Famed market researcher AND friend of IdeaMill, Lindsay Zaltman, stopped by the shop to talk about his new book, Marketing Metaphoria. Check out the the interview (above), but more importantly, read the book and learn about deep metaphors and their guiding role in decision making.

illustration by: Wired

So you’re a blogger. Ever wonder how that little micro-cybercreation you just published finds its way around the world wide web? Matthew Hurst, an artificial intelligence researcher who studies the internet ecosystem at Microsoft Live Labs will let you know with this nifty graphic from Wired: Check it.

Over the years I’ve witnessed people question the influence of brand in B to B purchasing. Afterall, an industrial buyer is making their decision based on product specs and price, right? A study by James G. Hutton provides adequate support for brand supporters. Hutton’s research found that brand accounted for price premiums ranging from 12% to 19% for commodities like floppy disks, fax machines and personal computers. Interestingly, when a purchase was mission critical for the buyer’s organization, the buyer was most likely to select an extremely well known brand.

Hence the phrase, “Nobody ever got fired for hiring IBM.”