As I head out for a mini-vacation (this will probably be my last post of the week) I just want to put out an un-subtle reminder.  Illegal fireworks are illegal for a reason.  Generally that reason is that they possess the power to separate you from very important parts of your body by means of explosion. 

So please, if you're inclined to purchase and use these high powered fireworks be careful.  Actually, even if you're not be careful.  This blog has very few readers as it is.  I can't afford to lose any ;)

Seriously though I hope everyone has a fun 4th of July and chooses to blow things up responsibly.

About a year ago I told the story of when I worked in a Computer Store in my late teens.  The short version is that this store didn't have sales people.  The computer technicians were the sales people.  So I got my first experience selling things there and learned a lot from that experience.  One of the most important lessons I learned is that people really don't listen to advice.  Most of the people I sold PCs to had been told to buy a Dell or Mac or some other big brand.  But they'd go online and be bored.  I sat them down on a demo unit and showed them a few cool demos and they were sold.

Basically I learned adrenaline trumps advisors.

As proof of this principle in the macro I offered the Apple stores which are all very successful and whose success is largely attributed to the experience Apple's built.  It's fun to shop at an Apple store.

Anyway, the reason I bring this up (last year and now) is because the common knowledge among "Web 2.0 devotees" is that people are influenced by online reviews, blogger opinion, etc...  I was thinking about that a lot this weekend because of the new Transformers movie.  A movie that debuted very well...

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen sent shock waves with the first mega-blockbuster launch of the year, rocketing to $109 million over the weekend. With such a massive movie debuting, overall weekend business surged past $200 million, which was up eight percent from the same weekend last year and was a new high for a June weekend.

Why is this relevant?  Because the "Influencers" weren't impressed...

The point here is a pretty simple one.  A cool commercial with giant robots fighting each other is worth far more than anyone's advice.   Because people make most of their personal purchasing decisions on emotion not rationality.  So if you're selling a product you're better off focusing on cool presentation and packaging than you are worrying about the random bad review on Amazon (or where ever). 

If you can get the consumer to really want what you're selling on an emotional level than all the bad reviews in the world won't change that.