Post by jeffolie on Aug 7, 2010 7:50:27 GMT -6
targeting you: Banker bashing, jobs, business startups + more
"Banker bashing" puts you into a target group.
Corporations, advertisers, scammers are targeting you with new strategies centered around changing cultural tastes. You or someone in your life may be sold products or services that focus on these approaches that manipulate your social, cultural views.
Make no mistake you are a target . "...It's called target understanding...have them thinking, 'They really get me. They're right here,' ...
"Banker bashing" puts you into a target group. Corporations and advertisers have you as an identified group and specific products and services to sell to you with "Banker bashing".
"unemployed, seeking work' puts you into a target group. Corporations and advertisers have you as an identified group and specific products and services to sell to you with "unemployed, seeking work".
"Get rid of debt" puts you into a target group. Corporations and scammers have you as an identified group and specific products and services to sell to you with "Get rid of debt".
"start your own business" puts you into a target group. Corporations and scammers have you as an identified group and specific products and services to sell to you with "Business Opportunities".
============================================================
It's called target understanding, which, among ad people, is akin to clairvoyance. "We can put brands in front of consumers where they're at in a way that makes sense to them and have them thinking, 'They really get me. They're right here,' " she said.
The compilation of words, which can be found at C-K.com/cultural-dictionary, is a veritable zeitgeist directory. Visit the Cramer-Krasselt site.
Consider some of these newfangled words and definitions:
•Banker bashing: the act of blaming bankers for the nation's financial woes.
•Charitext: to donate to a cause by sending a text message.
•Curbmine: to peruse the streets for the discarded treasures of others.
•Deleb: a dead celebrity whose value as a source of revenue or social cachet has improved postmortem.
•Drip pricing: last-minute charges added at the conclusion of an online transaction.
•Economic shielding: parents' attempts to keep the household at status quo so the children don't feel the impact of the family's financial woes.
•Flightmare: an airline experience from hell.
•FOMS: acronym for "fear of missing something," which many people suffer when their mobile device or the Internet is not within reach.
•Freemium: a free service that also offers premium, paid features.
•Gagalicious: an outrageous, ornate, over-the-top style inspired by Lady Gaga.
•Jeggings: leggings that are made to look like denim.
•Mandal: a scandal involving a man, a la Tiger Woods, Jesse James and Mel Gibson.
•Nipple war: Facebook's war on deciding if a photo of a naked woman is tasteful or vulgar. The deciding factor: whether a nipple is present.
•Oilocalypse: a nickname for the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
•Putpocket: to leave something good but unexpected in a stranger's pocket.
•The Full Heidi: an excessive amount of cosmetic surgery along the lines of that undertaken by reality star Heidi Montag.
•ROS: an acronym for "return on sustainability," a concept that reflects businesses' growing awareness that sustainability efforts are good for their bottom line.
You might not recognize this yet, but you probably have an ecochondriac or a tweeva in your life. You may even have had a piece of mancake.
Moreover, you have unwittingly -- or not -- contributed in part to the socially acceptable and ever-changing lingo that defines our cumulative grasp of the world around us.
Stalkers turn to GPSTechnology is enhancing the reach of stalkers, allowing them to take advantage of location-based social networking applications. WSJ's Andy Jordan reports.
In turn, you have given advertisers, whose job it is to persuade Eskimos to buy ice, new insight into how they can talk you into almost anything.
That's the drive behind ad agency Cramer-Krasselt's so-called cultural dictionary, its third annual attempt at defining the coolest of new words and trends being bandied about the hipiverse -- as in the hipster universe.
"We want to have a pulse on what's going on with consumers," said Margot Bogue, senior vice president and associate director of brand advertising at C-K. "This is a cultural snapshot that allows us to create communications that are relevant to consumers."
It's also a selling tool to clue C-K customers into just how in touch this agency is with human behavior and how it can manipulate ... er ... persuade the masses with this knowledge.
Some of the words are quickly getting established in our lexicon -- like mancession, recessionomics and groupon -- but many are new and surprising. They are gleaned from talk-show hosts and celebrities, conversations overheard at a party, on a train or around town. The Home Shopping Network has even contributed. And, of course, the whiz kids at C-K made some of them up.
Take "mancake." It's tied to the idea of what C-K calls a "genderless society" in which women take on traditional male roles. And, it turns out, vice-versa. Cupcake makers have taken note, for example, by adding masculine flavors like bacon, beer or rum to their baked goods.
And a "tweeva"? That's an emergent diva in her early teens who has already grown accustomed to spas, beauty treatments and an overall pampered life.
An "ecochondriac" embraces the green-and-beyond trend by constantly worrying about his carbon footprint.
Words that define a trend
Creatives might not use "mancake" or "tweeva" in an ad, but they understand how the words relate to an underlying trend that also gives life to new products that some segment of the population will embrace.
"Bleisure," for example, is a type of business trip that includes a bit of leisure time. Advertisers zero in on those people as a target for everything from nail spas to beer brands.
And if they're "meformers," all the better. They're the type to turn to social media to talk about themselves among their closest friends and enemies, including some they've never met.
"It offers a background to help us understand who is the target audience, what are they focusing on, what are they talking about and how we can intersect with them in an appropriate way," Bogue said.
www.marketwatch.com/story/talk-is-cheap-but-words-can-make-you-buy-2010-08-05?pagenumber=1
==================================================
Scammers target unemployed
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- As if living without a paycheck while searching for a job in this tough economy weren't hard enough, jobless workers need to worry about scams, too.
As the unemployment rate rises, so do the number of people seeking to take advantage of the jobless, experts said.
Prying eyes onlineMicrosoft designed Internet Explorer so users must deliberately turn on privacy settings every time they start up the software. Julia Angwin discusses.
"When economic times are tough and people are desperate, that's when all of the scam artists come out," said Ira Rheingold, executive director of the nonprofit National Association of Consumer Advocates.
"They prey on people's desperation," he said. "When we have such a large percentage of people unemployed, it is the perfect moment for people with questionable ethics, for people who don't have a moral center."
And financial worries can increase vulnerability to scams.
"The more unemployed people there are, the more opportunities there are to take advantage of people with promises of large profits," said Prentiss Cox, a clinical professor of law at University of Minnesota and a consumer-protection expert.
Red flags
One reliable red flag is when up-front payments, such as a fee for an application or an exam, are required to get a job.
"It's almost invariably a scam. No one should pay to get a job," said David Vladeck, director of the Federal Trade Commission's consumer-protection bureau. "What is chilling is that a lot of these companies have made millions of dollars."
Sometimes scammers that request fees ask for a job seeker's checking-account or credit-card information, and refuse offers of payment with a check or money order.
DCUrbanMom.com, a support group for Washington-area families, recently posted a revealing tale about a scammer named "Mary Lee," supposedly looking for a nanny in London. "Mary Lee" tried to convince someone posing as a nanny applicant to fork over money upfront.
"Mary quickly replied with assurances that I was the perfect candidate and that she would immediately begin the process of obtaining my U.K. documents," according to the DCUrbanMom.com posting. "As she explained, she had had unfortunate experiences hiring nannies in the past -- she had paid their travel to the U.K. only to have them go to work for other families. Therefore, she was asking that I pay for 30% of the costs of travel and visa application."
Verdict? A scam. The pretend applicant's conclusion: "Nannies, or anyone for that matter, should remember the expression, 'If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.'" Read more about the nanny scam.
Jobless workers should also watch out for ads that guarantee jobs, Vladeck said.
Working at home
The classic scam perpetrated against the unemployed: working at home at a task such as stuffing envelopes, Cox said.
"It sounds like a great opportunity because everyone can do it," Cox said. "It's something tried and true."
Another example of a work-at-home scam is for r ebate processing, according to the FTC. But "there are no rebates to process, and few people ever see a refund," the FTC said.
Some ads promise income by connecting job seekers to companies that need medical claims processed electronically. But the lists provided are "out-of-date and include doctors who haven't asked for billing services," according to the FTC.
'Business opportunities'
Looking to boost their income, the unemployed also may be lured into "business opportunity" scams.
"You need to replace your income," Cox said. "Some unemployed people have savings and they are looking to invest those savings in businesses."
A red flag for fraudulent "business opportunities" is when they advertise exaggerated profit potential, or claim that they know some secret that average people don't hear about, Cox said.
Earlier this year the FTC took action against a number of scam operations that targeted the unemployed, including one that claimed consumers could earn up to $500 a week assembling angel pins. Consumers would pay for supplies to get started, and the company said it would approve any assembled angel pins before consumers could make money, according to the FTC.
"They guaranteed to people that if they make the pins, they would sell them," Vladeck said. "Of course, no one ever made a pin to their satisfaction."
While those who lose money to scams can follow up with government officials, reparations may be hard to come by, Cox said.
"The problem with these things is that they tend to be fly-by-night operations, and they just take their money and go away," Cox said.
Get rid of debt
Consumers should be wary of companies offering to help reduce debt, experts said. Unemployed people weighed down with unpaid bills may be particularly susceptible to scams, Rheingold said.
"They've lost their job and they can't pay their mortgage bill," Rheingold said. "When you are unemployed and facing catastrophe -- loss of your house or car -- and unable to support your family, at that point you are just grasping at straws, at any lifeboat out there."
Starting Oct. 27, for-profit companies selling debt-relief services over the phone may no longer charge a fee before settling or reducing a customer's credit card or other unsecured debt.
"This rule will stop companies who offer consumers false promises of reducing credit-card debts by half or more in exchange for large, up-front fees," said Jon Leibowitz, FTC chairman, in a statement in July. "Too many of these companies pick the last dollar out of consumers' pockets -- and far from leaving them better off, push them deeper into debt, even bankruptcy."
Ruth Mantell is a MarketWatch reporter based in Washington.
www.marketwatch.com/story/scammers-target-unemployed-workers-2010-08-03?pagenumber=2
"Banker bashing" puts you into a target group.
Corporations, advertisers, scammers are targeting you with new strategies centered around changing cultural tastes. You or someone in your life may be sold products or services that focus on these approaches that manipulate your social, cultural views.
Make no mistake you are a target . "...It's called target understanding...have them thinking, 'They really get me. They're right here,' ...
"Banker bashing" puts you into a target group. Corporations and advertisers have you as an identified group and specific products and services to sell to you with "Banker bashing".
"unemployed, seeking work' puts you into a target group. Corporations and advertisers have you as an identified group and specific products and services to sell to you with "unemployed, seeking work".
"Get rid of debt" puts you into a target group. Corporations and scammers have you as an identified group and specific products and services to sell to you with "Get rid of debt".
"start your own business" puts you into a target group. Corporations and scammers have you as an identified group and specific products and services to sell to you with "Business Opportunities".
============================================================
It's called target understanding, which, among ad people, is akin to clairvoyance. "We can put brands in front of consumers where they're at in a way that makes sense to them and have them thinking, 'They really get me. They're right here,' " she said.
The compilation of words, which can be found at C-K.com/cultural-dictionary, is a veritable zeitgeist directory. Visit the Cramer-Krasselt site.
Consider some of these newfangled words and definitions:
•Banker bashing: the act of blaming bankers for the nation's financial woes.
•Charitext: to donate to a cause by sending a text message.
•Curbmine: to peruse the streets for the discarded treasures of others.
•Deleb: a dead celebrity whose value as a source of revenue or social cachet has improved postmortem.
•Drip pricing: last-minute charges added at the conclusion of an online transaction.
•Economic shielding: parents' attempts to keep the household at status quo so the children don't feel the impact of the family's financial woes.
•Flightmare: an airline experience from hell.
•FOMS: acronym for "fear of missing something," which many people suffer when their mobile device or the Internet is not within reach.
•Freemium: a free service that also offers premium, paid features.
•Gagalicious: an outrageous, ornate, over-the-top style inspired by Lady Gaga.
•Jeggings: leggings that are made to look like denim.
•Mandal: a scandal involving a man, a la Tiger Woods, Jesse James and Mel Gibson.
•Nipple war: Facebook's war on deciding if a photo of a naked woman is tasteful or vulgar. The deciding factor: whether a nipple is present.
•Oilocalypse: a nickname for the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
•Putpocket: to leave something good but unexpected in a stranger's pocket.
•The Full Heidi: an excessive amount of cosmetic surgery along the lines of that undertaken by reality star Heidi Montag.
•ROS: an acronym for "return on sustainability," a concept that reflects businesses' growing awareness that sustainability efforts are good for their bottom line.
You might not recognize this yet, but you probably have an ecochondriac or a tweeva in your life. You may even have had a piece of mancake.
Moreover, you have unwittingly -- or not -- contributed in part to the socially acceptable and ever-changing lingo that defines our cumulative grasp of the world around us.
Stalkers turn to GPSTechnology is enhancing the reach of stalkers, allowing them to take advantage of location-based social networking applications. WSJ's Andy Jordan reports.
In turn, you have given advertisers, whose job it is to persuade Eskimos to buy ice, new insight into how they can talk you into almost anything.
That's the drive behind ad agency Cramer-Krasselt's so-called cultural dictionary, its third annual attempt at defining the coolest of new words and trends being bandied about the hipiverse -- as in the hipster universe.
"We want to have a pulse on what's going on with consumers," said Margot Bogue, senior vice president and associate director of brand advertising at C-K. "This is a cultural snapshot that allows us to create communications that are relevant to consumers."
It's also a selling tool to clue C-K customers into just how in touch this agency is with human behavior and how it can manipulate ... er ... persuade the masses with this knowledge.
Some of the words are quickly getting established in our lexicon -- like mancession, recessionomics and groupon -- but many are new and surprising. They are gleaned from talk-show hosts and celebrities, conversations overheard at a party, on a train or around town. The Home Shopping Network has even contributed. And, of course, the whiz kids at C-K made some of them up.
Take "mancake." It's tied to the idea of what C-K calls a "genderless society" in which women take on traditional male roles. And, it turns out, vice-versa. Cupcake makers have taken note, for example, by adding masculine flavors like bacon, beer or rum to their baked goods.
And a "tweeva"? That's an emergent diva in her early teens who has already grown accustomed to spas, beauty treatments and an overall pampered life.
An "ecochondriac" embraces the green-and-beyond trend by constantly worrying about his carbon footprint.
Words that define a trend
Creatives might not use "mancake" or "tweeva" in an ad, but they understand how the words relate to an underlying trend that also gives life to new products that some segment of the population will embrace.
"Bleisure," for example, is a type of business trip that includes a bit of leisure time. Advertisers zero in on those people as a target for everything from nail spas to beer brands.
And if they're "meformers," all the better. They're the type to turn to social media to talk about themselves among their closest friends and enemies, including some they've never met.
"It offers a background to help us understand who is the target audience, what are they focusing on, what are they talking about and how we can intersect with them in an appropriate way," Bogue said.
www.marketwatch.com/story/talk-is-cheap-but-words-can-make-you-buy-2010-08-05?pagenumber=1
==================================================
Scammers target unemployed
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- As if living without a paycheck while searching for a job in this tough economy weren't hard enough, jobless workers need to worry about scams, too.
As the unemployment rate rises, so do the number of people seeking to take advantage of the jobless, experts said.
Prying eyes onlineMicrosoft designed Internet Explorer so users must deliberately turn on privacy settings every time they start up the software. Julia Angwin discusses.
"When economic times are tough and people are desperate, that's when all of the scam artists come out," said Ira Rheingold, executive director of the nonprofit National Association of Consumer Advocates.
"They prey on people's desperation," he said. "When we have such a large percentage of people unemployed, it is the perfect moment for people with questionable ethics, for people who don't have a moral center."
And financial worries can increase vulnerability to scams.
"The more unemployed people there are, the more opportunities there are to take advantage of people with promises of large profits," said Prentiss Cox, a clinical professor of law at University of Minnesota and a consumer-protection expert.
Red flags
One reliable red flag is when up-front payments, such as a fee for an application or an exam, are required to get a job.
"It's almost invariably a scam. No one should pay to get a job," said David Vladeck, director of the Federal Trade Commission's consumer-protection bureau. "What is chilling is that a lot of these companies have made millions of dollars."
Sometimes scammers that request fees ask for a job seeker's checking-account or credit-card information, and refuse offers of payment with a check or money order.
DCUrbanMom.com, a support group for Washington-area families, recently posted a revealing tale about a scammer named "Mary Lee," supposedly looking for a nanny in London. "Mary Lee" tried to convince someone posing as a nanny applicant to fork over money upfront.
"Mary quickly replied with assurances that I was the perfect candidate and that she would immediately begin the process of obtaining my U.K. documents," according to the DCUrbanMom.com posting. "As she explained, she had had unfortunate experiences hiring nannies in the past -- she had paid their travel to the U.K. only to have them go to work for other families. Therefore, she was asking that I pay for 30% of the costs of travel and visa application."
Verdict? A scam. The pretend applicant's conclusion: "Nannies, or anyone for that matter, should remember the expression, 'If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.'" Read more about the nanny scam.
Jobless workers should also watch out for ads that guarantee jobs, Vladeck said.
Working at home
The classic scam perpetrated against the unemployed: working at home at a task such as stuffing envelopes, Cox said.
"It sounds like a great opportunity because everyone can do it," Cox said. "It's something tried and true."
Another example of a work-at-home scam is for r ebate processing, according to the FTC. But "there are no rebates to process, and few people ever see a refund," the FTC said.
Some ads promise income by connecting job seekers to companies that need medical claims processed electronically. But the lists provided are "out-of-date and include doctors who haven't asked for billing services," according to the FTC.
'Business opportunities'
Looking to boost their income, the unemployed also may be lured into "business opportunity" scams.
"You need to replace your income," Cox said. "Some unemployed people have savings and they are looking to invest those savings in businesses."
A red flag for fraudulent "business opportunities" is when they advertise exaggerated profit potential, or claim that they know some secret that average people don't hear about, Cox said.
Earlier this year the FTC took action against a number of scam operations that targeted the unemployed, including one that claimed consumers could earn up to $500 a week assembling angel pins. Consumers would pay for supplies to get started, and the company said it would approve any assembled angel pins before consumers could make money, according to the FTC.
"They guaranteed to people that if they make the pins, they would sell them," Vladeck said. "Of course, no one ever made a pin to their satisfaction."
While those who lose money to scams can follow up with government officials, reparations may be hard to come by, Cox said.
"The problem with these things is that they tend to be fly-by-night operations, and they just take their money and go away," Cox said.
Get rid of debt
Consumers should be wary of companies offering to help reduce debt, experts said. Unemployed people weighed down with unpaid bills may be particularly susceptible to scams, Rheingold said.
"They've lost their job and they can't pay their mortgage bill," Rheingold said. "When you are unemployed and facing catastrophe -- loss of your house or car -- and unable to support your family, at that point you are just grasping at straws, at any lifeboat out there."
Starting Oct. 27, for-profit companies selling debt-relief services over the phone may no longer charge a fee before settling or reducing a customer's credit card or other unsecured debt.
"This rule will stop companies who offer consumers false promises of reducing credit-card debts by half or more in exchange for large, up-front fees," said Jon Leibowitz, FTC chairman, in a statement in July. "Too many of these companies pick the last dollar out of consumers' pockets -- and far from leaving them better off, push them deeper into debt, even bankruptcy."
Ruth Mantell is a MarketWatch reporter based in Washington.
www.marketwatch.com/story/scammers-target-unemployed-workers-2010-08-03?pagenumber=2