Herd - the hidden truth about who we are

Loyalty as a two-way street

Loyalty is one of those golden ideas in business.

Everyone wants customer loyalty, employee loyalty, supplier loyalty. 

But it's all too rarely company loyalty (to any of the above).

Interesting case playing out in Scotland between Diageo and 700 of its employees and their friends and families and the local community. 

I'm sure as a shareholder, my initial reaction would be delight that the managers of the company were looking to reduce the costs to maximise profits but as lots of folk have been saying recently maybe money isn't everything - maybe other stuff matters, too. Maybe even more....

As Alex Salmond (Scotland"s First Minister) suggested today on the BBC news, the employees have been loyal to the company, isn't it odd that loyalty - that great golden idea of business today - struggles to be  a two-way street?

HERD in San Francisco

Pic from Alamedainfo

If you're around these parts on Monday 3rd August, I'm going to be sharing some HERD love at Goodby's

Thanks to Ed and the folks at Goodby, BSSP, Venables Bell, AKQA (and the 4As) for organizing this and for making it free!

Very much looking forward to seeing SF folk!

Crowd Concentration

Pic from Cricinfo

Interesting discussion with the boys in the band in the bar, after the gig last night. Building on the discussion I made in HERD about how the crowd shapes its own behaviour, rather than having it shaped by something the b(r)and does to them.

So what happened last night is this: we'd played just about as well as we ever do but the audience (of the same sort we usually play to) didn't seem to get as excited as other audiences. Not as much dancing or participation as we've got used to at these kinds of birthday party gigs.

We ended up feeling ever so slightly flat.

But why?

Of all the suggestions offered, the best seemed to be this:

The way the venue distributed the relatively small volume of people around made for a relatively dilute solution of humans in space. From the audience member's perspective, being slightly further away from one's peers makes it a. easier to hold back and b. harder to pick up on their emotional state.

The audience was just not concentrated enough to "take off" - that's why all musicians love small venues, I suspect. Of course, there's something about big arena like venues for both musicians and sports teams but only if they are full; only when the audience is concentrated.

So what are the implications for marketing and other behaviour change programmes? Ask yourself this:

How concentrated is your audience? How can you help them feel more concentrated?

Crowd Concentration

Pic from Cricinfo

Interesting discussion with the boys in the band in the bar, after the gig last night. Building on the discussion I made in HERD about how the crowd shapes its own behaviour, rather than having it shaped by something the b(r)and does to them.

So what happened last night is this: we'd played just about as well as we ever do but the audience (of the same sort we usually play to) didn't seem to get as excited as other audiences. Not as much dancing or participation as we've got used to at these kinds of birthday party gigs.

We ended up feeling ever so slightly flat.

But why?

Of all the suggestions offered, the best seemed to be this:

The way the venue distributed the relatively small volume of people around made for a relatively dilute solution of humans in space. From the audience member's perspective, being slightly further away from one's peers makes it a. easier to hold back and b. harder to pick up on their emotional state.

The audience was just not concentrated enough to "take off" - that's why all musicians love small venues, I suspect. Of course, there's something about big arena like venues for both musicians and sports teams but only if they are full; only when the audience is concentrated.

So what are the implications for marketing and other behaviour change programmes? Ask yourself this:

How concentrated is your audience? How can you help them feel more concentrated?

Singing along with the band

Pic c/p Neil Lupin via Flickr

Tonight the boys of the band & I are playing another mate's birthday so we've been slogging away at the set every night this week and have worked ourselves into a right old state of frail humanity - sore fingers and cracked voices. And just a few butterflies...

We only ever do covers of other people's songs - not because we haven't got songs of our own (Big Andy is particularly prolific), it's just that we see our job to be helping others to have a good time and that's all a bit easier if they recognise the tunes (it's amazing how scared folk get when faced with the unfamiliar...). Every gig we do, somebody always quizzes us about this.

I thought about this repeatedly last Friday at the rainsoaked but laughter filled Madstock over in the East End. 3 bands from the turn of the 80s, Madness, the Pogues and the Blockheads - the kind of bands too easily derided and ignored by the recording end of the music industry as past it -  played to a damp but exuberant crowd of all ages...who all sang together and danced together as if it was carnival time or something...

So here's the thought: for too long, the music industry and we music fans ourselves have conspired to assume that what makes music valuable is its novelty and/or scarcity; ditto musicians (this helps put a price tag on the recorded version, I suspect).

But in the real world - and in most other cultures - music is something for all of us not just the few, something that helps us all be and interact with each other, not separate ourselves from others. And novelty is often positively unhelpful in this context in this social usage

So let's just say if you want to join in tonight, to sing along, then please feel free to do so...

Here we go, 1-2-3-4....

Not just a bit social (but fundamentally so)

Interesting experience for me again this week, seeing how tricky it is for some folk to see our fundamentally social nature.

I did my speech here on Tuesday but had a wierd question after from somebody who seemed to prefer to see us as a primarily independent species but one which quite likes the company of others. I know I go on about this basic thought - and indeed sometimes overstate the case to make the point - but let's be really clear: we are a social species, a we-species which suffers from (and can occasionally overcome) the illusion that we are independent individuals (the illusion of "I"). Not just a bit social but fundamentally so.

No use of course showing individuals the evidence (as above); probably best to point to how many other folk are seeing/saying/acting accordingly...

(and yes, Gareth, Madness were awesome even in the rain - more anon)

Better and worse maps

 

"Giving someone the wrong map is worse than giving them no map at all" Nassim Nicolas "Black Swan" Taleb

Punky social object

Pic from BBC.co.uk

Mick Jones, co=writer for the epoch shaping Clash (IMHO the best band in the world ever) is opening a temporary museum for his collection of Clash stuff.

Interesting example of a social object, eh? Something for me and mine, I reckon

The harder they come...(UPDATE)

pic c/o cuseclothesline

Funny to see the much-maligned  (rightly so, I've always suggested) Crocs fall from favour quite so rapidly...

The Harder they come, indeed.

As it turns out, you could probably have guessed as much from the lack of excitement & conversation about them over the last 12 months...but at least now the financial results make it clear how far the business has fallen from its perch

Of course, in some quarters, the fact that the product doesn't wear out is blamed for the disasterous end to the tail but the real issue is that the HERD which was responsible for the brand's explosive growth has now moved on (as it inevitably would - that's the nature of fashion).

Just like those musical one-hit wonder, lots of folk connected with the company must now be sitting, scratching their heads and wondering what they did wrong. Musos also often get confused, happy to (mistakenly) accept that success is the result of their talent and skills but not sure what to make of failure. It sure feels hollow...

Of course, those who suggest the company board made some real howler decisions also have a point but the truth is success in a fashion market often has little to do with the product or its maker...yes, it's the human stuff again, everyone!

Implication 1: be grateful for success; try to stay unfazed by failure - neither are much to do with you

Implication 2: please don't use successes of this sort as best practice guides

Implication 3: keep being interesting and carry on serving and facilitating the people stuff as much as you can

Interesting piece in the Times yesterday on similar lines

Back in the beginning

 

On the way back from the RSA (part of a series I'm doing to promote the paperback of HERD) I found myself pondering how much less wierd the cluster of ideas around HERD now seem to the folk coming across them for the first time; how much more acceptable they are.

Way back when, I remember lots of incomprehension, lots of vacant stares and quite a lot of "wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong" as one very useful piece of feedback put it.

As my mate Hugh puts it in his excellent Ignore Everybody:

"When I first started with the cartoon-on-back-of-bizcard format, people thought I was nuts. Why wasn't I trying to do something that was easier for markets to digest, like cutie-pie greeting cards or whatever?"

Interesting how the world has changed.

 

Follow Bumble

If you're a cricket fan, you'll know David "Bumble" Lloyd - former Lancashire and England batsman, England manager & Sky Sports commentator. If not, go here

He's famous for his passion and overexcitement (and the pain he feels at the ups and downs of cricket - as shown again today)

He's also one of the more popular sports tweaters in the UK at the moment.

So go follow him yourself (even if you don't have the cricket bug like me) because what he has to teach anyone playing around with social media is worth following in real time

Here's some of the stuff I'm getting from him

1. Be yourself - the voice feels entirely authentic. Bumble seems entirely at home in the messiness of microblogging so that his passion and enthusiasm, as well as his sense of humour shine through.

2. Don't just broadcast - Bumble talks about what he sees as well as picking up on others' tweets and linking on to them

3. Don't take yourself seriously - this is not a "celeb" twitter blog; indeed, it unpicks the apparent self-regard of other (non-tweeting) presenters

4. Don't overthink - don't try to compose the perfect update, just keep tweating

Above all,

5. Be human. Nuff said.

Of course, I could be wrong - this could be the dastardly work of Robin & co at wearesocial but if it is then it's their best yet. But I really don't think so...

Systematically sound

There's a lot to be learned from standing back and challenging some of our most precious assumptions (I think I've made some kind of career from doing this...)

But here's a nice little McKinsey piece about system thinking, natural and economic disasters. Go ahead, read it but ponder the latter stretch particularly the suggestions...

"Make the system the unit of analysis. You can’t assess the behavior and performance of a specific agent—for example, a financial-services company—without gauging the behavior and performance of the system in which it is embedded"

Same goes of the people we used to call "the consumer", I reckon.

Too much of our thinking in marketing, management and politics is about the particular (the individual, the particular brand) without really enough attention being paid to the system within which that exists...

HERD in NYC update

Back in NYC (oops) week after next (Thursday 30th) to kick off the AAAA Summer of Planning season

Come and say hello!

Looking forward to catching up with chums old and new!

Space, Science and Magic

40 years ago today Apollo 11 lifted off for the first moon landing

40 years ago today I was a small boy, too young to know any better, but nonetheless caught up in the broohaha around the mission.

40 years ago marked the beginning of my love affair with science - with the magic of what science reveals and what we can do with it.

I've never been clear whether it was the fact of the trip to the moon or whether it was the fact of everyone else being excited about it, too.

I beginning to realise it was probably the latter....

HERD @RSA

Thanks to all of those who made it to the School of Life last night for the paperback party - and thanks again to Sophie for having us in her fab shop!

Am at the airport this morning on the way to see those lovely peeps at Juniper Park but thinking ahead to the busy schedule in the next few weeks

First up is Tuesday lunchtime at the lovely RSA where I'll be talking about this "social" revolution -what it is,  why now  and why it's important. Please come along! Free tickets here.

Talking of which, if you're around tomorrow (Thursday) try to catch the awesome Sarah Blaffer Hrdy - her brilliant book Mothers and Others has made me rethink some of the ideas around how we came to be so different to our peers. Alloparenting - protection and nurturing from those other than parents - is the heart of her answer: the more this happens, the more productive our species could be, also the more responsive to a range of other folk each infant would need to be etc etc. Go read, it's fab!

It's here. Paper- or Softback. As you will

Go here or here to buy one

Everyone else is...

The magic of technology

This - the Manchester Report - is a great initiative. Loads of new ideas for getting us out of the climate change.

That said, what strikes me is how few of them rely on us changing human behaviour - curious how appealing a bit of izzy-whizzy scientific magic is, even in this context.

I can understand why you might choose to do this - given how hard it is to change behavior

Truth is we've got to change how we live. Anyone who tells you otherwise is...ahem...not telling you the truth

But

The scale of the problem

Pic c/o freakingnews

We really are very poor at changing human behaviour.

Much poorer than anyone of us would like to admit (to ourselves or anyone else).

Really, it should make you think twice before ploughing on with your next brief if you just thought about quite how unlikely success is.

So here's a couple of new pieces of evidence to add to our catalogue of behavioural change impotence:

First, the John Kotter number Johnnie mentioned the other day: only 30% of change management programmes achieve their objectives is from this book

Second, the Charles Graham piece What’s the point of Marketing anyway? New findings on the prevalence, temporal extent & implications of long-term market share equilibrium that Alan Mitchell mentions would seem to point in the same direction (if I could get hold of a copy that'd be big)

Of course - like the 70% of Swedish drivers who famously described themselves as above average - all the stuff that you and I work is different

But next time you leap in and assume that your programme will change behavior remember this: success will be as rare as...well, hen's teeth...

So you better get a better map!

It's the taking part that counts

Haven't really been myself for the last few days - slightly on edge, finding it hard to focus. You know the kind of thing...

Photo from the stands at the Kensington Oval (I think that's Harmison steaming in to bowl from the far end. Note 7 English players behind the bat)

Then this morning I realised why: the Ashes (cricket) series starts today.

For the next 44 days (or thereabouts) my life is going to revolve around the struggle between England and Australia at cricket* (as all too many summers have since I was a lad).

But importantly, it's not just about the game itself: it's about the folk you share it with. Those you play with (as I all too rarely do nowadays), those you watch it with, those you talk to about it (and it will be my primary social object for sure over the next few weeks so sorry if it becomes a bit much )

But it also includes those you share it with online (this simple text-based resource became the home for an office-based online community in 2005 who together co-created  this book, a transcription of their digital conversations).

Off to Cardiff tomorrow with Sven to sit in the new Grandstand and watch day 2 of 25, with 18000 who share my enthusiasmos. That's taking part, isn't it?

*For my American chums, go here to discover the glorious cricketing past of your nation

In praise of ordinary people

Pic c/o exactitudes.com

All too often we find ourselves drawn to the exceptional - the influential, the talented, the leading edge & the heroic. One of the most common questions I get at the moment about social influence is about who starts trends and fashions - surely there are some special individuals who have all the cool ideas? Surely...(see the debate about the Sasquatch dancing man video). As you probably know, I think it's fundamentally misguided and represents a misunderstanding of how influence works and how things really spread.

Well, Anthony Gormley's new human sculpture project in Trafalgar Square reminds us to do the opposite: to focus on ordinary people. On the people who do the heavy lifting of spreading stuff. On ordinary people.

Neat little voxpop here from Kevin and the lovely peeps at Wardle Maclean which celebrates that

Certainty and heroin

Nice piece over here at ZME which documents some historical medicines that contain drugs that are far from legal nowadays. From Bayer's Heroin to Benzedrine Inhalers, it certainly seems odd that these were once marketed openly - being culturally acceptable.

You could use this feeling of oddness to support the widespread view that our generation's culture is closer to enlightenment - to absolute truth and wisdom - than our predecessors; alternatively you could use it as a marker to that what we take for "acceptable" "how things are" and so on, is subject to change. And thus a call for humility.

I know where my money is.

Me, Jacko and the HERD: free gift

Here's the piece I did for the Spectator on what the Jacko story tells us about ourselves...

Hope you like!

Book covers

Very amused that Seth nails the debate I've been having with certain folk recently

Let's not have the debate again, hey?

It's the human stuff, stupid (again)

"Why are milk jugs more important than people? In 2008, Doug McMillon...the CEO of Sam's Club, a division of Wal-mart, expounded on innovation in milk jugs and his company's introduction of a rectangular, and therefore, stackable jug. He proudly noted how the new design extended the shelf life of milk, reduced costs by between 10 and 20 cents and elminated more than 10,000 delivery trips, thereby saving the company money. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart paid its employees almost 15 percent less than other large retailers and, because of the lower pay, Wal-Mart employees made greater use of public health and welfare programs"

Awesome article [HT The Economist] by the great Jeffrey Pfeffer Download SSRN-id1352627  which talks about sustainability in human (rather than material) terms.


This human stuff we're on about isn't just a silly geeky obsession - it's part of a much bigger re-adjustment and rebalancing of our ideas about business.

Genius.

It's the human stuff, stupid. It always was and always will be.

Crowdsourcing lessons from the Grauniad

Top piece here from the Nieman Journo lab

It didn't pass me by that i. making the task like a game (i.e. interesting) really helps encourage participation ii. showing the mugshots of the politicians whose expenses were being examined did also (and big time)