Infomagination

Shopping in the Name Of: X Factor Vs Rage Against the Machine

Another year, another series of X Factor, another plucky youngster turned pop star a dead cert to be Christmas number one, right?

Well, actually, this year maybe not, as a campaign to get internet users everywhere to buy Rage Against the Machine's Killing in the Name Of instead gathers apace, with hundreds of thousands of supporters on Facebook. 

 

Now, bookmakers have now slashed the odds of RATM being Xmas no. from 100-1 to 3-1 and Hitwise reports the two are neck and neck in terms of interest on the net. 

 

Word is that Amazon reports Joe ahead in this week's sales, but there's still everything to play for.  Feel free to get on there and cast your vote!

Personally, I'm hoping the Ragers nab it - but even if they don't it's definitely another nail in the coffin for any dreams marketers once had of a passive, accepting "consumer."

I mean, there's no doubt that Simon Cowell is an incredible marketer, but whether it's the double talk over Jedward, the sensationalism in the papers or just his over-polished exterior, he seems to be getting more and more complacent by the year - blythly expecting people to fall for the same old routines time and time again.

Now at least some of the public are realising they don't have to swallow the hype.  In fact, thanks to the power of the internet, they can create their own - and spit it right back in his face.

Killer charts: our aging world

In the wake of last week's news that most British babies born in the past few years will live to be 100, these charts mapping the planet's aging populace caught my eye this morning. 

The charts are from a lovely interactive, animated dataset that you can play with here. In them, each circle represents a country, sized according to the number of older people in each country (so the two large blue circles are China and India).  The vertical axis measures the percentage of each country’s population over 65 years, whilst the horizontal axis measures the percentage over 85 years. So countries get ‘older’ as they move upwards and across. 

What we can see is that in the 1960s, even where there was a growing older population, few people were over 85. In 2040, it's set to be a very different picture.  Here in the UK, one in four people will be over 65, including 8% over 80 - and in Germany and Italy those figures are even higher.

Over the last few years there's been much talk about the need for brands to address our aging population - and recently there seem to have been some great success stories, with the likes of Nintendo DS and Sky+ reaching out to untapped older audiences.  Today's charts only serve to underline the question for the rest of us: could thinking old be a new source of business?

How lightning Bolt blasted the record books

Less than 24 hours ago, Usain Bolt decimated the 100m world record with a time of 9.58 seconds.  Today, the analysts have been out in force and The Guardian has been running these neat little graphs (compiled by Timetric), showing just how big a dent he's left.

Timetric's Andrew Walkingshaw sums it up nicely: 

That bit at the end? That's what Usain Bolt's doing to the record book. Here's the best way to put it into perspective: to go from 9.86 to 9.72 (Usain Bolt's first world record) took just under seventeen years. Taking roughly the same amount again off the record — 9.72 to 9.58 — has taken Usain Bolt fifteen months.

Like all true legends, Bolt still thinks he can do better, however.  He's aready got his sights set on 9.4 - and, looking at the facts, who'd dare bet against him?

Killer chart: The obligatory media fragmentation chart

Came across this the other day.  You know it'll come in handy somewhere...

Killer charts: no green shoots of recovery just yet

Last week the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development poured cold water on any dreams of short term economic recovery here in the UK.  And, whilst things are looking brighter for the economy as a whole in 2010 (well, flat at least), unemployment's set to rise again next year. 

I'd keep those hatches battened down, if I were you...

Killer charts: why we're right to be pissed off about MPs' expenses

Great story on the BBC website today, showing how the income of our MPs compares with the man and woman on the street.  All it takes is a couple of glances to realise why people are so pissed off with "the thieving fuckers" (as I've heard them called).

First, let's take look at a typical person's household income.  The average is about £390, after tax and benefits, for a two adult household without children.

Now let's compare with an MP living with a non-working partner, the kids grown up and gone, and no other income:

The result is 3 good reasons to be mad at our MPs. 

1.  Their average expenses alone place our MPs above about 30% of the population or 17 million individuals.

2.  Their salary alone places them above about 91% of the population: 55 million people.

3.  When combined, the "honourable" member earns more than 96% of the population: 58 million people. A working partner would push them higher still.

Is it any wonder we're so annoyed?

Killer chart: mobile tariff choice explosion

The latest chart to stop me in my tracks comes courtesy of NVision Quant Express.  Blimey, no wonder people say that buying a mobile phone is more stressful than buying a car.

Haven't our mobile networks heard of the tyranny of choice?  There are plenty of studies out there showing that if you give people too many options they just freeze up - it's analysis paralysis.  In an experiment by the university of Columbia, customers at a gourmet food store were invited to try and buy from a selection of either 6 or 24 jams.  Whilst the table with 24 pots attracted more customers, the table with just 6 sold a whopping ten times more jam.  Sometimes, less is more.

Killer chart: never mind the food, what about the booze?!

I've written before about my passion for visualising information in impactful, interesting and exciting ways.  Sometimes, though, even the simplest chart can stop you in your tracks:

 

Who would have thought that our alcohol intake had increased quite that much?  Or that fat, sugar and starch levels have actually been decreasing?  Blimey.  Sod the Whopper - it's the wine we should be worried about.

On that note, I'm off down the pub! :)  Have a good weekend all...

The panic and promise of mobile location data

 

This is the first thing I read on my way to work today.  Not only has a rather fetching young man/lady just set the record for the youngest ever sex change, but Google is putting a "spy" in my pocket.  Bejesus!  On the one hand I'm heartened that broader acceptance of gender issues has led to at least one confused young person finding happiness, on the other I'm disappointed in the continued sensationalisation that characterises reporting around personal information.  What a morning!

To give you a quick summary of the story, basically Google Latitude is piece of software that allows users to track their friend's whereabouts in 27 countries worldwide once they've installed in on their phone.  Users will have to sign up to the service and can agree to give contacts their precise location, their city or no details.  Only the most recent information is given and none of the information is stored.  Interesting, but not actually new.  Yahoo! Fire Eagle has been doing all that stuff for a while now.  Followus is a whole service dedicated to offering parents and companies the option to track their kids/workers using their mobile phone data.

What the newspaper reports seem to miss is how useful this kind of information could be to the people.  Aside from making meeting up with your mates much easier, once you don't have to tell your phone where you are, then it can quite easily tell you how to get somewhere else, or where the nearest pubs or places of interest are near you.  It could also help you with your shopping, find you a nearby cab, or facilitate real world gaming.  The reason many people are so worried about sharing information is because they don't realise what the benefits will be.  As this chart from the Institute for Insight in the Public Services shows, however, once people know that they'll be getting better service in return then perceptions of data sharing change dramatically.

Data is an unsettling, scary world for a lot of people, but whilst being wary of the issues around supplying personal information we shouldn't forget the benefits that it can bring.  For brands, the lesson is to be clear and up front about what kind of information you're gathering, how it will be stored and how people will benefit as a result.  Only then will people realise that if Google are putting a spy in your pocket, it's only so he can work for you.

Watch the world's data EXPLOOOOODE!!!

 

       

Check out this neat little ticker showing the amount of data created in the world since the start of 2008.  It's hard to get your head around figures like 449 TRILLION gigabytes (just this year!) , but as you can see from this report, the avalanche has only just begun:

 

 

 

A tidal wave is upon us.  So do we drown, or learn to surf?