Friday Flash: Trulia, Frontdoor, mind control and Zuckerberg

It’s been a bleary week of planes, presentations and Excedrin, but I did manage to hang onto a few things…

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It feels to me like Trulia is executing really well these days.

This week, they announced the upcoming release of crime maps for 50 major metros – a play made possible by their acquisition of Movity just six months ago – and got some nice love from the Financial Times.

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Frontdoor.com unveiled a redesign and dug even deeper into the real estate content goldmine with their “curated” approach to online real estate. Rich Lacy and team have always done a nice job crafting a distinctive experience, and there are plenty of nice touches within this new look.

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Marketing is about stimulating emotion, telling stories and tapping into aspirations that drive action.

If you don’t believe that, read this piece from Wired. We are much more pliant that we think, and respond in barely recognized ways to images, deep cultural references and abstractions.

Freaky, yes. But not surprising. And it makes me think just how much we leave on the table when we sell homeownership. There is so much opportunity here, so much emotionally combustible matter to ignite… yet most of the industry drops the ball when making the case.

This gets close. I’d like to see more of it. We’re working right now with a couple clients that intend to make that happen.

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The IAB reported very strong Q1 online advertising numbers – up 23% year over year.

I wonder how bus benches did?

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Mark Zuckerberg has made it known that he only eats meat he kills himself.

As a hunter, I am inclined to admire this; as someone wary of the things that seem to make this guy tick, I will sleep just a little less soundly tonight.

Have a great weekend.

[Disclosure: 1000WATT Consulting performed work for FrontDoor.com in 2008 and 2009].