The Science of Communicating & Marketing Your Business

This expansion of the metaphor also allows us to consider something which encompasses both auditory and visual stimuli, or, as one reader put it, "...those terrifying floating and talking heads that are supposed to pass for inventive advertising"?

Answering this question actually causes us to bump into age-based marketing. Consider that sites dealing with the 15-24yo market experienced (in some cases) 90% growth in two years time. Facebook and MySpace, for example, are being used as college recruitment tools with great success based on the research of Dr. Martin Moser at UMass Lowell. There are several reasons for the rapid adoption of such social networking sites with this market and anybody who's got kids in the 12-19 year old age bracket will understand it in a heartbeat; Popularity isn't home-based, it's external-to-the-home-based.

Ouch!

Yes, this is an oversimplification (how many simultaneous arcs would you like me write about?) and it's a worthwhile one; The younger market's focus is externally motivated. They're exploring, investigating, expanding themselves and their horizons. Readers familiar with NextStage's research know this is the period with Stage 3 Learning is in effect. Personalities are being tested and defined by interacting with others and, like a blade on a grinding wheel, the more turns the stronger and sharper the personality becomes. In social terms this means the more someone interacts with others, and the broader that spectrum of others is, the more that personality becomes defined.

How does this need for whetstoning demonstrate itself? Via increased social interaction. How does one increase their opportunities to interact socially? By looking and listening for others who want to interact with them.

And if I fall into that market segment overly simplified above and there's a talking, moving avatar on the webpage I'm browsing? Well, then, I basically have no choice but to pay attention. I may not pay attention for long, but pay attention I will and that focusing of attention is branding whether it's online or off.

Taking all of the above into consideration, do people respond favorably etc. etc.? Yes, some do. Not all do, and the difference has to do with advertisers and marketers knowing who's browsing a given property and why. (more to follow...)