Big Brother is Dead & Not Forgotten

Big Brother, surveillance, data mining, all these scary words of “them” getting to know us and getting our information has only been a hullabaloo recently. I mean, to the extent of Zuckerberg being in front of Congress, it’s VERY recently. This hasn’t been a fight for as long as the fear has been there.

But even before then, before the fear — before Zuck, before privacy laws got paid attention to more and more by consumers — “they” have been watching you… for decades before that. You just didn’t know it. Unlike space exploration, we weren’t necessarily afraid of what we didn’t know and understand.

When the TV had 3 channels and antennae. When paper newspapers were still seen in coffee shops. We have always been told what we want and what we need.

Now, you know us, we’re not fear mongers, so let me get to the point.

It’s actually the boom in technology and smartphone ownership that will make you more in charge of what you see, what you believe, and what you buy.

In the ‘70s, Americans were exposed to 500 ads per day. Now, it’s closer to 5,000. Children see 20,000 thirty-second commercials yearly, and adults, 2 million.

But even with this growth in numbers, it comes with knowledge. It comes with freedom of information, as long as you want to look for it. You wouldn’t fall for the plug-like commercials like in “The Truman Show” of a happy mom selling you her favorite morning coffee. The messaging has changed.

It’s gotten more strategic— because people have too with this new access to worldwide information. 

We know when ad statements are empty.

We notice the ** sentences in the footer of commercials and the sped-up voices at the end of radio ads.

We know that ads target our emotions and insecurities as opposed to selling the product’s details and legitimacy. We know the burger commercial close-up on the juicy angus beef is not what it looks like in person. We know women shaving their legs don’t do it in a silk robe on the edge of a clawfoot tub in an all-white bathroom. We know why we’re being targeted— which means we can make smarter buying decisions.

We’re highly affected by psychological advertising, yes; even our team makes impulse buys right off of Instagram. But we are also harder and harder to get all the way through the sales funnel because we have Google, Amazon, Yelp, and the platforms that used to render us fearful.

Rock Candy Media in Austin, specializing in agency design, growth hacking, and performance marketing, is the top advertising agency for a reason.

We know our consumers are why we’re alive. We know they’re rightfully suspicious, smart, and don’t fall for what our grandfather’s agency would have tried. We’re coming up on our 10 year mark because we’re real with consumers and clients. We never beat around the bush, tell a white lie, or line our strategies with sped-up disclaimers and asterisk statements.

We get you because we are you. We won’t sell what we don’t believe in because our team was hired based on raw talent and passion. On heart. We’re not fake with each other and we’re not fake with our marketing strategies.

Want some examples, or for us to prove it? Sit down with our head honcho.

You might not believe what you hear at first, and that’s because you’re not used to hearing unfiltered truth.