Misinformation Science

Bureau of MisinformationEver since I read about Mary Meeker’s influential misinformation in this morning’s paper, I feel obliged to present my own made-up statistics and fabricated facts:

  • 12 percent of all “lossless” audio files were made from low-quality mp3s.
  • 36 percent of smart phone users are not as smart as their phones.
  • Dropped calls account for more than $8 million a year in unconsummated craigslist deals.
  • The “cloud” is actually stored in a shoebox under Jeff Bezo’s bed.
  • Siri was known as “Goober” throughout its development.

So there you are, feel free to use the comments section to add your own. For the record, Meeker was caught red-handed using a statistic that doesn’t exist, that the average smartphone user looks at his or her phone 150 times a day. The source quoted not only admitted making it up (and clearly labeling it such) but the blog itself was titled “What would a ‘typical user’ do with the non-smartphone today … ?” (at least according to the Chronicle, though I have not been able to find such a post on the public internets).

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When should you ask the prospect a question?

Question ButtonEvery now and again clients want to pose questions to their prospects; questions such as, “Is your data really secure?” or “Is your financial software ready for the new millennium?”

Today on NPR’s Forum, author Daniel Pink talked about his new book, To Sell Is Human: The Surprising truth about moving others. Pink says it’s okay to ask a question when the facts are on your side. Here is a brief segment where he explains. Asking a questionHowever, it cannot be emphasized enough that the perception of the facts must be on your side, regardless of the actual situation.

Pink’s advice differs slightly from the advice I give clients, which is “Don’t ask a question you don’t want to know the answer to.”

 

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Big Brother Approves

Penguin Classic Ninety Eight-Four cover

Penguin Press commissioned designer David Pearson to re-imagine covers of five classic George Orwell novels. Among them is this standout cover for “1984,” with both the title and the author’s name “blacked out.” In certain light you can see the title under the “redaction,” as this graphic portrays.

Pearson says that the design went through numerous iterations “to establish just the right amount of print obliteration. Eventually we settled on printing and debossing, as per the Great Ideas series, with the difference being that the title and author name were then blocked out using matte black foil. This had the effect of partially flattening the debossed letters, leaving just enough of a dent for the title to be determined – though I can’t vouch for it’s success on Amazon.”

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Do you see any grass between my teeth?

I guess I am a sucker for commercial art under foot. The Brazilians, as I have noted, have it down to a science.

Found at I Believe in Advertising

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Cross-dressing: always in style

Liu Xianping for Yuekou

Chinese teen-girl fashion clothier Yuekou is using a 72-year-old man as a model. World, meet Liu Xianping, grandfather of Lv Ting, the apparel-maker’s owner.

According to Ting, one day Xianping picked up an outfit, tried to give her advice on mixing and matching outfits and instead of saying “Grandpa, that’s gross…” what resulted was Xianping’s first photo shoot. No doubt the man has style. Tip of the hat to Boing Boing and Adweek’s AdFreak.

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Able to leap tall paradigms in a single bound

Clark&Kent is the smallest ad agency in the world with headquarters in a phone booth in New York. Here is the C&K business card. And of course…it’s a phone booth!

Phone Booth business card

That’s all well and good until someone asks “What’s a phone booth?” Via I Believe in Advertising.

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Interactive artist creates, sells websites

Rafaël Rozendaal is a Dutch-Brazilian visual artist and founder of the DIY curatorial platform BYOB (Bring Your Own Beamer). He uses the internet as his canvas and gallery, building colorful and interactive works that lie somewhere between animation and digital painting.

Rafaël says, “If you told Leonardo daVinci there’s this magical box that anyone in the world can access, and they can also talk to you, and you can work with color and with sound and with interaction and with movement, and anytime of the day you can change whatever, and anyone in the world can see it for free, I think he would be pretty excited.”

Rafaël’s latest project is Inner Doubts .com.

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Posters for Flight, Still Alive

Flight via IMPawards.com

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Keepin’ it classy

Is “abattoir” just one of those Aussie words everyone there knows, like stickybeak or billabong? Or was “slaughterhouse” just a tad too déclassé? Via ads of the world.

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Not likely coming to Kindle anytime soon…

Publicis Spain created a WonderBra box posing as a self-help book and placed it in bookstores and shopping centers.

 

Apparently business women in Spain are not yet tired of answering the question “What are you staring at?” Via Ads of the World.

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