Wordology, ASMR

This is becoming an advertisers dream way to soft sell. YouTube is littered with hundreds of thousands of ASMR videos. Bob Ross, the late painter is, to some, the epitome of ASMR as his soft spoken, almost whispering way of describing brush strokes and the feeling evoked by his art. It is both auditory and visually stimulating in an almost sensuous manner.

Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response is described as a "euphoric experience characterized by a static-like or tingling sensation on the skin that typically begins on the scalp and moves down the back of the neck and upper spine, precipitating relaxation." It comes from hearing soft voices and sensual sounds, such as tapping objects with fingernails. Think of it as the opposite of scratching nails on a chalkboard.


Too much ASMR can have the opposite effect for me, but a bit is a welcome change from the in-your-face 'buy me in the next ten minutes or else'.

I do not usually like ads, but here is one with George Hamilton doing a soft spoken, almost whisper as Colonel Sanders for KFC. The ad is pure ASMR and uses pocket squares as the tag, with him eating chicken tossed in between. Two minutes and interesting to watch. LINK  You might also like to see the queen of ASMR and her GentleWhispering chanel. LINK

Apple Tracking

No, not a way to look for apples. It is a way Apple is tracking your iPhone. The new operating system that came out a few weeks ago has a feature that is turned on by default. IFA or IDFA stands for "identifier for advertisers." It is a random, anonymous number that is assigned to you and your iPhone.

The good news is that you can turn it off so advertisers cannot track your every move.

First, what it does. When you look at an app, or browse the web, your presence generates a call for an ad. The site you are looking at passes the IFA to the ad server so an advertiser knows a specific iPhone user is looking at a specific publication and can direct a specific ad to you.

To disable this, go to "Settings," "General," then "About," and then "Advertising." The tracking control is titled "Limit Ad Tracking," and must be turned to On. On means 'limit tracking' so tracking is not working. Interesting, you have to turn it on to turn tracking off.

Did You Know

GM sold only about 25% of its vehicles in the United States during the first quarter of 2009 and it just signed a new partnership with eBay that will allow buyers in California to bid on vehicles, the way they do for other vehicles. With the government owning over 60% of GM, maybe we are seeing the beginning of something - like selling healthcare services on eBay.

Billy Mays

Many will miss the appearances of pitchman Billy Mays, but of course, there is always more to say.

A few months ago, he felt another pitchman ripped him off, Vince Shlomi (Offer) of Shamwow fame. In a radio interview on Feb. 10, 2009, Billy claimed that the popular Shamwow trod on the turf of Zorbeez, a super-absorbent towel he promoted in a separate infomercial two years prior. Mays suggested the two settle the score via a pitch-off. Mays predicted the outcome, "Shampow!"

Popular Mechanics magazine actually conducted its own test and put the rival rags head-to-head in a spill test of some blueberry beer. It also soaked snow puddles and clocked drying times.

The Verdict was Shamwow, by a mile. The Shamwow soaked three paper towels' worth of blueberry beer on a single swipe as Zorbeez pushed the liquid off the edge of the table. After one use, the Zorbeez began shedding fibrous blonde tufts, while the Shamwow retained its rubbery integrity. Sorry Billy, I use Shamwow and agree it works.

PS - Sincere condolences to the Mays family. We will all miss him.

But Wait. . . There's More

Now I have heard it all. Billy Mays, of OxiClean and other famous late night products is slated to do the commercial for Zune, the portable media device.

Products Billy usually pitches fill voids in the marketplace, but the Microsoft Zune HD is attempting to go up against established competitors, the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch.

Hi folks, Billy Mays here for Friday Thoughts. It slices, it dices, it crawls on its belly like a reptile. . .

Bigger Ads on the Net

27 publishers with a reach of about 109 million unique visitors per month have agreed to try one of three new online ad formats sometime before July. The publishers are all members of the online publishers association.

* The Fixed Panel, which looks naturally embedded into the page layout and scrolls to the top and bottom of the page as a user scrolls.
* The XXL Box, which has page-turn functionality with video capability.
* The Pushdown, which opens to display the advertisement and then rolls up to the top of the page.

The formats they've agreed on all have one trait in common: they are much bigger and more attention-grabbing than the banner, which is despised by publishers, advertisers, and readers alike. The reason banner ads are despised is because they are too damn intrusive and, contrary to public opinion, bigger is not always better, especially when it comes to ads.