Jen Sorensen just put this comic up over at Slowpoke Comics about Life Cookies. It seems frighteningly accurate, especially considering the rise of NueroMarketing, which Nick Carr wrote about for the Guardian a couple of weeks ago.
Considering the industry I’m in, I get asked questions that relate to this kind of thing fairly often and wanted to take a moment to answer it in a more public format.
While there is great power in knowing a great deal about your audience, there is a very fine line that separates using this knowledge to inform, and using it to manipulate. I think of marketing as a very economic service - the distribution of information. When a consumer (us) know more about a product, it’s components, complements, supplements and alternatives, it gives us the power to make an informed decision.
It is fairly obvious based on the level of spam and misleading advertising I see that this is not everyones take. For some it is about getting as much money as possible and then cashing out. Leaving people with false or purposefully misleading information which gets them to take an action they otherwise would not have taken.
While these new tools are awfully personal (and creepy,) it seems that they will progress none the less. What level of implementation they will achieve will be interesting to see. Like any tool, it is all about who uses them - A drill can be used to build a house, or for the kinds of things the movie series Saw and Hostel were based on. These tools can also be used for good decent purposes, or to manipulate.
