It's polite to ask first

While helping a friend with a business plan today I realized this: it's polite to ask first. This came about while pondering: What will the people think if someones builds something that they think is cool and don't tell them about it until an onslaught of advertising appears?

A long blog I know, it's important.

My parents taught me: Ask first, its polite. Sometimes I didn't, and sometimes that worked, like taking cookies from the cookie jar, I didn't always get caught so was it okay? Compare to the gazillion products and services that are so carefully marketed at us everywhere we go, everywhere we look, advertising, spam and trickery to covet us from what we're doing. They don't ask us for our attention, they just push-in, seldomly asking and we've been letting them get away with it.

The advertising industry is worth billions, its aims are simple, take from us what we all have an equal amount of - our time. They use that time to change our perception and hopefully have us act in someway - usually in their favour. They do little asking and lots of interrupting.... We're fighting back. It's getting harder for mass-media moguls to get to us. We're getting better at ignoring them, blocking their meaningless messages and carrying on with what we do.

Advertising is getting weirder and messages are turning up in more unusual places, like in the bathroom in a bar or a TV screen in the service station.

If the advertiser can afford the high dollar costs associated with mass advertising they seldomly ask first. They take their message, overload as many channels to market that budget allows, then measure, adjust and try again. Reach as many of us as possible with mostly irrelevant messages. And then, someone buys something and this confirms the system works and the whole cycle continues.

As we get better blocking them they try harder, they want our time, they wont go down without a fight. Be prepared to get better at what you do.

As a future advertiser of ideas, widgets and all things that matter my communication will be anticipated, personalised and relevant to the individual receiving it or not sent at all.