If you’ve read this blog before, then you know that my favorite thing about words is how the sound, overt meaning, implied meaning, personal use history and spelling all work together to create an experience of a word, something I celebrate from time to time with “Word of the Day”.

One of the things that I love about words is the way they not only provide a window on our thoughts, they can actually shape our thoughts. There are startling uses of this (hypnotism, suggestion), and controlling uses (advertising, propaganda), of course.

But there’s another commonplace use of words that really intrigues me: the use of internal conversation to influence emotional response. In psychology this power is used to “reframe”, to intentionally use words to encourage one’s attitude to a situation (”How will eating this donut help me with my diet?” instead of “But I want it so badly!”).

It seems to me that inner-conversation has the power to put the rational or logical part of our thinking in control over the emotional or irrational reactions. This is a mighty weapon, and an underused one.

Lately, I’ve seen a number of studies demonstrating the power of inner conversation, for better and for worse. For example, talking about an experience soon after it occurs tends to blunt or dull the emotional reaction to it — thus negative experiences are felt less awfully if you speak (or write) them out, but positive experiences lose their sharpness similarly.

Is the effect of immediate verbalization on event memory (people are more liable to remember an event incorrectly when they speak about it soon after it occurs) related to the emotional blunting? Or is this completely different?

Does reliance on menuing systems for mobile operating system functions contain within itself the seeds of emotional distance and reduced learning capacity? (More on this to come…) Ouch.

Nokia has an enormous digital presence at London Heathrow’s new Terminal 5: a display about 30 feet long projecting Nokia lifestyle ads around the clock. The display is mounted on the upper level between the security checkpoints, overlooking the main hall downstairs. How much do you think that costs? And how good is the advertising at prepping people for the Nokia store on the lower level?

My favorite airport advertising, however, is in Switzerland’s Zurich airport, where ads are projected against the tunnel wall just outside the train windows, and follow you as you are shuttled from one terminal to another. Very slick.

This is either an awesome hack, or a very clever marketing campaign on the part of Dreamworks. [via Urban Prankster]

…or, as the comments point out, a [possibly dangerous] act of vandalism.

Remember those warm, fuzzy “Reach Out and Touch Someone” ads on TV? They were sappy, soppy spots that made pregnant women weep, as distant relatives (usually gray-haired grannies) heard the voices of those they loved. Anticipating Skype video conferencing (if only they had known…), the ads used image-in-image to double the poignancy.

Those were the days when communication was about… well, interacting with other people. As opposed to, say, yourself.

Try these on for size:

• Create the illusion of communication. You maxed out your emergency credit card the first week of school. Your parents are looking for some answers. A text message isn’t going to cut it but a voicemail would mean that you tried calling them.

• Just tell your side of the story. You just partied hard last night and going to work is just not on your radar today. You dread having to call your boss and answering any awkward questions he may have. Instead just leave him a simple voicemail letting him know that you won’t be coming into work today.

• Have your cake and eat it too. You desperately need to call your girlfriend but she is a talker and you don’t want to spend an hour on the phone with her because you would much rather watch the game with your buddies. Leave her a sweet voicemail and get a reprieve for the night.

• Play the field more effectively. You are dating quite a few people at the same time. You don’t want to leave them all text messages because there is nothing romantic about that. But a nice voicemail to each would score you points.

Are you sick, yet? These are real examples of how Slydial can be helpful to you! (If you can stomach it, there are more here.)

Given that people are listening less and less to their voicemail messages, I wonder how “off the hook” you really are with Slydial. But if I needed any validation that messaging today is about Me Me Me, now I’ve got it.
[Thanks to the Bell System Memorial site for bringing back those touching memories of long-distance service.]

[via Reaction [beta])

Seen in Tokyo: 

Suddenly, I’m not that thirsty.

Seen in Tokyo:

A pair of bumper sticker-type ads on the train doors:

+ Touch Sensor = Softbank

+ Motion Sensor = Softbank

That’s interesting to me. Not so much that Softbank is pushing a touch- and motion-sensitive phone (whoever isn’t doing that already will be soon), but that they are pushing the technology inside. Both touch and motion sensing have been around for a long time; now there is a sense [!] that consumers care that those capabilities are inside the box, much as they care about WiFi, a TV tuner, or GPS.

Wow, times have changed. Do I attribute this to the iPhone Effect? You betcha.

Seen this week in TSA bins in Los Angeles… and San Jose… and Seattle… : 

Zappos.com is a great source for online shoe buying. We’ve found that the user comments are helpful, the site is easy to navigate, and the purchase goes smoothly.

What a great place to advertise: right in the bin into which you have to put your shoes and laptop computer as you pass through TSA security screening! You’re thinking about your shoes, you’re looking into the bin, and if the line moves slowly, you have nothing else to look at. Brilliant.

They’ve expanded into accessories (of the leather-goods type), too, hence the following:

These Jawbone headsets are gorgeous. I have to tell you, though, that I’d find it really, really hard to pick up and purchase any one of these. Sweet Talk? Dirty Talk? Trash Talk?

To the extent that branding taps into our desires and desired identities, this campaign is counterproductive in my case.

On a philosophical level, you might choose to interpret the line as being offensively racist. I probably would. But that’s another story.

[via Engadget Mobile]

A funny thing happened on my way to the CNET blogs today…

I saw the following ad:

Huh? That’s really funny! Now, I never, never click on banner ads. Never. But this is too good to resist.

Yes, I did it. I clicked.

And, believe it or not, I’m going to recommend that you check out the advertising page, too. www.stayathomeserver.com (is that a great site address, or what?!). The page opens with a tongue-in-cheek video news report, and then… well, just check it out yourself. And don’t leave without reading the whole book, it’s a total riot. A spoof on those books that help you discuss sensitive issues with your young children (like intimacy, non-nuclear families, handicaps).

Can this possibly be the same Microsoft that just last week sponsored Telecom TV at Mobile World Congress under the ad line, “We call it… Telco 2.0″? [brief pause to stifle gag reflex]

Maybe advertising this good means I’ll have to stop laughing at Microsoft. Heck, I’ll have to stop laughing at the ad, first.