By Mark Schaefer
I’ve been in many situations where my marketing team would have loved people to become “addicted” to a product. It makes a great brainstorming topic — “What would it take for our customers to love us so much they’re addicted to what we do?”
But with some products — like Facebook, smartphones, and video games — this is actually becoming a real concern that is receiving a lot of negative coverage. As a marketer, if you had the chance to create an actual addiction, would you?
It’s a fascinating topic that is the focus of our latest Marketing Companion podcast episode. Tom Webster and I don’t entirely agree on this one and we toss around some of the issues underscoring media addiction in our society and our roles as marketers.
Another interesting ethical issue we discuss on the show is the emerging culture of Artificial Intelligence. France has initiated an aggressive program to develop their own capabilities in AI, not necessarily as a commercial exercise or something that would be part of their defense department, but to have a seat at the table of the cultural and sociological development of global AI.
A third topic on this show is fascinating new research on the amount of time it takes to make a friend. I think there are some interesting implications for marketing. Do social media platforms accelerate this process?
Finally, we celebrate a significant milestone for the show — 500,000 downloads. To mark the occasion we introduce the world’s first audio infographic. You won’t want to miss this show …
Click on this link to listen to Episode 127
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