FUD was first used in IBM advertising decades ago, asking the prospective customer whether they believed their job would be safe if they chose to buy another company’s computing products. Microsoft, ever the innovator (!), adopted the technique and soon became known for using FUD in all their ads and promotions.

The reason that many ads still use FUD to drive their messaging is that in lots of cases it works. It plays on paranoia and our human instinct to want to fit in. Studies show that when we are made to feel uncomfortable, one of the things we do is spend money to feel better. (Extra points for ads that weave humor into the FUD message; see Old Spice Man.)

OneLove is a way of thinking about the opposite kind of messaging—advertising that shows a product or service that brings more joy into your life. Apple’s advertising uses OneLove messaging. Think about iPad ads; they don’t say “Your friends will shun you until you own one of these.” Instead, they just show happy users doing fun stuff. Consider ads for Disney World, or for the Toyota Sienna, or for Foster’s beer, or for your favorite sports team. They are a celebration of life, reminding you of the joy you can experience if you buy those products.

As we can see, both types of messages work. It all depends on the target audience and how the advertiser wants them to feel. The next time you see an ad think about what it’s doing. Is it making you feel good? Or bad? And what does it make you want to do? (“Turn off the TV” is one of the acceptable answers.) What do you think would be the best type of advertising for your client? (Hint: first, think about who the target audience is.)

I’ve owned an HP psc 2410 photosmart all-in-one “printer-fax-scanner-copier” for around 6 or 7 years—long enough to have the last major Mac OS update blow away my ability to scan. No, wait—make that: long enough that HP decided not to update their driver for this release. Maybe they were thinking “Hey, it’s about time these people bought a new printer!” or maybe “What. Ever. There really aren’t that many Mac users out there, anyway.” At least, that’s how it felt since I upgraded to Snow Leopard late last fall. How frustrating! I searched the boards to see if/how other folks have solved the problem. I downloaded software designed to work with any scanner. I even hauled out my old Agfa ScanPro and tried to find the power cable. No luck. If I had to scan something, I had to bring it in to the MAC to do it.

And the funny thing was, I sort of couldn’t get over it. Every time I drove past the HP campus here in Corvallis, I’d think, “I won’t be buying my next printer from that company.”

So, I was pretty surprised earlier this month to find that HP just released an updated driver for my all-in-one. Now, instead of feeling like a customer who doesn’t matter once the check has been cashed, I feel great! I get my seamless user experience back, and I’m not mad at HP anymore. In fact, the opposite. It feels a little like the Carly is wearing off and the old HP is showing through: the company that has always known that every customer matters. But in the end, I don’t really care why they decided to update the driver. I’m a customer! I don’t need to know why. I just need my all-in-one to work the way they told me it would in the first place.

Thanks, HP! Good work.

But then I drove off. Taco Bell was calling, and the busyness of life kicked in again. I practically forgot about the whole thing until coming across this completely awkward video today. I gotta say, my reaction to the rainbow wasn’t quite as dramatic as that guy’s. But I do sympathize with him.

Here’s the photo I took. Um, make that three photos, all stitched together and trying their best to do justice to what I saw that day. Like I said, it was huge. And in more than one way.

^ Click the photo to view larger.

Can you top this???

Now let’s look at incentives for knowledge workers. The research shows they won’t produce more work simply because you’ve offered a bonus for exceeding quota. And you can’t underpay people: that’s a de-motivator. You have to pay them fairly. After that, you can bring other, much more effective motivational tools into play.

This RSA Animate adaptation of a Dan Pink talk illustrates the studies and the results in a very entertaining way. Think “chalk-talk” video, but without the snoring.

If you need to motivate someone in your life, whether it’s your workers, your children*, or your customers, you’ll be interested in these findings.

What are some non-traditional methods you’ve found useful in motivating people?

* Yes, I do consider children knowledge workers. They are working on accumulating knowledge every day in every way.

Back in the late 1990s I attended a class with information designer Edward Tufte, who literally wrote the book on “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information.” Tufte is considered by many to be the leading authority on clearly and effectively depicting data in graphic form, and has for decades been helping designers avoid the pitfalls of depicting data sloppily in diagrams, charts, tables and reports. It was an eye-opener to spend 5 or 6 hours in Tufte’s company, examining in detail examples of graphic information that work beautifully and others that failed catastrophically. But I think I loved charts even before that class.

If you love charts, you should really know about the site “ChartPorn: data visualizations you just gotta love.” ChartPorn is basically a visual blog chock full of “charts, tables, maps, and interactive data toys, with a focus on economics and graphic design.” The images come from all across the web, and range from humorous to deadly serious. Here, you can learn through diagrams all about  the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill,  examine a flow chart that pokes fun at how designers select typefaces, learn how to cook, or play with a picture-based, interactive “History of the World Through Objects” from the BBC, featuring objects from The British Museum, complete with zoom and descriptions. Surf the ChartPorn site at your own risk: I’ve been known to lose entire afternoons over there. I’d say that makes me an official Chart Geek, but I’m not ready to join the union.

Please feel free to check out the site and let me know what you think.  Everything should work except for the Search feature which I’m still working on…

-North

I’m curious to learn more about eCommerce solutions local companies are using, so I worked with volunteers to put together shopping cart demos for the Corvallis E-Tailing group. Here are the demo dates, in case you are interested in attending:

Feb 17th
Kevin Miller, WordPress with Shopp
North Krimsly, FoxyCart

March 17th
Jason Prothero, Magento
Ben Potter, X-Cart

April (regular date is April 21st but may be changed to accommodate a guest speaker)
Larkin Holavarri, CFWebstore

The meetings are held at the Corvallis Benton Chamber Coalition, 420 NW Second Street, Corvallis, OR 97330, 541-757-1505.