Benny Thomas

Articles by Benny All articles by Benny

• Fill That Glass in Marketing: Green on 12/09/2015
  

  December 2015. The end of another year of fire-storms, earthquakes, hurricanes and other Cecil B. DeMille-style reminders of the impending apocalypse we have wrought by messing with the world's climate. But don't lock the door to your fallout shelter and settle in with your 780 cans of pea soup just yet.

• Are There Hats? in Marketing: Green on 11/11/2015
  

  Shrieking hurricanes, raging forest fires from hell, and the steady parching of the world's biggest population centers. The horsemen of the climate change apocalypse are almost upon us and their advance guard is here. And there are still those who continue to deny the reality of the effect human actions have had on the environment.

• How To Penetrate A Reality Distortion Field in Marketing: Green on 10/14/2015
  

  It may come as a surprise to those of us who consider ourselves au courant with the state of the world, not to mention sane, that there are still people out there who would deny the reality of human-caused climate change. So imagine how you might feel upon encountering voices that say global warming is actually good for humans.

• The Court of Public Opinion in Marketing: Green on 09/09/2015
  

  Witch-hunts, tar, feathers and public pillorying are not usually found in the modern marketing plan. But sometimes, you have to go back in time to move forward. Let's talk about the subject that has displaced discussions by Californians of where you can find the best yoga studio, quinoa salad or stretch of beach: the water crisis.

• Could You Be A Victim Of Nuisance Flooding?  in Marketing: Green on 08/12/2015
  

  As marketers, we are expected to be masters of the well-turned phrase, the catchy tagline that makes people laugh and think and remember our brand above all others. Sometimes that's true, but if we are to be honest, we could all learn from the politicians, those wonderful people who polarized a debate on reproductive rights as "pro-life" vs "pro-choice." As much as my personal vote would differ, I have to say it's hard to stand up and say one is not for life. Or the Cassandras who dubbed governmental oversight of health insurance "death panels," which would decide when to put your grandmother to death. We can laugh at the hyperbole, but there's no denying their emotional impact.

• Strange Bedfellows in Marketing: Green on 07/08/2015
  

  Something very interesting happened to the campaign for action on climate change last month. One has often wondered whether it would take an act of God to get people to do something. Well, close enough. A new voice joined the debate and not just any new voice. This one happens to command an audience of over a billion who quite literally take his pronouncements to be the word of God. Yes, last month Pope Francis I issued an encyclical that addressed man's relationship with nature.

• I'm So Thirsty in Marketing: Green on 06/10/2015
  

  You look up. It's mid-day. You've been walking fast. Lick your lips. Dry. Dry as a well-picked bone in the desert. There is no water. Is this a dream? A post-apocalyptic nightmare at your local multiplex?

• I'm No Scientist, So Lemme Tell You A Thing Or Two About Science in Marketing: Green on 05/13/2015
  

  If you are in elementary school, "stupid" is not a monicker you want to throw around. It will inevitably lead to fisticuffs, tears, possibly a trip to the principal's office. If you happen to be Forrest Gump's mother, you may react even more violently. To any sane person, this might seem to be the logical, if unpleasant consequence of being labeled as someone who doesn't get it.

• Merchants Of Doubt in Marketing: Green on 04/08/2015
  

  "Doubt is our product since it is the best means of competing with the 'body of fact' that exists in the minds of the general public. It is also the means of establishing a controversy."

• A Pox Upon Thee, Greenhouse Effect in Marketing: Green on 03/11/2015
  

  We have spoken at length in this column about the willful refusal of the human race to do something about problems that are either too big to grasp or too distant to worry about. They tend to become, in the words of Douglas Adams, SEPs: Somebody Else's Problems. In fact, in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, aliens use an SEP force field as a way to disguise the landing of a giant spaceship in the middle of a cricket match at Lord's (the world's most famous cricket stadium, for all non-Commonwealth readers - comparable to Fenway Park or Old Trafford).

Comments by Benny All comments by Benny

• MRI Data Reveals Two Distinct Cannabis Consumer Segments, Unique Media Patterns Too by Joe Mandese (MediaDailyNews on 03/19/2019)
  

  How on earth is the finding that consumption in the category falls into the only 2 sub-categories possible - ie, with THC and without - a finding or an insight? This is the kind of article tht gives research a bad name.  I designed and fielded custom research nation-wide, and uncovered deeper insights about the startling lack of knowledge in the category and some other ways in which cannabis trends are at variance with norms or expectations. Coming soon. 

• Axel Springer Boss: Facebook Doesn't Need To Police Fake News by Erik Sass (The Daily Blog on 11/29/2016)
  

  Unfortunately, our biases are stronger than our rational intelligence and no one has the time to fact-check. And algorithms are designed to reinforce our biases, not expand or explode them. Tim O'Reilly has already posted some ways platforms could start to distinguish real from fake. Ultimately, it's not an either/or - platforms and publishers need to work together to define the news category. But we cannot ignore the dominance of the platforms, in terms of scale as well as bias-reinforcing design. They need to take some steps to counter those biases. 

• Lyft Sees Most Of Its Rides To Be In Self-Driving Cars Within 5 Years by Chuck Martin (Connected Thinking on 09/19/2016)
  

  In what universe is the idea of automation destroying millions of jobs in order to benefit a small group of mega-rich investors a Liberal-Democratic idea? 

• Amazon To Force Brands, Agencies To Rethink Advertising by Laurie Sullivan (MediaDailyNews on 01/04/2016)
  

  I would assume that is because media spend is dictated by existing or forecast demand, whether it is brand or sales or co-op. And Amazon's information gives you a much more sophisticated view of the demand map. Much like the difference between Netflix and broadcast TV - Netflix data is based on actual viewer behavior not on a sample. So you would bebuying real clusters of potential customers, not just projected ones based on the domains of the networks. It will certainly reduce inefficiencies, but that could mean the end of a lot of media. I wonder how AMZN will share that data among competitors. And whether the "Amazon effect" will now start to make markets as well as grow them. 

• A Modest Proposal: Create Snapchat Counterinsurgence by (Mad Blog on 11/19/2015)
  

  Barbara this is absolutely fantastic and so much more practical than the warmongers with their excessive testosterone. I for onewould raise my hand to be part of this digital war. It's cheaper ( in terms of money, lives and human suffering) and it works. It works. Who's with me? 

• In Showtime's 'Happyish,' Unhappy Ad Man Is Sick Of Advertising by Adam Buckman (TVBlog on 04/23/2015)
  

  There's always this show's twin: "Blackish". Non-white CD and non-irritating doctor wife. 

• London Calling: A Whirlwind Visit With Agencies At The AdForum Summit by Russel Wohlwerth (MAD on 04/22/2015)
  

  Russel, you make some very good points, particularly about the need for agencies to figure out their content strategy. One impediment to this, quite simply, migh tbe that agencies don't like to let go of thereins. And a content plan usually requires working with outside talent and melding ideas rather than dictating to your own producers. On the other hand, I have seen that a lot of external content people come up with ideas that may be popular, but do not further the brand's objectives. If we can sublimate our teritorialism, the two perspectives coming together can be a genuinely powerful force in an attention-deficit world. 

• I Cried That I Had No Bread Bags For My Shoes -- And Then I Met A Man With No Feet by (Mad Blog on 01/22/2015)
  

  I don't know whether to be amused at the obvious pandering and rickety logic of Ernst's statement, or frightened by the fact that none of it will probably matter to the deluded Tea Partiers she seems to be talking to.

• Happy Green Year, Maybe by Benny Thomas (Marketing: Green on 01/14/2015)
  

  That's a great point Michael. "Triple bottom-line thinking" illuminates the real cost of goods that we consume and it can shift consumer behavior - if, as you say, the lobbies let them.

• We're All Sustainability Professionals by Brigid Milligan (Marketing: Green on 01/21/2015)
  

  Well said Brigid. Stories are key to bringing people into the sustainability conversation and then differentiating brands within categories. If we do start to shift towards less disposable products, marketers will also need to think about new revenue streams - perhaps through value -added accessories, or service - to replace the money from repeat purchase.

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