I want to tell the readers of “Megamind” about the global experiment, which began a long time ago and continues to this day. It will be about the use by large corporations and companies of special symbols and signs in the names of their products, the names of the companies and services to attract the attention of people. At the same time, we will learn one of the success factors of the Habrahabr project.
Usually, new information appears on the western sites and only then spreads across the network through copy-paste and adaptation to other languages. Everyone has already come to terms with the fact that something innovative or insider cannot appear in our network segment. Our team decided to correct this injustice and in my face it will manifest something prohibitively new and amazing.
You will not find anything like this in the archives of Snowden, Humpty Dumpty crashed past, and Dan Brown promised to eat his “Da Vinci Code” live if we give our secret to him to create another bestseller.
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So let's go!
Scientists have often noted that a group of people can act as one cohesive organism. The larger the group, the stronger the signs of “crowd intelligence” appear, the stronger the connections between individuals. If we can develop different methods of influence on one individual, then it is possible to scale the techniques on groups of people. The only difference is that the human brain is subject to mental, chemical and psychological effects, and to control the “brain of the crowd”, completely different tools are needed. They have to reinvent from scratch.
Global companies are interested in consistency. They make a profit, customers on the machine repeat the learned actions - everyone is happy.
The collective brain of the crowd acts like the brain of one person. He is lazy, he likes to go on the same routes, he loves when he is helped with a choice, he is decided for him, but at the same time that the illusion of the “exclusivity” of each client from the crowd is preserved.
The consumer and the manufacturer are on different sides of the barricades. In our case, we are on the side of the manufacturer, company, startup, entrepreneur, so we need tools to influence the buyer, the future client and just the consumer.
It is important for us that the consumer does not change his habits, that he remains a loyal fan of our product, that he buys in one store, wears the clothes of one favorite brand, visits the same sites, his automatic actions must obey our commands. To develop these commands it is necessary to study the behavior of the consumer in the mass. For this there are all kinds of counters, analyzers, metrics for sites. Cameras in supermarkets track the movement of customers around the store, chips in discount cards analyze purchases and the amount of customer money spent, fitness trackers and gps receivers track movement and condition of people.
A whole virtual add-on for analyzing the “Big Data of life” of consumers all over the world, on the one hand, and on the other hand, active methods and techniques for influencing the client’s minds in the field (in stores, websites, advertising).
The resulting gigabytes of data from the counters and tracking cameras, the tested psychological methods of crowd management, hundreds of theories and brainstorming scientists of the world merged into one and produced a simple and elegant solution.
Companies needed one worked out clear super-reception and they started to create it artificially, a sort of X-Ray as in Mortal Kombat.
And they created it.

Meet the symbol of the XXI century! A special symbol, a letter, a badge - it began to be promoted back in the 80s of the last century, to produce a recognition reflex, a motor reflex - “I saw, run to it, grab it”. Wow effect - the symbol of "X" is now decided to celebrate all the scientific, technological, flagship, innovative. Xtra and luxury (Lux) products. Even Lada X-Ray knows about it. Are you not yet?

How did it happen? Why X? Does it really work?
People believe in signs, symbols act on our consciousness stronger than beliefs and logic. China, where a huge number of people live, is considered the most superstitious country. The larger the crowd, the stronger the impact of symbols on it. If old signs, magic figures, badges and pentagrams exert such influence on people, then why not introduce your own special symbol for your needs?
Symbol X - just such an experimental sample. They chose the most unused letter of the English alphabet and began to pump, build authority, invent superstitions, signs, create the necessary areola around the icon. If signs and superstitions are born spontaneously, uncontrollably, then the symbol X is in sensitive hands, grows under the control of the media and is aimed at performing specific tasks.
If this is true, then how was the symbol embedded and fixed in the minds of the consumer?
Consider the options:
- Games. In many games, the cursor pointing at the target is a cross (aka "x"). Thus, a grasping reflex was developed, when it is necessary to take an object or use some mechanism in the game, a cross should be pointed at it. Open / close the dialog box. Attack - shoot at the target through "+". Get to the desired location on the map marked with an X.
- Almost all luxury cars put "X" in the names. BMW X Series (1-8), Mazda RX, Jaguar GX, Ferrari XX, Nissan X-trail, LeXus. Volvo XC ... hundreds of them. Thus, they fixed the association of the symbol “X” with luxury, comfort, reliability, power.
- Scientific and technological. Google X is a secret laboratory where the most innovative products from Google are created, as many as 250 employees are working on something secret and technological. The famous TED conference introduces X when it decides to go global. TEDxLondon (xMoscow, xSkolkovo, substitute your city). The global online learning project edX, more than three hundred courses, tens of thousands of students. SXSW Conference, which opened Twitter, Google Glass and hundreds of other innovations for us. Celebrities, scientists, world stars entertain SXSW. It all works on X. Computer technology is replete with the X: laptops, video cards, memory cards, headphones. Full of everything with X, and of course, this is the most advanced and cool. Xbox, so in general, double X. Our universal favorite Ilon Musk, behind it stands Space X, Tesla X, x.com (which became Paypal, but this other not less interesting story). Xerox - comes up with the first user computer and sells it to Apple.
- Video, shows, series. X Factor - the most successful show on TV, an audience of hundreds of millions. Discover your talent with X. The most popular online cinema is NetfliX. Billions of hours watching movies under the X-ray brand. X-men is the best-selling comic in the world, even won the Guinness record. Cinema IMAX. Film Studio XX Century FOX.
- Smartphones for every day: Xiami, NeXus, Xperia, iPhone six (6) +, HTC one X, Nokia X, Moto X, TeXet, GalaXy, Vibe X, Meizu MX ... Communication is X.
- Military equipment. The secret project for the US Army under the code name X. The flying technology of the new generation, more than 50 aircraft models, missiles, etc. The coolest private army Xe. The fastest airplanes and helicopters, of course, are labeled X. Speed is X.
- Everything for home, life and comfort. AX, ReXona, KleeneX wipes, RoleX watches, MAX factor mascara, contex, KoteX, MaXwell coffee, Dirol Xfresh, TwiX sticks. These are just a few of the examples that are easy to remember.
- Symbols on the packages of goods which designate: additional benefit (+ 30% happiness), increased effect (x3 triple freshness), increase in volume (x2 double volume). Where the "X" - there is a benefit and discounts.
- The introduction of new words in everyday life. Extra is now Xtra, Christmas is now Xmas, User Experience is now UX, kiss is now X, experience is now XP, escape is now Xscape, expose is now Xpose, etc.
- Pharmaceuticals. It is estimated that almost every fifth drug in the last five years includes the symbol “X” in the title. Coldrex, Nexiun, Maalox, Effexor XR, Valtrex, and others. X - heals and brings billions .
- Erotic and hot topic is usually indicated by three X, domain zone .xxx
- Programming languages, engines, software. C ++, Apple Xcode, X-Architecture, Cocos2d-x, Atom X. Using X — Descartes began to use as an unknown in equations in ancient times. Popular engines for online stores: Bitrix, ModX, X-Cart, etc.
- Mass use of the Roman X instead of the conventional 10. Mortal Kombat X tenth, Kylie Minogue X album, ten years of Mad Money X show, tenth Might and Magic X, Windows 9 X.
- Colloboration of artists, video clips, where the names of the performers in the title are written through the "x".

Thus, technology, luxury, double advantage, success, speed, and all this were put on the grasping reflex, were assigned to the X symbol. You see X on the package or in the name - you have to take it.
What else can be noted from the Xtra class series?
One megaplant (FOXCONN) produces parts for all smartphones (!) And readers, one manufacturer (NXP) creates microchips for cars, medical equipment, bank cards, one factory (LuXottica) produces 80% of all points in the world, one billionaire writer, James Patterson makes the literary series (AleX Cross) more than any other writer combined, (ExXon mobile) is the largest private oil company in the world, the three most common operating systems for PCs (Windows XP, OS X, LinuX), 淘宝网 is the most major retail marketplace ki Fedai is the fastest delivery service.
Oh, oh, and of course, Lada XRAY, Lada XRAY Cross and YandeX.
X in trend: Microsoft is in such a hurry to set itself X that they missed Windows 9, they immediately moved from the eight to the tenth Windows (10 = X), the tenth Mortal Kombat was advertised everywhere as X, Nike released the NikeFootball X collection, the directors dug out old Mulder and Scully and restarted the X Files. X - lights the stars.

There are a lot of examples, it allows you to confidently say that X does not appear in the titles in a random way. Everything is clearly calculated and verified.
All of these companies use the same proven technology to distribute their products and their influence. The same principle as with human thinking: the development of one template-reflex, which works when you see a particular symbol in the product name or on the packaging of the goods. Putting X - was a good tone, or a good omen.
According to my forecasts, the theme will exist for another two years, at least. If you have a quality product, service or services, feel free to use the symbol "X". He showed himself from the best side, the template is fixed to the consumer in the subcortex, in the Western market they have already begun to guess about this chip, we still have only weak attempts. You can use it and use it while the theme is working.
Where did this magic symbol come from? Why does it have such an impact? Examples of other successful X-projects and all kinds of X-versions can be seen in the book: Gregory Ross "Time X". The most fantastic version can be found in the book.
Perhaps someone can suggest their own versions: why can the symbol “X” be found in almost every popular brand or company?
And the most important thing. The effect of the article you will see on immediately. Gradually, during shopping trips, you will come across products with X-names, on forums and news portals, you will increasingly begin to notice the names of products with X. Type “X” in a search a couple of times and get tons of x-ray advertising on Yandex.Direct and Google Adsense. X will start to surround you from all sides. And only then you will feel the effect.