Filed under: Advertising, Apathy, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Bank Ads, Brand Suicide, Creativity, Culture, Education, Finance, Management, Marketing, Money, Premium
OK, so Friday’s post was an April Fool joke.
I say that because some people seemed to believe it until they got to the very last line. Which obviously made me very happy … no doubt helped by the fact April Fools Day started upto 20+ hours before some parts of the World.
But today’s post is real, even though it’s even more of a joke.
It starts with a tweet I saw a few weeks ago …
I don’t mind admitting, I laughed my socks off when I saw it.
Because it’s true.
The amount of people – read, men – who talk about crypto like it’s a guaranteed money earner despite [1] not looking into how it actually works [2] realising there are a vast amount of choices that are out there and [3] all have experienced incredible and – in many cases – huge losses, is amazing.
But I also kind-of get it.
Because the sniff of winning big can be intoxicating.
Especially if you don’t think you otherwise have a chance.
And for many people they don’t …
Not because they’re not smart or talented or capable … but because life is unbelievably unfair.
Which is why for all the questions that need to be answered about the role, legitimacy and even legality of certain crypto, the reality is many people think the chance of making it big on what is essentially a giant wheel of roulette is still better than the chance of doing OK following ‘traditional’ paths.
I get it. I was in that situation.
I was living in Australia, broke … with a seriously ill Dad and a Mum who couldn’t pay the bills.
I didn’t know what I was going to do when someone I knew asked if I wanted to get involved in a pyramid scheme.
Out of desperation – and a belief I didn’t think I had anything to lose – I said yes.
Of course that is mad, because I did have a lot to lose, from the initial ‘investment’ to the chance to get out of my situation within a year.
I ended up being very lucky.
Because I got in very early. I made back many times my initial investment within 2 weeks.
[I should point out that while I was able to help my Mum and Dad out as soon as this happened, I never told them what I’d done. Part of this was because they’d have been fuming and part of it was because it was hard enough to get them to accept presents from me, so if they knew, then I’d never be able to financially help them out again]
And while the time between ‘investing’ and ‘vesting’ were some of the most exciting, intense and scary weeks of my life, the minuscule chance of making something sizeable out of it drowned out the highly likely chance of losing all of it.
Would I do it again?
No. I am in the incredibly fortunate position to be in a good position now. But I get why people would do it and why crypto is so tempting for so many.
Nothing brought this home than some information Natwest Bank sent me last week.
It was their interest rates.
I say ‘interest’ but what I mean is arrogance.
Have a look at this …
What the hell?
Seriously, what the absolute hell?
Do they think this is good?
Do they think this is going to make people want to invest with them?
Even with their ‘bonus’ percentage, their ‘best’ rate is 0.05%.
And that’s their best. The rest are 0.01%.
ZERO POINT ZERO ONE PERCENT.
Not just many times less than inflation.
Not just many times less than the amount you’ll be charged in fees.
But less than fuck all.
Why would anyone choose to invest their money with a bank?
And I mean anyone … from someone with one pound to one million.
Seriously, you somehow manage to get a million quid and Natwest will reward you with 100 pounds in interest.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
So much for all their talk of ‘caring about your future’.
Of course, they think they can get away with it because they think they hold all the cards.
And right now they probably do.
But for all their advertising claims that are seemingly designed to make the board of directors happy rather than their customers, the vast majority seem to have failed to grasp the one thing that could undermine them all.
People go where the chances are.
Doesn’t matter if it’s not perfect. Doesn’t matter what the research says. If what’s on offer is dramatically better than what the establishment offers – and it’s ‘generally’ legal even if it’s highly risky – then they’ll explore it.
I never imagined I’d be the sort of person who would be part of a pyramid scheme – but circumstances of desperation meant I did. Which means I am pretty sure there’s a hell of a lot of people you’d never imagine would be into crypto, who are.
Not because they’re money hungry assholes – though there’s definitely a bunch who are that – but because with banks taking the piss out of their hopes and dreams with a miserly 0.01% interest rates, suddenly the risk of crypto looks like the most sensible investment for the future they can make.
And then, it’s not just the banks who will be screwed, we all will be.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Corporate Evil, Money
There’s an old saying that goes, ‘money talks but wealth whispers’.
It’s a nice turn of phrase, but if it was ever true – and it probably was, at least in terms of old school rich – wealth is talking much more loudly these days.
Many years ago I wrote a post about it and how I was how wealth was moving from expressions of success to acts of arrogance.
Since I wrote that post waaaaaaaaay back in 2006, we have seen this shift become more and more common, to the point where the characters in the brilliant Succession … are seen as aspirational rather than despicable.
But this situation is not new …
I remember reading an interview with Michael Douglas where he couldn’t work out why people liked his character in Wall Street, when he was supposed to represent everything wrong with the times.
However the reality is if you revisit his famous ‘Greed Is Good’ speech … it sounds very similar to the toxic, machismo, ego-bullshit Musk and Bezos – let alone the Roy family in Succession – spout on a disturbingly regular basis.
Have a look …
So when you consider this – and the hero status Jordan Belfort achieved with his ‘Wolf Of Wall Street’ persona – you start to realise that rather than learn from the mistakes of the past, we’re running right back at them.
Or said another way, it’s like the 80’s all over again.
Nothing reinforced this to me that this ad I recently saw on insta …
What the fuck?
For all the vulgar displays of wealth I’ve seen – and I’ve seen a lot having lived in China and America – I don’t know if anything beats the utter arrogance of travelling to one of the most environmentally fragile places on the planet simply so you can then piss on it by using mass carbon-emission producing boats, helicopters and submarines.
Fuck the environment.
Fuck the planet.
Fuck humanity.
All that matters is doing what you want and money lets you do whatever that is.
I honestly don’t know who I hate more … the company who put this on or the people who will happily pay to be a part of it.
That they have chosen to advertise this disgrace on instagram shows how much the company knows ‘alienating people’ is part of the appeal for the rich.
It’s sick.
As sick as all those companies who try to profit from the environmental crisis by making products that are ‘less bad’ rather than ‘more good’ and then try to place the burden of responsibility on the population rather than the corporation.
But then, as Joel Bakan wrote way back in 2005 with his book Corporation – companies, like the ultra wealthy – are fucking psychopaths.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Crap Marketing Ideas From History!, Crap Products In History, Culture, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Money
A while back I wrote about how McKinsey advised a client that the best way to boost their sales was to incentivise their distribution network.
That wouldn’t be so bad if the client I was referring to wasn’t the infamous Sackler family – creators of Oxycontin – and the result of this decision wouldn’t be that tens of thousands more people would end up becoming addicted or die from what has been labelled as one of the most deadly over-the-counter drugs ever produced.
But I recently saw something that could be just as evil.
Maybe not so directly dangerous, but messed up all the same.
This …
What the absolute fuck?!
It’s bad enough someone decided to use Paw Patrol to sell some shitty kids drinks … but to then make that drink come in a bottle that has been purposefully packaged to resemble a champagne bottle is just asking for trouble.
How did this get through?
I mean, isn’t this just a modern version of candy cigarettes?
No doubt whoever is behind this horrible use of exploitation and manipulation is being watched with admiring eyes over at McKinsey right now.
But if you think that was bad, there’s worse.
Something that has confused me to the point where it feels my brain may explode.
Sure it doesn’t involve addiction or death – at least not directly.
And sure, it doesn’t revolve around making kids get comfortable with iconography that in later life may have negative affects on their health and wellbeing.
But at the same time, it’s even more messed up than all that.
Something that makes you question that values and tastes of all of humanity.
Here we go …
What the hell?
I mean seriously, what the hell!!!
No doubt Vaynerchuk will now be releasing copious amounts of video footage of him telling artists how they need to follow his ‘system’ to earn ludicrous amounts of cash for their work.
Who would pay this?
Worse, who would pay this for an NFT of his doodle?
And why? Why would anyone think this is a good idea.
Hmmmmmn, unless the person was Vaynerchuk in an act of PR gaining?
Now I’ve said it, you can picture it can’t you.
To assume any other reason is basically an admission we’re in end of days.
So while I apologise for ruining your week from the first day, please remember – I didn’t come up with this crap, I only write it.