The Cluetrain Manifesto

I read the 95 theses of the manifesto. Some seem all right, some actually came true, others seem weird and a few of the 95 don't make any sense anymore at all. Of the wide variety, two popped into my sight.

Thesis 22: Getting a sense of humor does not mean putting some jokes on the corporate web site. Rather, it requires big values, a little humility, straight talk and a genuine point of view.

I do agree with this thesis. The way I see it, a company trying to sell its products to a large community can not be or stay boring, common or dull anymore. Maybe 10 years ago it was sufficient, if you as a company even had a website. It was less a matter of content but one of presence.
Today it's different: If you don't have (great, addicting, funny, interesting) content, you don't get any presence. At least not in your customers mind and in its habits to surf the web.
I guess, the more humor in the way described in thesis 22 a company lives after or provides to (potential) customers, the more acknowledgement you get - at leas in your target group.


Thesis 74: We are immune to advertising. Just forget it.
I believe this thesis is just crap. I guess, nobody really wants to admit that advertising has any influence on our customer behavior. But let's face it: All these thousands of decisions we make every day when buying thins as groceries, a new laptop, a cup of coffee or anything else - it's based on information we get from advertising!
If it's the price that's been marked red on the shelf in aisle 7, the bright glowing Starbucks-sign just across your parking garage exit or the really cool song that plays during the TV ad of the newest MacBook... it DOES influence us.

Maybe even the opposite happens: Ever hated an advertising so much that you didn't buy a product just because of their awful ad? Even this is being influenced by advertising...

So we are not immune to advertising. We never were - we never will be. Even if not all of us like this fact.