lukeprog comments on Feed the spinoff heuristic! - Less Wrong
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If psychology worked, I would expect marketing firms to use it to make millions of people buy tons of shit that they don't need and that won't make them happy.
Indeed. Case study of Freud's nephew who basically invented modern PR.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays
Is there any evidence, one way or the other, as to whether marketers draw useful info from academic psychology?
More cheap evidence: marketing textbooks are stuffed full of mainstream psychological results and applications to the business of marketing.
Cheap evidence: Hacker News is full of people trying to get rich by selling something (usually access to web applications), and e.g. "Predictably irrational" has been mentioned. The marketing guru Seth Godin says he's been influenced quite a bit by Poundstone's "Priceless", which "dives into the latest psychological findings".
Of course, this is only informal evidence, only shows "some marketers" and only shows "believed to be useful".
Waveman's comment also seems relevant.
Well I think to large extent marketing firms rely on their own know-how, which I imagine is rather scientific. I have first hand experience with this (I am selling a computer game through Steam). Various statistics is used to see what does better. Their marketing people are really great at e.g. picking the most-clickable banner design, versus the one that I thought would be the most clickable (I did my own stats and confirmed their choice).
I believe marketers do use psychology and many, if not most, Americans do buy "tons of shit that they don't need and that won't make them happy!"
I believe Luke intended this to be understood =)
Don't they?
Yes they do. That was my intended meaning. :)