Salon Appointment

I love the idea of a salon. Not the hair type where the conversation is of holidays and X Factor. No, I mean the brainy sort where intellectuals and creatives gather to share ideas and increase their knowledge of the world, lubricated by copious amounts of drinking. I like to put the world to rights on a Saturday night so why not validly do it in like-minded company on a Wednesday as well? And talk about concepts other than X Factor.

So off I went to the first Future Human "salon" at The Book Club in Old Street where the theme was "Advertising at the Frontiers of Consciousness".  I knew it was going to be an unusual evening when I saw what the projector was propped up on. A game of Kerplunk and another of Scrabble.

Things got off to an interesting start when science fiction writer Matt D'Abaitua shared his thoughts on a rather scary future for advertising and marketing. From what he intimated, Google is taking over the world. It only bought U.S. phone directory service 411 so it could build up a database of phonemes (small units of sound to you and me) from people's phone calls. It's creating an unrivalled voice recognition service on the web which it intends to sell advertising against (totally cornering the market) like it's done with its AdWords.

Using neuro-marketing, advertisers are already able to target our often hidden desires and wishes more accurately by scanning people's brains as they watch ads. MRI scans have been used commercially since the 1990s apparently. According to another speaker, Professor Gemma Calvert, focus groups aren't accurate because people rarely tell the truth. But soon, says D'Abaitua, advertisers will know how to personalise ads to cater exactly to each individual's interests and life, because they'll have read our minds.

The most fascinating part of the evening for me (apart from the hilarious twitterfall where someone was asked out while another touted himself about for work) was the psychological analysis of a few TV ads by the panel and audience. Apparently says Professor Calvert, the 118 118 ads became such a phenomenon because the two 70s anti-heroes were a "meme".This means an idea that propagates such as a song melody or a fashion statement i.e. something that sticks in our collective consciousness.

It all got a bit too intellectual for some people who left before the end, which is a shame. I thought Future Human threw up some interesting ideas and insights into the dark arts of advertising and marketing. While Jedi Mind Tricks aren't being played on us just yet, they're a strong possibility in future. May the force be with you.