Maybe you all know about this already – but a friend turned me on to wync Radiolab and now I’m addicted (I actually did some work for WYNC radio years ago!).  There is a fascinating podcast titled “Choice” that furthers the discussion on How We Choose – if fact, part of the show features Jonah Lehrer – So – check it out here along with all the other fascinating topics on the list to the right  of their web page- and enjoy!

Fred – I love your comment about good ads being the last bastion of radio drama!  I’m reading a really great book right now by Jonah Lehrer called “How We Decide” that touches on this subject in an interesting way.  His premise is that for all the information and data we have streaming at us – demanding we use our prefrontal cortex all the time to sort through it – we really do not make final decisions based on rational weighing of fact, but rather on our emotional response to the stories underlying the data.  He tells about a sad incident involving  a very successful businessman who suffered a severe brain injury which left him emotionally unresponsive, but seemed fine to go back to work because he could still retain data and information.  But after a few days it became clear that, although he could come up with facts on demand – his ability to sort through them and make decisions had vanished along with his emotional capacity.  So the stories in an ad campaign – and our response to them are critical in not only capturing our attention, but helping us decide how to take action.

Hello!  I’m sitting here hooked up to itunes (Steve Roach – it’s after and mulling over some voicing tidbits that came up this week in my consulting session with Strategic Media (www.strategicmediainc.com ). Who are we to some of these advertisers who create the ads we listen to?  I was in my car this week and on the radio popped up an ad for a debt reduction counseling program.  I could tell they had coached the voice talent to be warm and sympathetic – she was practically holding my hand and wiping my nose with her voice – and I had to ask myself – who did she think I was?  Who did the creators of these ads think they were talking to?  Apparently, I am a helpless sniveling victim of circumstances who hasn’t got a clue how to improve my credit and desperately needs….someone to hold my hand and wipe my nose.  I know they worked the copy hard with words like “non-judgmental” and “respect” – but that’s not how it played on me.   I felt very much  judged and disrespected as they assumed I had no capacity to help myself – and I’m not even in debt!  (Well…not that much….) So my question is…..have they really thought about their audience?

What’s YOUR experience as a listener to some of these ads?  Love to hear about it…..