Samuel Smith
Like Haley's Comet, Samuel Smith aspires to be relevant once every 75 years.

Back to Basics: A Simple Solution to Addressable Display Advertising

Might advertisers one day be able to deliver more relevant advertising based on what you say on Twitter? Signs point to yes.

While writing my most recent paper, Psychographic Targeting and Messaging Customization, I tested an algorithm that identifies powerful drivers of purchase intent in the automobile category, psychological factors like narcissism, risk orientation, and social comparison bias via textual analysis.

My results show three things:

  1. These simple factors may be more predictive of purchase intent than demographics or behavior, the two most commonly used targeting methods,
  2. It is possible to identify and quantify psychological factors, like narcissism, by a textual analysis of a user’s Twitter feed, and
  3. That, having identified which users are more receptive to certain messages, we can deliver segmented messaging to these users leveraging the psychological factors that drive purchase decisions.

The research, a combination of qualitative research and two quantitative surveys, identifies the step-by-step method by which an brand in any category can identify psychological motivators of purchase in their particular category and segment the audience via psychographics, rather than demographics or behavior.

Read the full paper here.

Biohacking, or: My Quest For Superpowers

By visiting the Biohacking article on iSamuel.com, viewing, accessing or otherwise using any of the services or information created, collected, compiled or submitted to iSamuel.com, you agree to be bound by the following Terms and Conditions of Service. If you do not want to be bound by our Terms your only option is not to visit, view or otherwise use the services of iSamuel.com. You understand, agree and acknowledge that these Terms constitute a legally binding agreement between you and iSamuel.com and that your use of iSamuel.com shall indicate your conclusive acceptance of this agreement.

Terms: If you are not a representative of my insurance company, please click “Read More.” I am not responsible for what happens to you if you follow in my footsteps. I am not a role model.
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9 Mother’s Day Advertising Ideas

May represents a month of increased shopping activity due to Mother’s Day. Many products can be advertised as great gifts for Mom. we’ve included several of our favorite products that are easily rebranded as Mother’s Day gifts. If your product fits one of these categories, it’s time to advertise!

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Thoughts on Michael Arrington Hitting Women

Enjoy the click-bait title? Let me start by making it clear that I’ve never met Michael Arrington, nor do I know much about his personal life. It’s also not at all my place to comment on whether or not the ex-girlfriend who has accused him of assault and rape is fibbing, and BusinessInsider has done a relatively good job of breaking down the facts as they see it.

What I can comment on though is Arrington’s reaction to the story. As far back as I can remember, Arrington has never had a reasoned, level-headed reaction to anything in his life. I’ve never looked at this man and said, “Wow, here’s a guy who’s going to change the future for the better.” In fact, about half of his Wikipedia entry is dedicated to controversies he’s been involved in.

In this case, Arrington responds with three short paragraphs saying, in essence: 1) I’m suing the girl, 2) I didn’t do it, and 3) The police are involved.

Actions usually speak louder than words, but not when the speaker has a soapbox the size of Arrington’s. In the scheme of things, this is a baseless (in Arrington’s eyes) accusation against a relatively unimportant Internet blowhard. It’s not the kind of story that people care about. Had Mr. Arrington simply hired his attorney, contacted the police, and avoided publicizing the matter himself, he might have escaped with less negative publicity.

Update: Arrington’s next response was much more appropriate. Why didn’t he lead with this?

Here’s a List of Brands to Boycott If You Oppose Gay Marriage

Capture

For those who don’t know, there is currently a boycott of Oreo for their support of gay marriage rights. A few months ago, it was a boycott of Betty Crocker because they too support the civil right for gay couples to marry. Before that it was JC Penney & Ellen Degeneres, and even further back, it was McDonald’s.

If you still wish to frequent a business that supports discrimination against your fellow American citizens, perhaps you need to recognize those companies who do NOT: You will need to throw away your iPod, iPhone, and iPad since Apple supports gay marriages. Hopefully you have lots of clothes, because you’ll need to ditch your Levi’s and Nike’s too. Perhaps you bought them at JC Penney’s or Sears? Sucks… you’ll have to take them back. Actually, anything you wear from anywhere probably had a gay person involved.

Flying somewhere soon? Better not be on American, Delta, Southwest, or United – you’ll need a new ticket. Your choice of airline wasn’t mentioned above? Well then, just be sure your jet isn’t Boeing made (Boeing supports gay rights). Can’t sleep at a Marriott or Hilton (or any of their family brands) because, yep, they support civil rights.

That morning coffee from Starbucks will have to go as well, go ahead and replace it with a McCafe. Oh wait, McDonald’s supports gay rights too. Hmm, do you clean with Tide, Gain, or Bounty? Use Duracell batteries, shave with Gillette, or use Fixodent? Brush with Crest, use Pantene, Scope, Tampax, Venus, or Old Spice products? Those are all gone too, stupid Procter & Gamble supporting the gays.

Damn, you’re using Internet Explorer or Chrome to read this post? Download something else, Microsoft and Google show their gay pride as well as Hewlett-Packard and Xerox. Ah, but your drinks are safe. Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Budweiser are on your side – if your side is on the right side of civil rights history, since all three also support gay rights.

Drive that big, manly, Ford F350? Ford and General Motors also support the rights of all gay Americans (Ford’s corporate network includes Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Mazda, Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover & Aston-Martin vehicles). Macy’s, Nordstrom, the Gap, Levi Strauss, Liz Claiborne – yep have to boycott them all.

Remember Prop 8 in California? The United Farm Workers OPPOSED Prop 8. The California Nurses Association & the League of Women Voters OPPOSED Prop 8. The CA Teachers Assoc gave $1.25 million. PG&E gave $250k. Levi Strauss gave $250k & co chaired with PG&E a group designed to encourage businesses to OPPOSE Prop 8 – all to support the civil right for gay Americans to marry. So, if you agree that business owners have the right to discriminate against minorities, it appears some of you may simply need to just stay home and boycott everything.

(Attribution: Some of this, like the list of brands, and some of the text, was taken from a Facebook post, the original author of which is unknown. I’ve edited it as necessary.)

AdLand.TV Claims Social Media Is Waste of Money

In an article posted on the 22nd of March, a guest poster on AdLand.TV, Kidsleepy, a Creative Director at “a global advertising agency” (Just like Alicia Keys?), claims that brands are being hoodwinked by the likes of social media professionals and that using social media is a complete waste of money.

In the advertising world, it’s always more powerful to know something than it is to have an opinion. I am posting to confirm that I KNOW this guest author’s OPINION is wrong.
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Perfect Pitch: How To Build The Perfect Startup Pitch

1. Split It Up

Your presentation will have two parts to it, the presentation itself and the “Appendix,” which are slides that you show after your pitch has concluded while you are being asked questions. The presentation itself can not be longer than ten slides, but the appendix can be as many slides as you would like.

2. List of Must-Have Slides

  • Pain point or market opportunity. How big is the market, how fast is it growing? -or- What is the problem you’re solving?
  • Your solution. What is your product, its benefits, and where is the unique intellectual property?
  • Selling and marketing strategy. Expected cost of customer acquisition.
  • Your team, to answer the “why you” question.
  • Status and timeline.
  • Competition.

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Finding Truth: Turning Social Analytics Findings Into Insights

Seth Gitner, from the W2O Group, talks to us about how we can use social media analytics to make changes to a brand’s messaging.

First question to answer is what things are NOT Analytics:

  • Brand X share of voice is 45%
  • Negative sentiment increased from March to April because of voluntary recall
  • CTR from Twitter is .5%
  • “Cool” is the most commonly used word in conversations online about your brand

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