized it yet, I like electro-*anything*, and these videos are proof.

Electro-post hardcore:

Electro-pop:

-Philip

Chevy Corvette Z06

Pretty much this, except with the single black rally stripe down the middle. Yes, I have a thing for yellow cars.

Ford Mustang Shelby GT500

This color looks amazing in person. (Yellow is not offered on Mustangs anymore.)

Kawasaki Ninja 650R

I’ve never ridden one before, but it sure looks like fun. The green looks sweet, and of course, they don’t offer yellow. These aren’t expensive, especially used, but I have more important things to buy for now.

Nissan GT-R

This is the least realistic car in the list and would absolutely have to be purchased used, but regardless, it’s a totally sick car and one of the only foreign cars on this list (the only one if you don’t count the street bike). A 370Z would be more realistic, but I’d rather a Camaro SS or Mustang GT if I’m gonna drop $40k. 370Z is also a very nice car though.

Chevy Cobalt SS

Yeah, you’re thinking, “WTF, why is a Cobalt on this list?” Well, this is the last year of production for this car, so I doubt I’ll ever own one, but it’s a nice looking car, it’s somewhat inexpensive, and it’s fast. The Cobalt SS will run 0-60 in 5.7 seconds – that’s 0.2 seconds faster than my Camaro LT. The Cobalt would make an excellent daily driver, but then again, so would this next car…

Chevy Volt

The Chevy Volt isn’t exactly the best looking car, but it’s the most practical hybrid I’ve yet to see, and it’s still better looking than every foreign hybrid I know of. The Volt travels 40 miles on nothing but electricity, but has an extended range (with the help of a gas generator) of about ~320 miles with the help of a gas generator, which will still get you 50 MPG. This is pretty much the perfect daily driver car for just going to work or the grocery store or whatever.

-Philip

1.) She’s an incredibly talented singer with an amazing voice.

2.) As seen above, she’s also a talented piano player (and yes, I’m purposely avoiding using another word here).

3.) If you think she’s abandoned her roots or something, then you should be made aware of the fact that she performs piano versions of her songs very often, and in these performances, she actually sings the songs differently to fit the style of music; it’s not just a slowed down rehash of the original.

4.) Her performances are real performances. She doesn’t just stand there and sing.

5.) Lady Gaga understands the current state of the music industry.

6.) Many pop musicians let the fame get to them and end up going insane (think Britney Spears’ shaved head). Gaga is pretty much already insane, but that’s part of what makes her so great.

7.) Everyone loves and covers her music: pop singers, rock singers, punk singers, metal guitarists, etc. That’s respect, right there.

8.) Come on, admit it: her songs are really catchy, and she writes them herself.

9.) It’s always fun to see what she’s going to wear. Call it crazy, call it looking for attention, call it whatever you want, but it’s still fun.

I think I may have called Fall Out Boy’s demise a little too early. It’s looking like they’re really on break, which is fantastic news.

Music news that isn’t so fantastic, however, is that I have a ticket to see Paramore in September and I have no idea where the ticket is. It’s very unlike me to lose things like that, and I really hope I can find it soon so I don’t have to worry about it.

Just in case anyone was wondering: yes, I’m probably getting the iPhone 4, and yes, the iPhone is the best smartphone on the market, despite what the haters may think.

We’ll be entering election season soon, and I just thought I’d throw this out there: I think Ron Paul is fantastic, but I’m actually sort of hoping he doesn’t run in 2012, because I really want (former) Governor Gary Johnson to run, and I don’t think he’ll run against Dr. Paul. One of Ron Paul’s biggest problems was that he wasn’t really that good with the media (in my opinion, at least), but Gary Johnson is. Pretty much the same ideals with a new face – well, I don’t think that could hurt the movement that Dr. Paul’s fans stand for.

-Philip

There is a lot of confusion via lower-level Apple employees as to whether or not the RAM and hard drive are user replaceable parts in the 2010 Unibody MacBook Pro. I have spoken with employees at the Apple store on the sales floor, both of which said that it would void the warranty for me to take off the bottom panel of the computer. Each of them asked a Mac Genius and the geniuses also said that it would void the warranty. I called Apple technical support and the rep on the phone said that she doubted I could remove the panel without voiding the warranty, but that she would forward me to the tech support supervisor just to make sure.

This is where I finally got the answer that I was looking for, because I was certain I was right based on information in the user manual (page 36) and on Apple’s website. I can absolutely confirm that the RAM and the hard drive are user replaceable parts on the current generation unibody MacBook Pro and it does not void your warranty to remove the bottom panel of the computer and change either of those parts out, as long as you do not cause damage in the process.

If you get trouble for this at the Apple store, ask them to call in the question to Apple for the correct answer. I’d also recommend that if you do decide to change your hard drive or your RAM that you put the original parts back in the MacBook Pro before bringing it in for servicing for multiple reasons. It would likely be easier to not have to bring up the replaced parts at all, completely setting aside the fact that Apple usually removes third party parts and sends them back in a plastic bag when you depot a Mac. Furthermore, if they do detect that the case has been opened, you could always bring up the fact that if you call in a RAM or hard drive problem, Apple gives you the option of them sending you the RAM/HDD for you to install yourself rather than shipping the Mac to them.

-Philip

I’ve been digging this song lately. Very cool synth stuff.

Melfina is awesome so far. Kalmiya was the best computer I’ve ever had, so I’m hoping this MacBook Pro will continue that trend. I’m going to wait for Q3/Q4 of this year when the next generation of solid state drives come out and then stick a sweet SSD in this thing so it’ll really fly. I apparently could’ve done that in my old MacBook Pro as well without voiding the warranty, but I guess it’s all been for the best.

And also, just for the record, the iPad is still amazing and I still use it every day. Crazy how I thought I had no use for a big iPod Touch, and now it’s integrated into my routine.

-Philip

It started having battery/power issues again a few days ago, and since my Apple Care expires in 17 days, I brought it in today for it’s final appointment, along with a small list of three minor issues and the one kind of major power issue. I explained to the Apple Genius what was wrong, and she told me she’d do some research and get back to me within a couple of hours, which is a pretty different response than I normally get, but whatever. I got in my car and started heading to Houma.

Thirty minutes later I hadn’t gotten too far on the interstate, since there was a lot of traffic, but I got a callback from the Apple Genius.

“I’ve got some good news. I talked to my manager, and we’re going to replace your computer with an entirely new machine.”

Apple, I’ve criticized you before for bewildering business practices and closed products, but I have never and will never be able to criticize you for your customer service.

I got a brand new, $1800 MacBook Pro simply for paying ~$250 for Apple Care three years ago. I love it (named it Melfina), and Apple has officially made a customer for life.

Thanks, Apple, for taking such good care of your customers.

-Philip

I always feel like talking about my car on here, but for some reason, I keep from doing it because I’m worried that other people will think that I’m bragging, when that’s not the case at all. I just really like my car, and I want to talk about it, just like I talk about my computer(s)…and, well, everything else I own that I talk about.

That said, I still haven’t posted any detailed information on it, and I plan on getting around to it at some point, complete with some pictures. I need to wax it, but I’m going to wait until the body work on it is done.

That reminds me: do not, I repeat, do NOT take your car to Winner’s Circle in Tigerland. I took it there to get my tire plugged and I got it back with some missing paint on the edge of the driver’s side door. One of my friends also messaged me recently to ask how I got them to pay for it, because one of their friends brought their car there and it came back with a scratch. Some of the people that work there apparently do not care about your car, and the owner is convinced that all of his employees are 100% honest about reporting accidents, so it’s fun to try to convince him that you respect your property far too much to fling your door open into something without even noticing.

I went to the dentist the other day – the first dentist I’ve gone to in Baton Rouge. That said, I highly recommend Bruns Family Dentistry. It’s run by a husband and wife, and though I didn’t have my appointment with the male doc, I can say that the female one was the best and most open dentist I’ve ever been to, if it’s possible to judge based on a first time visit. She told me a lot of stuff that I didn’t know about my teeth.

That’s all for now. Keep up with my experiments with lucid dreaming on my dream blog.

-Philip

http://www.inphiltrate.com/dreams/

It’s more for me than for anyone else, but I thought I’d link to it anyway. There’s no posts on it yet except for the ‘About’ page, which explains the purpose of the blog: “I’ve had one lucid dream in my life, and it was a completely amazing experience. Because of this and a general interest in (lucid) dreams, I started this dream blog in hopes that it would increase my dream retention. Apparently, by keeping a dream journal, it alerts your brain that dreams are important and that it shouldn’t just discard dreams like it does most of the time. In turn, you’ll be able to remember more dreams – the first step to being able to control them.”