On: Why I can’t convince executives to invest in UX (and neither can you)

Convincing isn't every a matter of giving a silver-bullet presentation. It's always a long process. What you need is resilience, and an idea of what the ultimate goal is.

Nobody quit smoking because of a single ad. But governments still pay for anti-smoking ads, because they gradually shift people's opinions.

But the reason why smoking ads work is because they are supported by data.

There are plenty of examples of campaigns that the government is running that will never work because there is no data to support the ads.

That's a very naive view of advertising. Many ad campaigns are successful despite hard data, not because of it.

I have worked in advertising so I wouldn't think I am naive about it.

The difference is what kind of claims you are making and what you are trying to make people do.

Public campaigns is often about discouraging people from no buying certain things. Advertising in general is about getting people to buy things.

It's easier to get people to go to mcDonalds than it is to make them drop mcDonalds.