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You can't do anything about the general information overload in our culture, but you can control overload in the context of your marketing messages.
Okay, I admit it. I'm still a kid at heart.
I like to explore, to wonder, to dream, and to play. On the shelf above my desk, I keep toys handy, like a vintage Etch-a-Sketch (eternally cool) and a model of the Starship Enterprise that lights up and emits sound effects from the TV show.
On the wall to the left of my desk is a giant, original Bob Wood chalk drawing of Huck Finn, my personal guru. I think PEZ candy is a food group. I laugh hysterically at Monty Python skits. And I get cranky when I have to "dress up," i.e. wear anything other than jeans, T-shirt, and tennis shoes.
So when it comes to selecting breakfast cereal, my method is consistent with the rest of my youthful personality: I want a different presweetened brand every week. I want a loud, messy crunch. And I want the best cellophane-wrapped plastic prize I can find.
But there's a moment, a dreadful, oppressive moment, when I stand there in the cereal aisle and feel very old. It hits me every time I start down that long row, scanning the colorful box covers stacked six shelves high and running a good 40 feet along one side. It's the moment when my brain starts to throb because of the overwhelming selection before me - dozens of brands vying for my attention, starbursts popping off every box, coupon dispensers flashing red, sales signs waving above my head, red and yellow price tags lining every shelf, a sea of promotional decals spattering the floor...information overload at its most intense.
I'm sure I don't have to explain information overload. You experience it every day when you open three pounds of mail, flip through 125 TV channels, or dive into that teetering pile rising from your "in box."
There's just too much information to process these days. And what I feel in the cereal aisle is what customers and prospects feel every day. What are the results? When people are feeling overwhelmed, they react in the only way they can:
They skip over or...