I was recently accused of partaking in consultant blah blah in this post, Effect of location in the screen on ad response?. In more ways than you can imagine, I'm flattered.
That post's author writes:
"I found this interesting but weird claim from marketing practitioner Joseph Carrabis on i-Media Connection." followed later by "Carrabis claims this as 'the truth' but without support. I at least, have never seen any evidence for any of this. It is consultant blah-blah."
Well, huh...there are some links at the end of that Branding and Online Ad Placement column which lead to additional information.
And I'm a marketing practitioner? Wow. Thanks. I didn't know that. I've certainly been called worse so I'm flattered. No idea if people who really are marketing practitioners would want me in their company, but there you go.
I'm positive I never "...claims this as 'the truth'...". I've also written on the ephemerality of truth. Everything is subjective and highly transitive (see These are amazing photographs and Matching Marketing and IT Mythologies for examples).
I did appreciate that the column was consultant "blah blah", which I think means "consultant speak". I wrote way back in my first blog entry, Greetings from the Mothership, that I was going to use language to achieve my own goals, and now it's confirmed that I've succeeded.
And "...but without support"? My editors here at KnowMoreMedia can attest to the fact that my posts are so heavily linked with supporting information that they often choke the publication system. Most of my editors consider me "link-happy". I've explained in Sweetness Findings: Mystery Beast Found in Maine that I simply prefer to document my sources thoroughly. Roger and Mario confided to me that there's usually a pool in their office entitled "Guess how many links Joseph will have in his next column."
I was talking with Brad Berens, my editor at IMediaConnections, recently about a whitepaper I'm currently writing, "Impact: The Use of Colors and Color Imagery in Direct Response Marketing and e-Branding". So far nine pages are written and the paper already includes 1 chart, 23 figures and a bibliography of 93 references. I'm averaging 10 references per page so far and that count will no doubt go up before I finish.
But this time and to the poster of that blog entry, it seems, I failed to offer sufficient documentation. I did respond to the post that I would make the bibliographic list available here for anyone who wanted it. For those with an interest, you can find information on the topics covered in both the forthcoming whitepaper and the IMedia column in such places as:
- Babin, B. J., J.-C. Chebat, and R. Michon. 2004. Perceived appropriateness and its effect on quality, affect and behavior. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 11 (2004):287–98.
- Dutton, W. H., and A. Shepherd. 2003. Trust in the Internet: The Social Dynamics of an Experience Technology. Oxford Internet Institute. University of Oxford: Oxford Internet Institute.
- van Geel, F. 2006. Online shopping decision making: The influence o fbackground colors and screen positioning. Ph.D. diss. University of Twente, Netherlands: Femke van Geel. .
- Winchester, M., and J. Romaniuk. 2005. DO NEGATIVE BRAND IMAGE ATTRIBUTES DISPLAY EVALUATIVE AND DESCRIPTIVE PATTERNS? University of South Australia: Marketing Science Centre.
Please contact NextStage for information regarding presentations and trainings on this and other topics.
I'll be speaking at the San Francisco April '07 Emetrics Summit on Quantifying and Optimizing the Human Side of Online Marketing on May 7, 2007. Come on by and say hello.
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