> you can build relationships with all the things you care about - from local businesses to global brands
Do people in marketing even hear themselves? I'm going to be charitable and assume this is ad copy aimed at other marketers because no real human has ever wished they could build a relationship with a global brand. Now if you excuse me, I need to go like the Guinness page on facebook.
Honestly, this myopic view of the ad world is why there is such a disconnect between our industry and the ad industry.
While the normal computer engineer/entrepreneur is far too 'sophisticated' to have a personal connection with a brand, there are 'real-world' people that do have connections. It's not the cheap "let me play this memory game on their FB page" connection, but a deeper connection.
There are people who feel for brands like Khan Academy and what they're doing for education, there are couples who have a soft spot for their local restaurant where the guy proposed to the girl, there are even families that fondly remember their first beat-up Honda that was reliable through thick and thin.
Sure, we may not have these deep connections given our fast paced lives, but please realize that there are others who do have human feelings for non-human entities that have made their lives better.
Very funny that you suggest computing enthusiasts are not subject to personal connections with brands. The phrase "fan boy" was essentially created within the technology domain.
There's a similar problem in psychology. Tell someone about the bystander effect or scope neglect, and they'll agree that it's neat but not that it could possibly apply to them.
Advertising works. At some point, engineers will practice what they preach and look at the data.
it's ironic to me to read this comment on news.yc, a site populated almost entirely by people who have formed a level of emotional relationship with the YC brand.
reading about it in such blunt terms might make it seem silly, but yes, people do want to associate themselves with global brands. they become part of people's identity, and i would think an internet person would have a better understanding of this than most, as we have more interactions with fanboys than most people.
I think you are confusing the emotional relationship and connection with other likeminded hackers and entrepreneurs - not YC or the YC brand itself.
Last I checked, pg hasn't started a tech company in decades. It's not the orange bar I'm here for, it's the people in the comments - most of whom are not even affiliated with YC.
That's probably out of deference to the host. It's bad form to walk into a party hosted by the owner of some company and show no respect to the host or the company whatsoever.
Most people would not think of it in those terms, but yes.
I dabble and play with other programing languages and operating systems, but I make my money as SQL Server DBA, I hold multiple technical certifications from Microsoft, and use several Microsoft Products at home and at work. I have a long term relationship with Microsoft and follow news from them closely.
In a more frivolous example, I noticed that Bioware tends to make most of the video games I really enjoy. So, I follow news of new released, updates, etc from them.
Anything which provides a convenient mechanism to get news from companies like them that I deal with on an ongoing relationship, can be useful to me. Something which would let me send them questions and or feedback that they would actually pay attention to, would also be valuable. So, I do not know if I will ever use this particular feature from Google, but I certainly do build relationships with global brands and an effective tool in that arena could be useful.
While funny, couldn't you do that with jargon from any industry? Like Things Real People Don't Say About User Experience: "This operating system's use of Fitts's Law means I am more productive!" Or Things Real People Don't Say About Their Health: "I must be in the readaptation stage as I realize I am only breathing due to this machine!"
I don't interact with a global brand in that way. Neither do you. But clearly, "people" do. As I'm looking right now, 107 people 'like' Toyota's update about their cars getting good reviews. One guy publicly reshared it with:
"I got my pride in my ride.....I like my swagger wagon."
Considering I feel obligated to "like" any inanities my employer posts on their facebook page, and considering the size of the Toyota corporation (employees+astroturfers), I'm surprised it isn't an order of magnitude higher.
Furthermore, it's typical for large companies to have people specifically to "engage in social" - which mostly means simulating actual humans interacting on social sites with the brand in order to lower the guard that most people would have against doing the same.
Well, Google's bread-and-butter product is ads, so it'd make sense that their copy is targeted towards marketers: they're the one who build ad campaigns.
I agree that people don't think to themselves, "how can I show Google that I love them," but I think behavior on the Internet thus far would show that they do want to feel a connection to companies. Millions of Facebook fans and Twitter followers can't be wrong. Even if they only get you to fan/like/follow/add-to-circle for a deal, it creates that relationship, and it's a real person pushing the button.
Do people in marketing even hear themselves? I'm going to be charitable and assume this is ad copy aimed at other marketers because no real human has ever wished they could build a relationship with a global brand. Now if you excuse me, I need to go like the Guinness page on facebook.