Mal Fletcher on sharing your faith this Christmas

Mal Fletcher

Probably the only thing I dread about Christmas is the advertising!

Estimates vary, but some marketing experts tell us that we are each exposed to as many as 3000 commercial messages every day. I think that number might almost double when we get to Christmas!

These days, we are surrounded by advertising: in magazines, newspapers, on billboards, in the mail, at train stations, in trains, at airports, in supermarkets and department stores and the list goes on.

I get information overload just thinking about it.

In all the pushing of products and images, companies are facing a 'clutter' problem. Coca Cola spent $33 million for the right to become the official drink of the 1992 Olympics. Despite their huge advertising push, only 12% of TV viewers realized that Coke was the official drink - another 5% thought Pepsi was the sponsor!

For individuals, the glut of information is leading to stress, confusion and cynicism.

Forced to think on-the-run and to reject most of what they hear as irrelevant to their lives, people tend to hear only a small part of a message before deciding whether it's for them or not.

Because we're surrounded by so much hype and commercialism, we tend to listen more to word-of-mouth than what advertisers say.

We like to rely on advice and tips from friends to steer us in the right direction. We listen to 'buzz' -- informal information about products and ideas.

The world of business is now waking up to the power of 'buzz' and research has tried to uncover what makes people talk about an idea or concept with their friends.

Buzz, says the research, travels via networks: groups of people who are connected by like interests or needs. Some people apparently act as natural buzz creators; they connect more people than average to a new idea.

What's more, researchers have found that buzz doesn't just happen. It can be encouraged or created, if certain things are true of the product or idea in question.

Buzz, for example, is apparently much easier to create when the product or idea contains something useful and when it can be previewed before someone buys into it.

Buzz is also easier when it features a story with a hero or charismatic leader; when the focal point is a person. The idea must also be easy to pass on to others and deliver on what it promises and it should contain an element of mystery and even danger.