A trip to Emeryville’s shopping hub was the least interesting part of my weekend until the following ad, painted on the entire side of a building, caught the eye of my kids (8 and 10 years old):

“Be not ashamed of thou love of shoes”

Few signs have generated as much discussion: religion, materialism and consumerism; the role of advertising; and even grammar (thy/thou). Not surprising, it didn’t make any of us want to spend more money. It didn’t make us feel better about ourselves, the economy, or a house full of things we don’t have time to gather up and donate. Just the opposite. Like “don’t look at the sun,” “be not ashamed” compels you to do what it’s telling you not to do.

I expect the sign will disappear soon, but I hope the next one is also poorly thought through and grammatically challenged, providing entertainment for those who would rather not be shopping.

advertising, Emeryville, grammar, language, materialism, religion, Shopping, Writing

Share on Facebook

Seth Godin quotes Gavin Potter’s comment in Wired that the 21st century “is going to be about sorting out demand.”

Godin then writes, “Not about maximizing demand, but about sorting it out. When your messages reach the right people at the right time in the right way, magic happens. It’s not about forcing or pushing or attacking or targeting or closing.

Imagine if he’s right! It would change the texture of most business-to-consumer interaction and much of business-to-business interaction. It would change the definition of “selling” and reshape how people think of marketing and PR. We’d end up buying more and enjoying it more. Now there’s an effective stimulus package.

advertising, selling, Seth Godin, Shopping, stimulus package, Wired

Share on Facebook

Time to get new bicycles for the kids and went to several shops, but one had the feel of a different era. Bikes on kick-stands lining the walls, no fancy double-layer racks, no bikes hanging from the ceiling, hand-written signs, tools lying on the register counter, the entire staff (the owner and two 20-somethings who were obviously technicians, salesmen, and riders) all helping adjust a kid’s bike for an excited five-year-old.

We decided to buy both bikes there. When I tried to pay with my American Express card, the shop wouldn’t take it. I was a little surprised because Amex has become so widespread, so I struck up a conversation with the shop owner, an early 30-something. He said the Amex saleswoman pissed him off by saying he could never run a successful business without “the card.”

“We’ll see about that,” the owner said to me smiling.

I like the shop, I like the owner, and I like the attitude. This is a far too rare shopping experience these days. And a far cry from my last two online purchases, one of which arrived damaged, the other of which arrived a week late and only after I bought the item locally, and both of which led to several angry phone calls and too much wasted time. When my daughter scraped up her new bike a couple days later in a minor fall, I went back to the shop to see if I could buy some touch-up paint. The owner simply gave me some.

But Steve Boriss’s post on a revolution in how ad revenues will be generated gives me pause. He writes:

“As explained by Forrester’s Charlene Li, the recent purchases of DoubleClick by Google and Right Media by Yahoo suggest that advertising sales will begin to resemble a stock market, with innumerable buyers (advertisers) and sellers (news outlets) engaged in a frenzied pursuit of each other mediated by electronic services provided by companies like Google and Yahoo. This will remove the onerous costs of human sales representatives on micro advertising purchases. It will also reflect that the greater number of news media choices available, and the greater amount of information available about each, preclude the possibility that any single individual will be sufficiently knowledgeable to set ad rates that truly reflect supply vs. demand.”

There are two types of people who start businesses, people who have a passion for business and people who have a passion for what they sell and love the interaction with those buying into their passion. Many of those in the second group want to keep things small and local. Many aren’t business-minded or technically savvy.

Can they continue to compete in a world dominated by superstores, micro advertising, and sophisticated supply chain algorithms? How many other interactions will become “a frenzied pursuit of each other mediated by electronic services”?

I suspect that for some time to come small shops will find a way around technology and buyers will find a way to their doors. And technology may yet find some way to support the completely non-technical small-shop owner. But as the youngest generation grows more comfortable buying online – or in superstores without any meaningful human engagement – and has little nostalgia for the shopping experience, will they ever bother looking for a small shop?

advertising, American Express, bicycles, Charlene Li, Google, micro advertising, Shopping, shopping experience, Steve Boriss, superstores, Writing, Yahoo

Share on Facebook