A question of questions!

“Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.”: Voltaire 

Question is defined as a sentence or phrase used to find out information, insight or intelligence.

We may have all experienced this. You are checking out of a hotel room after a few days’ stay. The lady at the checkout counter politely asks you ‘ How was your stay? ‘ And this question seems not to have changed over the years across time zones and continents. And in most cases, a polite yet non committal answer evolves  ‘ It was good ‘ (even though the stay may not have been).
 
What if (question?) we are asked ‘ What could we have done to improve your stay with us ? ‘ . The energy and the dynamic changes completely. Rather than go on auto pilot mode and offer the default response, you are buoyed by the keenness of the hotel staff to improve the guest experience and you end up offering honest feedback. The answer may not give them exactly what they want to hear. But it will give what’s valuable for them to learn.
As the old proverb goes ‘ Better to ask a question than to remain ignorant ‘.
What if Obvious Questions collide with Contrarian Answers? It’s a discussion worth having. When smart, committed people disagree about the answer to a question, it’s a question worth pursuing.
Progress or outcomes? There is no toss up- its got to be progress. Ditto with questions.
HR reviews could have better progress and responses if employees are asked ‘ What challenges are you facing now ? ‘, as that question presumes that challenges are the norm, not the exception. Rather than ask ‘ Are you facing any challenges?’ , when most will say no. They might fear that their admission will be seen as a weakness.
Good insights, contrary to popular wisdom, don’t come from a smart answer. They come from a smart question.
” We awaken by asking the right questions. We awaken when we see knowledge being spread that goes against our own personal experiences. We awaken by seeking answers in corners that are not popular. We awaken when we see popular opinion being wrong but accepted as being right, and what is right being pushed as wrong “- Suzy Kassem
ENDS

KNOWstalgia Marketing!

I thought there is so much to know to about Nostalgia- so, here I go again!

 

Caveat: This is a Long Read

It was the summer of 2018. On a trip to London, I was with family at a South Bank store that sold books, records, memorabilia among other things. Apart from great classics on film making and works of Shakespeare, what caught my attention was an unadulterated digital native ( she must have been at best all of 17), buying a vinyl album(records as they were called those days) of yesteryear band Fleetwood Mac. In the days of streaming music services like Spotify, Deezer and what have you, I was wondering what was the throwback all about. That experience has retained etched in (my fast fading) memory, ever since.
 
If you’ve ever watched an ad or a TV show and felt fond memories of the good old days rushing back at you, then you’re familiar with nostalgia. Nostalgia describes the sentimental longing we feel for periods in the past. It’s the warm feeling that envelops us when we think of positive times from our childhoods or youth.
Nostalgia is often triggered by a sensory stimulus, such as a scent, a song, a taste, or a sight; it can also be caused by a conversation, a memory recollection or a similar experience.
Nostalgia marketing takes on that notion and creates a playful campaign referencing a time gone by in order to tap into our collective longing for the past.
According to Krystine Batcho, Le Moyne College professor, psychologist, and researcher of nostalgia, “Nostalgia is a refuge, as people turn to the feelings of comfort, security, and love they enjoyed in their past.”
It comes as no surprise that during the first COVID-19 lockdown, mentions of nostalgic keywords rose from 13 million to 24.4 million, which is an increase of 88%.

When people watch an old television show, listen to some excellent music from a bygone era(how about ABBA?), and so on, they feel happy and have a better outlook on life. As a result, a lot of brands and businesses are now attempting to capitalize on this sentiment and trend by creating advertisements and other marketing materials that remind and nudge individuals of happier times in their lives.

 

Many enterprises are also attempting to associate their brand with pleasant memories and notions associated with past periods and places. The goal of businesses is for their customers and other consumers to associate their products and brand with a time when things were better, less stressful, and more secure.

 

This brand of advertising can be effective for businesses of all sizes. In addition to rating such nostalgic advertisements and the company behind them more favorably, consumers also pay more for the items that are associated with those advertisements. So, it is a double whammy. It is referred to as creating an emotional connection, and it pays off handsomely for the company that employs nostalgic marketing.

Why nostalgia marketing works so well

 

Studies on autobiographical memory — the memory system that tracks episodes of our lives — have shown that when we are reminded of episodes from our past, we re-experience the emotions tied to the original episodes. So, if those memories were positive — think carefree moments from our childhoods, fun family dinners, road trips or game nights with friends, etc. — we are likely to experience the same cheer.

The Devil(does not wear Prada) is in the details!
One must ensure that the music, colors, fonts, and even the images used in the advertisements or other communication are appropriate for the time period being promoted. For example, don’t use a font or color palette from the 1920s in a 1960s retro advertisement. Instead, make use of the options from the 1960s. Authenticity is paramount.
Oh the good ol’ days… One app had brought back a decade of happy memories and made millions feel like a teenager again. Pokemon Go. Coincidently it had also brought Nintendo and Niantic billions of pounds in business revenues and a new generation of loyal followers. That is the power of the past, and the reason why brands use nostalgic marketing.
The Trifecta that drives Nostalgia Marketing
Emotions
We all know about the adage ‘ Sell the Sizzle Not The Steak ‘. Enabling people to reminisce about the good ol’ days, marketers are actually triggering actual feelings we once had. Whether those feelings are your favorite snack, or the first song you slow danced to(Lady in Red anyone?), your first date, your first bike ride..
Not only does forlorning for the past make us feel fuzzy inside it also makes us open to brand messaging.
Memories
The route to nostalgia marketing is by triggering latent memory. Three’s Company or Miami Vice or I Love Lucy were great TV shows no doubt and we don’t need to be convinced about it but it works to be reminded about it. The same applies for brands; if a brand is able to trigger a reminder of a time that they were once favourable to us, or use existing memories and tie themselves to that association, then they need not worry about convincing us that they are great they can just remind us of a heyday era.
Trust
Celebrating milestones or using the year of establishment within the brand identity( aka Marks & Spencers: Est 1884) to relay to customers that you have stood the test of time is an instantly effective method of gaining their trust. This strategy to reinvigorate the trust in brands by conjuring up past associations hopes to bring back previous customers and inspire new ones.
Why (Blast from the Past) Nostalgia?
Nostalgia is the marketing equivalent of comfort food. Especially in difficult times, a hug from the past can settle our nerves and reassure us to purchase a product to make us feel secure again. As we face headwinds of a long, protracted recession, now is the time for brands to act as a comforting cup of cocoa for consumers.
Time for brands to flip the Polaroids in our minds. It would be worthwhile spending the present to go back into the past to tackle the future.
ENDS

Creativity is Futureproof !

Did you know? The future apparently is already here, albeit a tad unevenly distributed.

 

Perhaps a lot of us get caught out like a deer in the headlights because the future arrives slowly and then all of a sudden.

 

That said, I can understand the obsession behind predicting the future. But why are predictions popular? Because they appeal to human nature. They create a sense of certainty in an uncertain world.

 

But they are wrong far more often than we assume.

 

Nobel Prize winner in Economic Sciences(circa 2008) Paul Krugman famously wrote in 1998 ” The growth of the Internet will slow drastically, Most people have nothing to say to each other! By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet’s impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine’s.”

 

That one may have slightly missed the mark 😀. Well, well, the best of them can’t get the future right, so what are we crowing about? The problem isn’t just with experts. No one is great at predicting the future. Much of life can’t be forecasted, diagrammed, or reduced to a PowerPoint deck. When the future doesn’t match our expectations, our projections get thrown out (or worse, they’re still followed).

 

How about changing the narrative from predicting the future to ‘ creating the future ‘? Now we could be talking! And one of the strongest arsenal that you have in your armory in creating the future is ‘ creativity ‘.

 

Creativity is human.

 

It’s global.

 

Creativity is technology-agnostic.

 

It doesn’t discriminate.

 

From people working on the bleeding edge of their fields..

 

To others bringing more humanity to technology and industry..

 

The call to action is for creatives to take control of our tomorrow.

 

In it, we’ll seek to recapture the feeling of optimism, not fear,  for the future. Because in the hands of creatives, the future is bright.

 

The creative process is often a matter of changing ‘ What is ‘ to ‘ What if ?’. We first observe the ‘ Status Quo ‘ and then imagine a ‘ Status Novus ‘- Keith Reinhard, Member, Advertising Hall of Fame.

The creative process is a process of surrender, not control.

 

Every time you have an idea pop into your head and don’t muster the self-confidence to act on it seriously, think about the opportunity cost you are likely to pay.

 

In the balance sheet of creators versus consumers, the world rewards creators by an overwhelming majority. You will get far more from writing 100 blog posts than reading 100.(BTW, all good writing begins with terrible first efforts).

 

Consumption is deceptive because it makes you feel that you are productive when you are not. Artistic progress is the result of creation NOT consumption.

 

The myth going around is that creativity and productivity are mutually exclusive. But they are NOT.

 

So let’s create more than we can consume.

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” – Maya Angelou

 

Creativity is an infinite game. You can’t use up creativity. The more you use the more you have.

 

To survive, to avert what we have termed future shock (Alvin Toffler), the individual must become infinitely more adaptable and capable than ever before. We must search out totally new ways to anchor ourselves, for all the old roots – religion, nation, community, family, or profession – are now shaking under the hurricane impact of the accelerative thrust. It is no longer resources that limit decisions, it is the decision that makes the resources.

ENDS

Choice Architecture, Decision Making & the Miracle on the Hudson!

Where were you on January 15, 2009? 

Let’s journey back in time. The world was in economic turmoil. The financial crisis was raging. Just a few months earlier, Lehman Brothers, one of the largest investment banks, spectacularly collapsed. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the symbols of the homeownership “American Dream,” became insolvent. Tens of millions of homeowners were delinquent on their mortgages and faced potential foreclosure.

The world was at a low point not seen since the Great Depression.

Then IT happened. An event reminding people that real miracles DO happen. It was an event bringing hope to so many. The timing could not have been better. On January 15, 2009, Captain Chelsea “Sully” Sullenberger and his crew landed the disabled plane( bird hits on take off from LaGuardia airport had decapitated both engines), U.S. Airways Flight 1549, on the Hudson River. All passengers and crew were safe. Sully made the seemingly audacious decision to land a hobbled commercial airliner on a river. How could that ever make sense? Why did the plane not cartwheel? How did the passengers get rescued before the plane sank in the hypothermic water? While there were certainly miraculous elements to the Sully story, much of the flight forensics since this time has revealed the hero of the story: Excellent Decision-making.

 

A great decision starts with effective data curation. That is, the ability to quickly ingest and process information. We call it curation because the decision-maker must decide from an overwhelming amount of information, what information is most important, and weigh that information. In the decision sciences world, this is known as weighing criteria. In an organizational setting, groups of stakeholders must come together to provide criteria input from multiple perspectives. This often adds complexity to the decision.

 

One of the most famous examples of successful data curation is when Capt Sully landed the commercial airliner on the Hudson river. How much time did he have to decide? Less than 3 minutes. Yes. A decision that would impact hundreds of lives. In this absolutely awe inspiring story is an unsung hero– the Airbus A320’s cockpit display. A display that allows pilots to quickly understand a small number of critical airplane measures, like airspeed and flight angle. This enables the pilot to make quick and effective decisions. The cockpit display had been designed based on thousands of hours of measure and criteria testing. The Airbus designers created a display that intuitively delivers the most important information to the pilot decision-maker.

 

In the decision sciences world, the cockpit display design is known as “choice architecture.”

 

” Choice architecture refers to a scenario in which the environment in which someone must make a decision has been carefully designed to try and influence that decision “.

” Choice architecture describes the way in which decision making is influenced by how the choices are presented (in order to influence the outcome), and is a term used by Cass Sunstein and economist Richard Thaler in the 2008 book Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness “. 
Getting the choice architecture right is a critical enabler of the best outcomes. In the case of this flight, it enabled Sully to quickly “load shed.” This is a pilot’s focusing action when only the most vital information is needed. Sully was able to quickly load shed unimportant details and focus upon the highest weighted information to choose the best alternative and to make the best decision. The cockpit display delivered to Sully exactly what he needed to know and when he needed to know it.
The outcome was “The Miracle on the Hudson.” A perfect landing on the unusually calm Hudson River that day.
Every time we make a choice, our minds go through an elaborate process most of us never even notice. We’re influenced by subtle aspects of the way the choice is presented that often make the difference between a good decision and a bad one. How do we overcome the common faults in our decision-making and enable better choices in any situation? The answer lies in more conscious and intentional decision design.
The designers of decisions need to consider all the elements involved in presenting a choice: how many options to offer, how to present those options, how to account for our natural cognitive shortcuts, and much more. These levers are unappreciated and we’re often unaware of just how much they influence our reasoning every day.
We are all choice architects, for ourselves and for others. Whether you’re helping students choose the right school, helping patients pick the best health insurance plan, or deciding how to invest for your own retirement..the choice is ours to make!
BTW, very recently my colleagues at ISD Global and me had a chance to attend a fireside chat hosted by Columbia University Professor Rita McGrath( and author of the fantastic book Seeing Around Corners) with Eric Roberts, another Columbia University Professor and author of a new book ” Elements of Choice ” where he dives deep about the concept of Choice Architecture and shares some insightful examples. A book worth reading if you see this( and Behavioral Economics) as a subject of interest.
ENDS

Branding Matters. Because, Branding Matters!

Branding:  The peculiar art and science of distilling something* down to its essence and giving it physical shape.

( *usually a product, place, service, or person).

Brands continue to shape humanity in ever more fundamental ways- even those who don’t torment ourselves over logos, typography and the message like some of us do.

Brands connect us, just as they drive us apart.

At a time when it seems increasingly difficult to rely on our elected leaders, when virus and violence remind us of our shared mortality and required humility, we need to focus on brands that bring us together.

Branding is a tool.

All of us use it.

Most use it in public.

Many use it for profit.

Some use it for power.

It is rarely used in private.

Humanity is a web.

It is a complex, intricately woven structure of cultures, races, and genders. A patchwork of beliefs, histories, world views and identities. A quilt of sublime beauty and unimaginable horror.

We are all part of one species, sharing one planet. And we inhabit a world in which any of our individual actions- what we buy, what we eat, what news we share, how we travel, what we throw away- affect everything else.

Everyone of us has a place. We all have a role to play. Most of us want to make the world a better place for ourselves, our neighbors, and our children.

In some shape or form, we all want to be part of something bigger than ourselves.

We all want to belong.

Branding used to be about ownership– about what belongs to us. Branding was about marking one’s possessions in public.

At some point, we discovered that the purchase, use, consumption (or even wasting) of a product could serve as a reflection of our worldview- our status.

Caviar | The Automobile | Champagne | Fur Coats | Beaver Hats

We have transitioned from wearing pelts for survival to wearing pelts for status. Attaching value to actions and the consciously public display of labels allows us to seek out the like-minded. People like us. Do things like this. The not so subtle art of clanning. The same class. The same wealth. The same team.

Our people. Where we belong.

Was this the moment where we surrendered to the brand?

Brands are the ultimate gatekeepers, trendsetters, and mass mind-shapers. They determine who and what we love, who and what we hate, what gets visibility, and what gets marginalized and buried.

Brands are the foundation of the attention economy; without them, we wouldn’t be debating how much information the human species can realistically process. We wouldn’t be deliberating about how to divide our attention between all the things that require it. Without brands, we would be hopelessly lost.

Without brands, would we be free?

Brands mark our status, signify our value, and let us broadcast to the world:

” This is who I Am “.

Consciously, unconsciously- possibly in permanent denial- we are living in a mega-branded reality in which the gestures, messages, imagery and actions of brands influence us more than we realize. They touch every facet of human life.

” I shop, therefore I am “.

This is how I dress.

This is how I speak.

This is what I do.

This is how I play.

This is how I pray.

This is who I love.

This is what I believe.

” This is who I am “.

Brands have a way of teasing out the best in us. They help us feel attractive, prosperous, and together. They make us feel part of a group, like we belong. They help us maintain optimism about ourselves and the world. Whether it’s flashy new pair of kicks, a new car or a motivating app, brands can dramatically alter our moods, our energy levels, and how we see ourselves.

Caveat: This power though is a double-edged sword.

It is to our benefit that we’re drawn to offerings that help us thrive, succeed, understand ourselves better, and achieve more happiness.

But are we just flaunting what we have got? Living a life of empty materialism and compensating for our insecurities? Or are the brands in our lives serving a deeper purpose, supporting our best possible selves, our strongest relationships, our most viable society?

” Choose your self-presentations carefully, for what starts off as a mask may become your face .”- ERVING GOFFMAN

 

To be continued..

A subtle trap called ‘ tactics ‘

They go by different descriptions:-

” Birds of the same feather, flock together ”

” Herd mentality ”

” Collective bias ”

” Wisdom of the crowds ”

Agreed. In his book ‘The Descent of Man‘ published in 1871, English naturalist Charles Darwin presented the idea that human beings and apes have a common ancestor. There’s a simple answer though: Humans did not evolve from chimpanzees or any of the other great apes that live today. We instead share a common ancestor that lived roughly 10 million years ago.

So much for ‘aping ‘ then!

Imitating others may not be the way to go. Or copying their tactics. But tactics, as Neil Gaiman reminds us, can be the subtlest of traps. Just because others are using a tactic or a tool doesn’t make it the most effective way to accomplish your objective.

What’s more, when you copy the “proven” tactics of others, you end up basing your decision only on success stories.

Sure, that photo of hundreds of people waiting in line for Seth Godin to sign books looks impressive. But you’re not Seth Godin (and if you are, I’m a big fan). And you’re not seeing the hundreds of authors who walked into a Barnes & Noble to do a reading only to find a handful of readers waiting for them.

The wiser thing to do maybe to go back to the drawing board and first principles. Understand the principle behind a tactic. Zoom out of a conventional tactic and see the other possibilities that escaped your attention. And as we go along, here is what we could learn:

To stop being a hunter-gatherer of other people’s tools, tactics, and formulas.

Instead, master the principle behind them.

Once you know what the principle is—once you know the why behind the tactic—you can create your own extraordinary how.

We assume erasing our fingerprints from our work and following the herd makes it safe. We hide behind what’s expected and what’s accepted. We’d rather be wrong collectively—we’d rather fail singing the same gospel song that everyone else is singing—than risk failing individually. So we chase trends, adopt the latest fad, and, as misfortune would have it, walk the line.

The line “no one does it that way” stops a conversation before it can bud. This monkey see, monkey do approach creates a race to the center. But the center is too crowded with others. Birds of the same feather. In the herd, you rarely get heard.

Becoming extraordinary requires becoming more like yourself—and embracing your own gifts, whatever they maybe.

When you do that, you become a magnet that attracts some people with the same force that it repels others.

The people you attract are your people. The others aren’t.

You can’t be liked by all and disliked by none. If you aim for that unachievable objective, you’ll only reduce the force of your magnet—the very source of your strength.

This doesn’t work if it’s a gimmick—if you’re just trying to get attention or zigging simply because everyone else is zagging. This isn’t rule breaking for the sake of rule breaking either—rebelling without a cause against the establishment. Rather, it’s an intentional bending of the rules, driven by a desire to live in a way that’s aligned with who you are.

It’s only by embracing, rather than erasing, your idiosyncrasies—the things that make you extraordinarily you—that you become remarkable. Tactics mean doing what you can with what you have.

Rather than spend several, deeply unproductive days wishing that the universe had dealt you a better hand and going into a canyon of despair, unleash you. There is an audience waiting. With drum rolls.

You reckon this is a tactic worth pursuing?

ENDS

The HURRY Cane in our lives!

Caveat Emptor

I am not making a compelling emotional and spiritual case against hurry and in favor of a slower, simpler way of life- but writing as someone all too familiar with ‘ hurry sickness ‘, I desperately needed this salve. Some of you may as well. Hence taking the liberty.

” Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished “- Unknownymous

” Don’t worry about losing. If it is right, it happens – The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away “— John Steinbeck

Everything which you can conceive and accept is yours! Entertain no doubt.

Most of us seem to miss the wood for the trees in our pursuit of pleasure because of the breathless haste in which we go about, we hurry past it. Irony! As Lily Tomlin beautifully articulated ” The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat”.

Burnout is not a badge of honor. 

 When Marcus Aurelius( Stoic philosopher and Great Roman Emperor from 161 AD to 180 AD) spoke of his own impending and inevitable death, it wasn’t to remind himself to squeeze in as much crap as possible–it wasn’t about picking up the pace. It was to remind himself of what was important, of the standard to which he needed to hold himself. He said, “Do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life.” That is: Do it right. Not do it as quickly as possible so you can say it’s complete.

Yes, it’s true, we will die. It could be tomorrow, or it could be fifty years from now. Which is why this very moment is so important. And why we can’t let anyone rush us through it.

You’re in a hurry. To get to the office. To get through this meeting. To get to the restaurant. To get the kids in bed. To get to go on your vacation. We rush because we have somewhere to go, something we want to do more, stuff we want to get over with.

But it’s worth asking, as the Stoics did, what were we really rushing through? And what we are doing it at the expense of the present moment. We tell ourselves that the future—the thing we are after—will be better. But the truth is, it’s not guaranteed. The only thing for sure is now. What is lived we never get back. We are dying every minute, every second. When we hurry we are speeding that along.

That’s the purpose of memento mori—”remember that you will die.” It’s purpose is to make you slow down. To not rush through this moment but to exist in it. To be present for it. Even if it is mundane. Even if there is something else you’d rather be doing, even if what may come next is likely better.

The practice of memento mori has the profound potential to wake us up and breathe more life into our lives. The whole culture is telling us to hurry while the art tells us take your time. Listen to the art. And the heart.

Patience doesn’t mean making a pact with the devil of denial, ignoring our emotions and aspirations. It means being wholeheartedly engaged in the process that’s unfolding, rather than ripping open a budding flower or demanding a caterpillar hurry up and get that chrysalis stage over with— Sharon Salzberg

Time for us to slow down. Or the other option is to Hurry up and wait 😄 !

Sorry got to go. The next ‘ shiny object ‘ beckons. And I am all taken in by the ‘ thrill of the chase ‘ and the potential ‘ after glow ‘.

It’s worrying..or hurrying???

ENDS

Curiosity Skilled The Cat!

Curiosity is that strange human trait that got us out of the cave, across the globe, and onto the moon. A trait that has led to communication and collaboration.

It is why children ask: ” why?”

And as we get older and life becomes more complicated, many of us forget to keep asking that question.

” Why?” requires work and critical thought. It requires the openness to learning answers that don’t fit into our existing world views. The brain is hardwired to be lazy. So default meets comfort zone where there is no room for ” why?”.

And sure, if we need to ask ” why?” every time we get a push notification on our phones, it will mercilessly take over our lives.

But ” why?” is also the most significant tool in combatting disinformation. And decoding the true intention of certain governments, organisations, brands.

Curiosity might help us better understand the others.

Their intentions.

Their feelings and fears.

Curiosity might help us understand ourselves.

Our intentions.

Our feelings and fears.

Certain meditation techniques encourage us to approach our emotions with curiosity. We cannot control when and how those emotions arise within us, but we can control how we react to them.

The ancient principle of Occam’s razor invites us to – when presented with competing hypothesis about the same problem– select the one that requires the fewest possible assumptions.

This might benefit us in our external and internal lives. The truth is we need to cultivate curiosity.

Curiosity will help us disregard ‘ human pollutants ‘ like opinion, agenda, power and greed. These pollutants are present at nearly every turn of capitalist transactions, sticking to us like grease from an oil spill.

We need more stories of compassion , and fewer stories of conflict. What’s extraordinary about our story is that it is never complete. It is never finished. It is being written and rewritten every moment in every corner of the world.

For example, it is up to us to confine conflict to our books and films. Because for THE GREAT STORY to succeed, we need to course-correct away from conflict toward compassion and cooperation.

We need to start shaping new stories for ourselves and future generations. And that narrative, in its most basic and simple form might be this..

Human(therefore)kind.

It seems pretty simple: We have to accept our insignificance. Which is significant.

Disinformation has always been part of the political and corporate playbook. However, algorithms, feedback loops, and political polarization have dusted off that book  and put it on the main display next to the gummy bears and ChapStick.

This is complex stuff, and only a few people in the world seem to truly comprehend the scientific underpinnings of the madness we’ve left ourselves be swallowed up in.

If the medium is the message and the medium is a giant tangled ball of fiber-optic cables, doesn’t that make the message, well, a giant tangled mess of messaging?

Now, ” why?” did I write this? Curiosity is getting the better of me. And I like it.

BEGINS

Doing by Undoing

What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare?..echoed W H Davies in his seminal classic poem ‘ Leisure ‘. And he ends by stating,  A poor life this if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare.

The biggest lie we’ve been told is that ‘ productivity is all about doing ‘.

Working is Not Productivity. The message once(and even now) was loud and clear. Relentless self-optimisation was a way to cope, but is it really? Humans are NOT search engines !

There has been always something obscene about the cult of the hustle, the treadmill of alienated insecurity that tells you that the moment you stop running for even an instant, you will be flung flat on your face.

Productivity is not a synonym for health or safety or sanity. I will go onto add that frantic productivity is actually a fear response. It’s a fear response for 21st-century humans in general and millennial humans in particular.

Productivity, or the lack of it, has become the individual metric of choice for coping with the international econo-pathological clusterfuck of the Corona Crisis.

Have you taken the path not trodden, step into a void and, by design decide NOT to do anything? And then witness something strange happening? Ideas begin to flow, collide, offering solutions, relief, succour, insights, inspiration, closure..

Our best work will come from undoing—from slowing down and giving ourself time and space. The Japanese call this vacuum ma—an empty space that’s intentionally there. In Hebrew, the same concept is called selah. The word appears 74 times in the Hebrew Bible as a direction to stop reading, pause, and contemplate what just appeared in the text.

There is no preamble or drum roll when ideas arrive. There is no parade. If it’s big, it is not going to wield a megaphone and yell from the rooftop. At first glance, the big thing actually looks quite small. If there’s no void in your life—if your life is full of constant chatter—you won’t be able to hear the subtle whisper when it arrives.

Banish the FOMO that if you slow down, you will get left behind. What you would do is use less energy, you’ll go faster, and you’ll go deeper. The pedal-to-the metal mentality is the enemy of original thought. Creativity isn’t produced—it’s discovered. And it happens in moments of slack, not hard labor. Yes, counter to popular thinking, but true.

During those moments, it may appear like nothing is happening, but appearances mislead. Still waters run deep. As you stare out into the nothingness, your subconscious is hard at work, consolidating memories, making associations, and calibrating a new math while marrying the new with the old to create unexpected combinations.

So, don’t avoid the void.

Mute down the noise, just for a little bit, throughout the day. Give yourself permission to lounge in bed after waking up. Put yourself in airplane mode. Sit and stare at the ceiling. Wander aimlessly through a park.

Allow interior silence to oppose contemporary chaos.

Sink into the rhythm of no rhythm.

Step into the void—where all things that never existed are created.

Relentless self-optimisation is NOT a way to cope. Humans are NOT search engines !

Charles Richards on productivity: “Don’t be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. One person gets only a week’s value out of a year while another gets a full year’s value out of a week.”

You’ll find that taking your foot off the pedal can be the best way to accelerate.

Ends.

BEYOND ADVERTISING-3

This is the last part of the ” Beyond Advertising ” trilogy. The previous two can be accessed @

https://www.khaleejtimes.com/business-technology-review/beyond-advertising

https://www.khaleejtimes.com/business-technology-review/beyond-advertising-2

A Compelling Picture: Our Intended Audience of The Present | Future

As Alicia prepares for bed, she surveys her apartment. She is very conscious of what she buys and why. She buys things with meaning. While she sees less traditional advertising than she used to, she is more engaged with the ads she views. She can connect her purchases to strong creative content created by brands or co-created by brand fans. Though she is exposed to a lot of targeted ads, she feels she is in control of what content she sees. She accepts new brands warily and rarely with a direct entreaty from the advertiser. Instead, she relies on peers and trusted sources for her introductions. She wants brands to challenge her, understand her, inspire her through their content. She seeks stories that move her, excite her, delight her.

Given this scenario, all brands should be asking ” How can we engage Alicia and others like her today?”. When consumers have endless choices of content and screens, plus endless access to information and insights, why should they stop to listen to your message? For every technology designed to interrupt a media experience or a search for information, people will find a way to block, skip or ignore it. And if the interruption is egregious, be prepared to hear it from empowered customers.

Geography is History

I believe that great brands are ” business strategy brought to life “, and deliver a seamless experience across product and service, physical spaces and places, internal culture and communications. Brands like Apple have already set customer expectations and it doesn’t matter if you are a bank, a business consultancy, a retailer or a hotel chain, the message is simple: join up!

A continued focus on a narrow notion of what is currently within the purview of advertising and marketing will threaten the life of a brand and the organisation. Brands are expected to provide the seamless experience that people are taught to expect by each day’s new technology-enabled and insight inspired pace setters. Even the notion of ‘ omnichannel ‘, which is currently limited more to the realm of retail, will work within a larger ecosystem as retail and advertising undergo a fusion.

Divergence to Convergence

In order to reach, serve and stay connected with people in comprehensive, effective ways, advertising’s scope must go beyond its traditional reach to encompass the entire firm. The boundaries between external and internal touchpoints are blurring and will continue to do so. In a convergent world, no person or no touchpoint exists in isolation. Everything is interconnected and interdependent.

Consider the many different ways we now encounter brands on a daily basis- tv, radio, print, online searches, mobile apps, websites, billboards, DOOH ads, branded social media posts, offline and online conversations, personal interactions, web browsing, store design and displays, package design and packaging, conversations with salespeople, in-store promotions. All this is just the ‘ before purchase ‘ exposure followed by interactions with customer service, online help features, surveys, loyalty programs, etc. ‘ post purchase ‘. It is less common for people to encounter advertising head-on. Conversations have become the pathways by which people encounter advertising. 

Something to RAVE(S) about

Most people today think of advertising as an interruption, a distraction, a nuisance, a waste of time. If we could skip or ignore it all, we would. And the lack of creativity is certainly not helping. Advertising as an interruptive act should be gone. Period. As I have been advocating, ” beyond advertising ” could and should be a narrative content that is entertaining, informative, actionable, valuable, value generating and provides an exceptional experience, being a shareworthy story delivered through all touchpoints. It could and should be something to RAVE(S)about:

R: Relevant and Respectful (to Individuals and of Individuals)

A: Actionable (Intuitive & Frictionless)

V: Valuable & Value Generating (Wanted, Needed, Effective)

E: Exceptional Experience (Delight & Inspire)

S: Shareworthy Story (Authentic & Authoritative)

Knock, Knock, the Digital Door

Beyond advertising could and should be something people want and seek out because it provides value. The trouble is nobody opens their digital door to receive an ad. They will, however, invite information across their threshold, if it promises to be of value to them. In the near and not so distant future, the successful advertisers would be those who have stopped treating consumers as many targets, marks, and stats. In an online universe, populated by consumers armed with the desire, the regulatory support, and the technology to be aggressively selective in the choices they make, advertisers will be obliged to treat consumers as decision makers.

Open the Vent: To Relevant

Forrester Research has termed the next few years as ” The Great Race for Relevancy “. New social data with clearer content marking will be interrogated with powerful new algorithms. The movement is from link-based to answers that are algorithmically based, where search engines are computing the right answer. We are already at a point where Google can give direct and accurate answers to questions like: What time is Guess Guess Guess on? Who plays in goal for Manchester City? Who is the favorite to win the next US Presidential election?  What black suits are on sale at Zara?…

Google’s algorithm has improved to the point where it can answer questions that are nuanced, and geo- and time-based. Is the stimulus package working for the economy? Which is Arijit Singh’s best song now? When should I leave to reach Ritz Carlton DIFC by 8 pm?

And very soon, the internet will become an intelligence that will make its current guise seem incredibly dumb and disorganised. We don’t know how we lived without it.

The goal of relevance is to reach specific individuals. General demographics and television time slots no longer cut it when trying to communicate with people who juggle multiple screens and identities (family, work, social roles). Advertisers must get to the basics: Who are you? What are you doing? Where are you? What time is it? Why are you doing it? And how?

Messages relevant to time, location and preferences can be very effective, but they are not sufficient for optimal effectiveness: mood and state of mind must also be taken into consideration, just like the human interaction ” Is this a good time to talk to you about…?”.

Digital media drove a shift in marketers’ budget to ‘ always-on ‘, such as search, display and social. The marketing on-demand world of now and the near future has evolved to be ‘ always relevant ‘. For brands and their agencies, that will require a much more sophisticated and targeted approach to address the ubiquity of touch points so that they can be there at a consumer’s point of need-no matter where or when it is. Massive analytical capabilities invested will help support a brand’s stewardship of their customers information. In short, ads need to answer questions, any time, all the time. 

Don’t find Customers for your Products; Find Products for your Customers

The only asset that gets built online is permission. Permission to talk to people who want to be talked to, delivering, and anticipating personal and relevant messages to people who want to get them and connecting them to one another. That’s all we can build and what we should measure. Not how many people thumbed up some video we made, but instead how many people want to hear from us.

Brands that want to thrive in this space must earn their welcome through the continually refreshed offer of social currency: ideas that people want to share with others.

Next STEPPS

Wharton Professor Jonah Berger in his book Contagious: Why Things Catch On, suggests six principles for developing contagious or shareable, ideas based on his research findings using the acronym STEPPS:

S: Social Currency (make it cool to talk about)

T: Triggers (make it top of mind)

E: Emotion (make them feel something)

P: Public (make it visible)

P: Practical Value (make it useful)

S: Stories (make it tell-able)

The worlds of logic and emotions must be married with all the senses and the muses from music to scents, visuals to touch, virtual to reality. Monetary value motivates consumers to purchase, but it won’t necessarily be enough to motivate them to repeat that purchase, or to recommend an object or service to peers.

Questions

What would happen if authentic and creative stories opened channels of communication with people?

How would people feel about brands and advertising?

What financial and social benefits would be afforded employees and shareholders?

How could advertising be ‘ re-defined ‘?

What if advertisers were named POY (Person of the Year) by TIME Magazine for these transformations?

What if we question the intentionality of our choices, the depth of our kindness and our very belonging as a species on this planet?

Creating RAVES advertising through every touchpoint has the potential for achieving this transformation.

Most positively, we are headed inexorably towards a new era of truth. Truth in what products do, truth in how and by who they are made, truth in the opportunity cost of their manufacturer, truth in performance and yes, truth in advertising.

ENDS

Suresh Dinakaran is the Chief Storyteller at branding agency ISD Global, Managing Editor of BrandKnew and Founder, Weeklileaks. Feedback welcome at suresh@groupisd.com