Grant McCracken is a whip smart cultural anthropologist working in the modern day consumer arena. Here's how he sees us behaving during times of economic tumult: Roughly speaking, consumers have two modalities: surging and dwelling. In the surging modality, consumers have momentum. We have a vivid sense of forward motion. Life is getting better. Each purchase is an improvement onthe last one. Clothes change with …
It’s A Great Time To Invest
The Oracle of Omaha is buying American stocks. A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful. If prices keep looking attractive, my non-Berkshire net worth will soon be 100 percent in United States equities. Over the long term, the stock market news will be good. In the 20th century, the United States endured two world wars and other traumatic and expensive …
Good Times, Bad Times, You Know I’ve Seen My Share
Stuart Elliott is my "friend" on Facebook, so I want to be courteous. Yet, I have to isolate this line from his story in The Times, "Persuading Companies to Keep Up Their Pitches." Shoppers who are anxious about their jobs, savings and retirement accounts are in no mood to pay attention to the blandishments of Madison Avenue. That line of thinking is entirely too easy and I reject it. "Shoppers" could use a little …
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Budget Concerns Are One Thing, Innovative Thinking Is Another.
Here's the headline I'm seeing this morning in The Wall Street Journal: With a headline like that, I don't see much point in digesting the story. But I did so for you dear reader. The Journal refers to "experimental" budgets hitting the cutting-room floor. News flash: all marketing is experimental. Kind of like fishing. I will agree with this notion, however: "I can't see us selling virtual worlds to anybody right …
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To Be Invisible, Or Not To Be
People are scrambling to figure out what the harrowing economic collapse means to them. Will they have a job on Monday? Will their 401K be worth anything when they retire? Should they begin walking to work and cultivating a garden? And so on. TechCrunch founder, Michael Arrington, writing about the ignoble end of Web. 2.0 (an argument I find lacking) makes this assertion: The first to go will be the bulging marketing …
Talk About “Off The Charts”
Our national debt--over the $10 trillion mark--is now greater than the machine constructed in 1989 to count it. Wired says the digital dollar sign has been replaced with a cheaper, non-digital version to make room for the extra number. …
Can It, For The Win (FTW)
Ed Cotton of Butler Shine + Stern sees some changes on the horizon. This one grabbed my attention: Rise of the grow your own movement- with $50,000 of annual food production available in the average American lot, people will start growing their own vegetables and foods. People will also start doing things like canning and making more of their own food- less prepared foods and eating out. Sounds like the best use of …
It’s A Good Time To Dream Big
Twisted as it may be, when the economy tanks, state lotteries capitalize on people's fear and sell more game-of-chance tickets. According to Ad Age, lotteries are also altering their messages to fit the times, connecting to entertainment properties and gaining traction in social media playgrounds. Capitalizing on the country's gas crisis, the Missouri Lottery has partnered with pump owners to offer gas discounts …
