**SPOLER ALERT IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN “INCEPTION”**
I saw “Inception” yesterday and wanted to comment on the concept of supplanting an idea so deep in someone’s subconscious mind that it spreads like a virus. Which, in a sense, is what marketing is. I mean, why would you want to go buy Old Spice Body Wash? Just because a guy on YouTube wrapped in a bath towel made reply videos for dozens of people (and subsequently got millions of views!)? It wouldn’t be a conscious decision, but an idea buried in your mind so that next time you are at the isles of the grocery store, Wal-Mart or Target you remember the product and elevate the level of consideration.
This idea also works with word-of-mouth real world situations. I am sure right now there is a band you listen to, some designer of clothing or a hygiene product you consume regularly that originated from the exposure to an affable friend approving of it. I wonder if their idea originated from a subconscious implantation?
Let me take these parallels a little further with the following correlations:
1) The marketer is the architect, able to bend the rules since you are now in the world of their advertising vehicle. Their creativity is the only limit to the boundaries of this world. It can range from the believable and likely all the way to the unbelievable and silly.
2) The self-defense mechanism that fights and tries to kill the infiltrating brand idea is the consumer’s existing biases which may have been brand ideas implanted anywhere from early childhood up until recently. They will try to defend the status-quo which is why the infiltration has to be so unique & compelling in order to overcome.
3) You hardly never know when the brand infiltrated your mind (as a parallel to when the dreams started in the movie). Many people might think these Old Spice commercials and YouTube videos were the first major exposure they had to this brand but the infiltration began a while ago by utilizing Nascar drivers, NFL players and clever product placement. The beginning is not so important as to where the brand is now in your brain’s echelon.
4) The corporate espionage master ‘Cobb‘ (DiCaprio) is actually a marketing research analyst who is able to go deep into the mind’s of consumers and uncover the secrets that make them tick. Who better to work with an architect to create advertisements that implants ideas?
5) During the course of this blog you have associated my brand with Inception which, given the 9.3/10 rating on IMDB, is a movie you really liked. This is going to leave you a favorable impression of Blezoo.
Now, just wait for the kick. You can hear that music, right?
