• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, June 27, 2012

Buddy Group Chief Creative Officer Bryan Boettger just explained to Brand Marketers Summit attendees how focus groups, and even “recommendation engines” have been around as long as, well, people have been around.

They may not have been powered by sophisticated computer algorithms, but they had similar effects.

Needless to say, Boettger wasn’t around at the time to observe, but he speculated that it probably started when early humans were considering what berries to eat, and would watch other humans eating them.

“If the lived, you would eat that berry. If he didn’t live, you wouldn’t,” Boettger surmised.