This is a brilliant promotion from TripAdvisor. Got it via email and it was the one promo email, out of the last 500, that I’ve clicked thru to see. How can you not? Its strength is its unexpectedness — most companies would be too chicken to try something like this.
From a review of the #1 hotel [...]
Archive for the 'Concreteness' Category
The Dirtiest Hotels in the World
Published by February 26th, 2009 in Concreteness, Emotion, General and Unexpectedness. ClosedTalking strategy at Newsweek
Published by February 10th, 2009 in Concreteness, General and Unexpectedness. ClosedRichard Perez-Pena writes that Newsweek’s “ingrained role of obligatory coverage of the week’s big events will be abandoned once and for all,” according to execs.
Let’s leave aside whether this strategic shift makes sense or not. Notice how Newsweek editor Jon Meacham articulates the shift in a way that is concrete, specific, and full of uncommon [...]
Bill Gates at TED
Published by February 5th, 2009 in Concreteness, Credibility, Emotion, General and Unexpectedness. ClosedIn his talk at TED, Bill Gates released a jar full of mosquitoes, sending them out to feast on some of the world’s best & brightest blood. “Malaria is spread by mosquitoes,” he said. “I brought some. Here, I’ll let them roam around. There is no reason only poor people should be infected.” He then waited [...]
“We let polluted air speak for itself”
Published by February 5th, 2009 in Concreteness, Credibility, Emotion, General and Unexpectedness. ClosedHow do you convince people that air pollution is a problem? You let them see it for themselves. Check out this very smart outdoor campaign in Hong Kong. (Thanks to Choleena at Tantramar for the tip.)
On bathroom signage
Published by February 5th, 2009 in Concreteness, General and Unexpectedness. ClosedOne of my favorite coffee shops here in Raleigh is part of a strip mall, and the businesses all share a common bathroom. Recently, someone started locking the communal bathroom, and a sign was scotch-taped to the door. In that inimitable management-font-style, the sign read: “THE BATHROOMS HAVE BEEN LOCKED FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE.”
Well, no. In [...]
Daily Show statistics
Published by December 19th, 2008 in Concreteness, Credibility, Emotion, General and Unexpectedness. ClosedThe other night Jon Stewart mentioned that if you commit murder, you’ve got a 48% chance of going to jail. Versus if you’re an Illinois Governor, you’ve got a 50% chance. (4 out of the last 8 Governors have ended up in the clink.)
Beyond War: Now in Video
Published by December 18th, 2008 in Concreteness, Credibility, Emotion and General. ClosedYou’ve read the prose and heard the audio. Now watch the video, starring Ben of Ben & Jerry’s fame. This is very effective communication — it brings emotion to what deserves to be an emotional issue (the stockpile of nuclear weapons and the destructive power it holds). (Thanks to Matt V for the link.)
Beyond War: The audio version
Published by December 16th, 2008 in Concreteness, Credibility, Emotion, General and Unexpectedness. ClosedIn the book, we tell a story about a group called “Beyond War,” which tried to mobilize public opinion against the nuclear arms race. As part of their anti-nukes presentations, they’d do a demonstration that involved dropping BBs in a bucket. (See full passage below for context.) Now you can hear what it sounds like [...]
J.C. Penney: If you make your wife mad, buy your way out.
Published by December 15th, 2008 in Concreteness, Emotion, General and Unexpectedness. ClosedI know this “Doghouse” campaign is supposed to be funny, in that Bud-Light Man-Humor kind of way, but it’s hard to escape the ickiness of the core message: When you do something really bad that makes your wife furious at you, buy her a diamond and it’s all good.
Nor does this interpretation involve a deep-feminist critique of [...]
What it’s like to be an alcoholic
Published by December 9th, 2008 in Concreteness, General and Simplicity. ClosedAfter 16 years without a drink, Jim Atkinson confesses that the urge is still strong at holiday times. How can an alcoholic describe to a non-alcoholic what it’s like to crave that drink? Atkinson uses analogies:
There’s something in the alone-in-the-crowdness of the holiday party circuit, the forced pleasantries and laughter, the charge to be friendly [...]
