Marketing Is A Form of Subversion

In the video below, the KGB defector says that marketing is a form of subversion. It forces people to consume more than is good for them i.e. it is ‘mind-rape’ of the consumer.

This is one of the mechanisms that is taught to the KGB as a means for destabilising our society. I personally feel that this may be true.

Our society has accumulated massive debts in order to consume more.

Debt is a form of slavery – we have to work within the system (many for a minimum wage) in order to repay the creditor for our excessive consumption. The creditor therefore has power over the debtor, who can easily be put into immediate crisis simply by increasing the interest rate on the debt.

As a self-employed entrepreneur and former banker, I have been debt-free for the last 20 years. I have exercised restraint to ensure that I am not too enslaved to the system – to some degree we are all enslaved, it is just a question of degree.

This is also relevant to the goal of personal freedom. By exercising some restraint in what we buy, or think we need in order to live a good life, it reduces the amount of income required to obtain freedom from working a job. It is much easier to achieve an income goal of £1,500 or £2,000 a month rather than, say, £10,000 per month.

I can clearly see how marketing, and many of the other ways of destabilising our culture and society, that are discussed in this video, have been employed successfully in the UK, Europe and the US.

For example, our membership of the EU was effectively giving away our democratic rights to 28 un-elected EU commissioners.

Also, the media has been taken over by the liberal left in order to de-stabilise our society – this has been recently highlighted by the US election and the Trump campaign against the liberal Democrats and the Globalisation agenda. The BBC news is also very biased to the liberal left in the UK.

The split in the EU referendum last June, where many young people, the elites and the new immigrant population largely voted to Remain in the EU, whereas the older, indigenous working and middle-class population voted to Leave, demonstrates the degree to which our UK society has already been subverted using the tactics outlined in this video.

I think that everyone needs to view this video in order to understand a little bit more about what is really going on in our society.

His comment about marketing is around the 25 minute marker and I will leave you to decide whether or not marketing is a form of subversion so you can be a little clearer about what business we are really in… After viewing this video, it will be difficult for me to ask you to ‘buy my junk’ even if it does show you how to make more money in order to consume more! 🙂

$6.5M For A Photograph!

Peter Lik has received $6.5m for one photograph.

Here is a link to his website.

Here is a link to the article, which also reveals that he sold 2 further photographs to the same collector for $1.1m and the other for $2.4m. That’s $10m in total!

Having looked at Peter Lik’s work on his website, I can’t say that I am terribly impressed by his portfolio.

It seems to me that he over-saturates his photos with colour i.e. that he is using a photo-editing programme like Photoshop to do so. In doing so, he loses the natural tonal quality and the colours become somewhat harsh and even garish.

Of course, art is very subjective but, personally, I cannot see anything very special in his work and he reminds me of artists like Damian Hirst.

So why would someone pay so much money for a photograph? And why has he sold upwards of $500m of his work?

I think perhaps Peter Lik is a better marketer than he is a photographer (although I have to say that his website is less than impressive – my images site is better in my opinion).

Firstly, he has clearly been in the industry for quite a few years and has won a number of awards so he has become something of an authority in his niche. The more that he has social recognition, and particularly from the experts in the niche, the more people are likely to pay for his work irrespective of how good the image is. This is called ‘social proof’ (- something that Van Gogh failed to acquire in his lifetime.)

It has Lik’s name on it, he has been recognised by the ‘establishment in the photo art world, and therefore he commands a premium.

He has also appeared on television and carried out a number of photographic stunts that have attracted publicity so that he has become a household name in the US.

Next, he limits the number of prints that he creates from any particular photo to less than 1,000 to create artificial scarcity. In practice, there is nothing to stop him from creating unlimited copies of his images. I imagine he agressively defends the copyright to his images to maintain that scarcity.

He prices his work starting at $4,000 and increases the prices as the prints sell so that buyers end up paying a huge premium for the last few prints. The high prices means that there is a perception of higher value, which together with his social proof of being a photography expert, gives instant cache to his work and commands the attention of buyers.

Here’s how one article describes his pricing strategy:

Most photographs are offered in very limited editions. A large format print is often limited to ten or less. And they all sell for the same amount. This is the typical business model for galleries. Lik’s approach is very different. His editions are in lots of 995—950 limited editions and 45 artist’s proofs. Each print is identical but the proofs have a bit more prestige to them so they start at $10,000. His business model is that as a print is selling, the price will increase. Once he has sold 10 percent of a limited edition, the price increases. So, an image that would cost $4000 if you bought the first one, could reach as high as $200,000 when it’s down to the last few. All being said, each photo can gross more than $7 million.

The price alone gives instant exclusivity to his work.

He has also reinvested his profits in creating galleries around the world to showcase his work. This also provides instant cache for his work as no doubt these galleries are located in places where there is a wealthy client-base living locally. I imagine that he holds events at his galleries where only the wealthy are invited to exclusive shows of his work.

However, the fact that he has sold the 4 most expensive photographs, more than almost anything else, means that the rest of his work automatically acquires a higher perceived value even though there are probably many better photos available. This is an example of how value is completely subjective in the art world (and in many other spheres).

You can imagine the conversation with a buyer…

‘I am offering this print for ONLY $200,000 which is a massive discount on the $6.5m that I sold one of my pictures for – get it now before the price rises or I completely sell out!’

There are lessons to be learnt here for any business – perhaps having the highest prices in your niche mark you out as the ‘go-to’ expert in your industry and the lowest prices mark you out as a relative loser even though you offer a good service.

Isn’t perception a wonderful thing?

People will value you and your work according to the value you place on yourself and your work – remember that when you are marketing your business and you will make more money and be able to command higher prices. This will in turn enable you to invest in the kind of marketing that maintains the perception of higher value – things like presentation, packaging and marketing events.

$6.5m for a photograph – he’s having a laugh all the way to the bank but I also applaud him for being a master marketer!

Branding: Photoshop Actions & Engaging Graphics

Marketing and branding is enhanced by design skills, so I have been quietly developing my Photoshop skills – particularly using Photoshop Actions to create engaging graphics.

Creating graphics is a very desirable skill in website design and it can be expensive and frustrating to outsource.

My coach advocates that we should outsource of graphics because we need to focus on marketing but in so doing you also lose control of your brand to some extent because it is created by someone else.

To build my skills, I have therefore taken shots with my small digital camera and turned them into works of art. Judging from these pictures, I should probably go into photography because I love it. These are some of my personal favourites.

I hope you enjoy these images of my grandchildren (who are the real blessings in my life, together with the rest of my family!) and local scenes. As you can see, I have a little bit of the artist in me. (The dog picture on my home page, is Poppy, my constant companion and disciple!)

These have nothing to do with marketing but everything to do with developing my graphical skills to enhance my web pages and marketing collateral.

Internet marketing has given me a somewhat eclectic mix of skills and I don’t really know what the bigger picture is. I am just trusting that they will all come together for some greater purpose that I am not yet aware of!

If you click on each image, you should see an enlarged version in your browser.