In a class some 15+ years ago at Dhahran Academy, my classmates and I sat huddled in a semicircle watching as the P.E. teacher knelt on the floor to show us a magic trick of sorts. He began waving his hands about briefly, in a seemingly random fashion, after which he stopped and placing one hand on the arm that was supporting his weight while he intently gazing at the patch of floor above which he had drawn an imaginary number, asked the class to guess what number it was.
After a couple of rounds, I remember the teacher explicitly instructing those students who had figured it out, and guessed the number correctly, NOT to give away their secret. I also remember, quite vividly in fact, being the first student NOT to follow his instructions*, awkwardly ending the game and spoiling the discovery process for my fellow classmates. NOT one of my proudest moments.
Fast forward to about two weeks ago when I was confronted by a similar feeling, which I now believe provoked my disobedience* all those years ago, after having watched a video on youtube entitled, coincidentally some might say, “Real Beauty Sketches” by branD.
If you haven't seen or heard about it yet, and even though I don't recommend you watch it, be aware that what follows will probably spoil the experience for you. Actually, I'm hoping it foils the intended experience for you or at least forces/invites you, if you've already seen it, to think about it differently.
This video showcases, in my opinion at least, some of the most sophisticated marketing campaign production techniques in the business, and to be clear, that is NOT a compliment. From the various comments I've read, this video seems to be weaving its magic with frightening efficiency, something that ordinarily wouldn't have bothered me so except for the fact that one of my dearest friends on facebook posted it to her timeline. Her comment read something like “I know this has to do with a brand, but its totally real. We're more beautiful than we think we are, or worse yet, to what they've led us to believe” a sentiment far too similar to my own and other people´s first reactions that I couldn't continue to ignore it.
Actually, having rationally, although briefly, studied the video, I might have gone on ignoring the message, confident in the knowledge that I had outwitted the creation team´s efforts and more or less easily avoided any lasting impact my initial viewing might have had on me in the future, maybe. I could list, point by point some of the observations I've made relating to what the video doesn't show that might help you in decoding and decoupling the emergent brand/emotion connection formed or forming in your mental circuitry while watching the video, but that would cause me to re-live feelings I personally don't want to dredge up.*
Instead, I'll ask you to think about branD´s commercial in the context of a movie, Inception, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy and Ken Watanabe If you haven't seen it, here´s another spoiler alert, but for those who have, as you'll recall, the team lead by DiCaprio is hired to plant the seed of an idea into the businessman´s head (played by Watanabe), so that when it came time for him to make a crucial decision, to sell his company, DiCaprio´s employer could be assured a predictable outcome.
In conclusion:
I hope that thinking about the commercial in the context of the movie was a helpful enough hint to grasp the insidious nature of these kinds of uber sophisticated marketing schemes. If not, I'll leave you with a couple of questions to consider, dear reader, in the hope that they help shed more light on the gravity of these psy-op tactics.
¿how does it make you feel NOW knowing that the same emotions you experienced while/after watching the commercial could potentially be linked to every future instance of that same feeling for the rest of your life?
¿what impact might a seemingly tiny memory/experience have on your own self image now and how could that influence your behavior both in the present and 15 years from now?
Crowd funding and micro donation services* are rapidly paving the foundations of a new socio-economic landscape. As internet access becomes more widespread, if I remember correctly not even half the world´s population is connected at present, and taking into account the rise in automation for many production activities (see FedericoPistono for more on that subject) coupled with the advent of human scale manufacturing technologies that are becoming increasingly accessible, we are rapidly approaching the point at which companies will no longer be our main source of employment.
The days of working for any single individual are numbered, and that number will only dwindle in the years to come, barring any “public policy” changes or interference from corporations about copyright infringement for example. Although many of us won't be able to continue to rely on companies to provide us with jobs, crowdfunding and micro donation services will make, or rather, are making it possible to maintain a lifestyle that permits each of us as Creative Beings to continue developing our unique talents, explore our personal interests even further than ever before and nurture our need/desire to contribute in some way to the ongoing welfare and progress of our community/culture and society at large.
I also think/feel/intuit that this shift will have extremely positive impacts on our collective/global footprint as well, eliminating many of the current inefficiencies in our economic systems especially as they relate to transportation for example. It is possible, at present, to download a file, created by someone living in another country, that contains all the necessary information for you, as the “consumer” to use to have the product printed locally at a Fablab or Makerspace rather than having to ship the actual object halfway around the world just because the combination of personal preference and creative/production capability do not coincide geographically.
As an added bonus, I imagine that advertising will no longer be the main vehicle (if it ever was) for staying up to date with the most current product releases from suppliers and producers we've come to depend on for quality products. Although it may be some way off in the future still, I expect that increased refinement of search algorithms, better and smarter tagging of content and more importantly, our continued use of social networking for sharing information we deem relevant from sources we can actually place our trust in more readily, will continue to contribute to the shrinking return on investment that brands had come to expect from ad campaigning.
* Below are a couple of links to lists of services that can help you get started.
