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SD#26: Temptation bundling, recessions and advertising words

Written by

Tomas Ausra

July 10, 2022

Hi friends,

Welcome to another edition of Seven Dawns, your weekly newsletter on marketing, productivity, psychology and more.

Our seven ideas this week:


1. (Marketing) Brand budgets should be going up not down during a recession
It’s no surprise that marketing budgets are usually the first to be cut in a downturn. It’s also the brand marketing budgets that take the axe first. Instead, marketers need to reverse this trend by keeping budgets going and only downsizing performance budgets if they have to.

“In a recession, people are less likely to buy. So why would you run short-term lead generation trying to get people to buy when they are not going to buy – because they don’t have the money or the confidence? […] You would be better off cutting short-term advertising and continuing to invest in long-term brand building, so when the economy does recover – and most recessions only last 12-18 months – you are going to win more of those customers” argued Jon Lombardo and Peter Weinberg to the Mi3.
2. (Productivity) Temptation bundling is a productivity technique that can help avoid procrastination by boosting willpower

You know you should be working on that presentation, but you’ve been procrastinating. To make things worse, the latest season of your favourite show has just dropped on Netflix. Luckily, making progress on your work and indulging in activities you enjoy is not only compatible but can also make you more productive. That’s called temptation building.

Temptation bundling is a productivity technique that involves combining an activity that gives you instant gratification, such as watching TV, with one that is beneficial but has a delayed reward, such as exercising. If you only allow yourself to watch TV while you’re on a treadmill, you may be more likely to exercise regularly than you would otherwise have been.

Ness Labs
3. (Psychology) If living a good life in ancient times of scarcity was about seeking fast-reward goods, then living a good life in modern times of abundance is about seeking slow-reward goods

In many areas of our lives, things that are not as satisfying now tend to be more satisfying and leave us better off later. If living a good life in ancient times of scarcity was about seeking fast-reward, lower-effort goods, then living a good life in modern times of abundance is about seeking slow-reward, higher-effort goods. Scientists call this the evolutionary mismatch—when strategies that were once adaptive to a species become harmful.

Once you become aware of the evolutionary mismatch, you start to see it everywhere. Overcoming it is key to being grounded in an increasingly frantic world.

The challenge is compounded by the fact that Western economies are set up for short-term profits, not long-term fulfilment. As a result, we are bombarded with products, services, and marketing aimed directly at the part of our brains that crave immediate-reward products, services, and experiences. Consumerism feeds off the evolutionary mismatch and traps us in a cycle of seeking shallow pleasures that have short half-lives. This may be good for the bottom line but not for our health and happiness.

What can we do about it? 

Outside discusses.
 
4. (Investing) History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme

It’s well documented that Mark Twain used the first four words, but there’s no clear evidence that he ever said the rest. Many others have said similar over the years, but Theodor Reik said something similar that describes the concept best:

There are recurring cycles, ups and downs, but the course of events is essentially the same, with small variations. It has been said that history repeats itself. This is perhaps not quite correct; it merely rhymes.

The events of investment history don’t repeat, but familiar themes do recur especially behavioural themes.

In the last two years, we’ve seen dramatic examples of the ups and downs Reik wrote about. And Howard Marks focused his memo on the market dynamics of these swings.
5. (Marketing) The confusing world of advertising words

It’s no secret that some words in the advertising world are used completely differently from their real meanings. Take the word ‘simple’. 

“Simple briefs, simple scripts, simple solutions, simple edits, simple endlines, simple decks, simple meetings…

Your simple, ain’t my simple. 

Whenever I’ve said that we want something simple, I think everyone nodded in agreement, but what were we agreeing to? Different things, of course! 

Your ad, which was striving at all times for simplicity achieved exactly that, by which I mean it achieved nothing of the sort, and all because your simple wasn’t the same as the strategist’s, the account handler’s or the client’s.” Ben Kay explains this and other most frequent words in his blog.
6. (Economy) Do we need a recession?

The weird thing about economics and the market is that bad thing are sometimes perceived to be good. Bank of America recently stated “The good news is that high frequency data is showing hints of [job market] cooling off… job posting on Indeed are down 8.5ppt from the high on December 31, 2021”.

This is not good news. It’s good news in the sense that it’s good that the labour market is slowing down so there isn’t that pesky ol’ problem of wage inflation, but it’s terrible news in the sense that these are people.

Economics is largely the study of humans and money – it’s what we do with our paychecks, where we choose to allocate and spend, the companies that we build, and the government regulating and stuff. That’s the System of the Economy.

In all Systems, there has to be some sort of mechanism to implement just in case it overheats. Your Microwave System will automatically shut down if the high voltage parts get too hot. The Economy System has to operate like this too. And that’s where we are now. Things are too hot.

Kyla Scanlon ponders about recessions in his newsletter.
7. (Productivity) Before capitalism, most people didn’t work more than 6 hours per day

There is a lot of science that suggests a 4-day work week might be better for all of us. Individuals and organisations. 

We’re about to see the biggest pilot scheme happen in the UK as over 3,000 workers trial such a week for 6 months.

As we look to change our future work for the better, I find myself wondering about the path that got us here.

Excerpt from the Practical Magic of the 5-Hour Workday by Trevor Blake:
‘Before capitalism, most people didn’t work very long hours at all. The pace of life was slow, the pace of work relaxed, and life was balanced between work, church, and family. Our ancestors may not have been rich, but they had an abundance of leisure time. Most people worked right where they lived. They sold their wares from the kitchen window or barrows and baskets on the green. There was no concept of commuting or rush hour.

Consider a typical working day in medieval times. It stretched from dawn to dusk (16 hours in the summer and 8 in the winter) but was intermittent – called to a halt for breakfast, lunch, the customary afternoon nap, and dinner. Depending on time and place, there were also midmorning and mid-afternoon refreshment breaks.

These rest periods were the traditional rights of labourers, which they enjoyed even during peak harvest times. During slack periods, which accounted for a large part of the year, adherence to regular working hours was not usual. According to Oxford Professor James E. Thorold Rogers, the medieval workday was not more than 6 hours. All of this relaxed, balanced nature-driven lifestyle changed in the industrial age.’

Fun things to click on:


Tim Urban asked his Twitter followers “What’s your favorite mindblowing fact?” A bunch of good book recommendations no matter what genre you like. Writing prompt generator you can use to build a writing habit.


Thanks for reading! If you have any learnings you’d like to share with me, or disagree with any of the ones above then do drop me a message.

Loving this newsletter? Then why not share it with your friends.

Speak soon,

Tom

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SD#25: Recession marketing, apophenia and getting things done

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SD#27: Choice, financial freedom and compound returns