

The Hidden Values of Advertising - immad
http://www.immadsnewworld.com/2012/11/the-ads-business-model.html

======
innguest
> "The factory that makes a product in China extracts the least margin even
> though it could be argued that they do the "real" work, but that’s not how
> the world works. The closer you are to the money the more you can extract
> both as a percentage of value and as a total profit."

I only realized this a few years ago and I think young people should be
explained this before they go to college (that is, before they choose a
major).

Had I known this then I would have chosen a different career path. The first
two paragraphs of TFA should be enlightening to those about to make this
choice.

~~~
hkmurakami
Aren't there plenty of exceptions to this though? Microsoft's margins on
Windows is higher than what the OEMs can get for their PCs.

(assuming "closer to the money" is a synonym for closer to the end user)

~~~
saurik
If I tried to generalize this, I'd say "closer to the customer's
understanding" (which I would argue is often deeply tied into marketing), not
necessarily "closer to the customer's money": to most users, they have a
"Windows PC of some sort" and not "a Dell Inspiron"; even those in the latter
camp don't go "the latest and best production of FoxConn, my favorite producer
of consumer electronics".

~~~
hkmurakami
what might be interesting in that case is to compare Intel's margins pre and
post their "Intel Inside" campaign.

------
jtheory
The author _does_ mention the "anti-advertising talk in the hacker world", but
unfortunately he doesn't seem to be interested in addressing any of the
arguments commonly made. The "values" in the title just means "money" in
context.

This is an article about "extracting value" using advertising, and why
advertising (as a business model) can be quite effective at this.

It takes for granted that "extracting" the maximum "value" from "consumers" is
intrinsically good for everyone involved. (I know, I'm overdoing the scare
quotes, but I dislike this entire vocabulary).

Obviously not all hackers have any problem with modern advertising; the top
post on this discussion suggests that yes, this is where the money is, so you
should consider directing your career path towards advertising if you're about
to make the choice.

This is a kind of hacking; look for the shortest distance between two points
(self <-> money), and bridge that gap, however unconventional the jump may be.
No need to create anything; just master the ways to influence the purchase
decision process. Control the tipping point where people decide, yeah, maybe I
should be buying some mousetraps just in case, and the mousetrap makers (good
and bad) will beat a path to your door.

I really hope anyone actually choosing between a career in advertising vs
basically anything else reads a lot more than just this article, though.

------
drcube
This seems to be about value to the _advertiser_. There is no value in
advertising for most of its victims, or for the world in general.

~~~
ScottWhigham
"Victims"? Really? Come on, now - there's no need for that sort of hyperbole
here, is there?

~~~
npsimons
_Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can
buy shit we don't need. \-- From the movie "Fight Club", based on the novel by
Chuck Palahniuk_

 _Advertising is a valuable economic factor because it is the cheapest way of
selling goods, particularly if the goods are worthless. \-- Sinclair Lewis_

 _Advertising is the rattling of a stick in a swill bucket. \-- George Orwell_

 _Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human
intelligence long enough to get money from it._

 _Let advertisers spend the same amount of money improving their product that
they do on advertising and they wouldn't have to advertise it. \-- Will
Rogers_

 _There is one thing you absolutely must know about modern advertising. No
matter how true any single advertisement is, modern advertising itself, taken
as a whole, tells a lie - that you need the thing being advertised. It is a
lie because consumer goods of real value do not need to be advertised - such
goods are part of a natural market that flows "beneath" the [consumerist]
marketplace, although as time passes these basic necessities represent a
shrinking percentage of the total flow of goods. \-- "Consumer
Angst",<http://www.arachnoid.com/lutusp/consumerangst.html*>

_Virtually all consumer products, above a rudimentary level of complexity,
have accessories and "enhancements." One can easily imagine a graph of
products with the simplest (fewest accessories) on the left and the most
complex (most accessories) at the right. At the very left of our imaginary
graph is a screwdriver. Not a Phillips screwdriver, just a plain old-fashioned
straight-slot screwdriver. If you buy one of these carefully, you will have it
decades from now. Your children will inherit it from you. From the standpoint
of marketing, this is a nightmare - any number of advertising executives start
up from their pillows in terror, having just imagined that screwdriver in
reliable service over years and years, its original brand name slowly wearing
off. \-- "Consumer Angst",
<http://www.arachnoid.com/lutusp/consumerangst.html*>

_By the way if anyone here is in advertising or marketing . . . kill yourself.
No, no, no it's just a little thought. I'm just trying to plant seeds. Maybe
one day, they'll take root - I don't know. You try, you do what you can. Kill
yourself. Seriously though, if you are, do. Aaah, no really, there's no
rationalisation for what you do and you are satan's little helpers, Okay -
kill yourself - seriously. You are the ruiner of all things good, seriously.
No this is not a joke, you're going, "there's going to be a joke coming,"
there's no fucking joke coming. You are satan's spawn filling the world with
bile and garbage. You are fucked and you are fucking us. Kill yourself. It's
the only way to save your fucking soul, kill yourself. Planting seeds. I know
all the marketing people are going, "he's doing a joke . . . " there's no joke
here whatsoever. Suck a tail-pipe, fucking hang yourself, borrow a gun from a
friend - I don't care how you do it. Rid the world of your evil fucking
machinations. I know what all the marketing people are thinking right now too,
"Oh, you know what Bill's doing, he's going for that anti-marketing dollar.
That's a good market, he's very smart." Oh man, I am not doing that. You
fucking evil scumbags! "Ooh, you know what Bill's doing now, he's going for
the righteous indignation dollar. That's a big dollar. A lot of people are
feeling that indignation. We've done research - huge market. He's doing a good
thing." Godammit, I'm not doing that, you scum-bags! Quit putting a godamm
dollar sign on every fucking thing on this planet! "Ooh, the anger dollar.
Huge. Huge in times of recession. Giant market, Bill's very bright to do
that." God, I'm just caught in a fucking web! "Ooh the trapped dollar, big
dollar, huge dollar. Good market - look at our research. We see that many
people feel trapped. If we play to that and then separate them into the
trapped dollar . . . " How do you live like that? And I bet you sleep like
fucking babies at night, don't you? \-- Bill Hicks_

