Herd - the hidden truth about who we are

Face to Face

My review of the excellent Face-to-Face book by Ed Keller and Brad Fay is in this month's Market Leader

[think you need a WARC subscription or membership of the Marketing Society to access]

In a nutshell: a must-read and a useful counter to what you might call our digital over-exuberance. It reminds us of the relative importance of influence the real world and influence online [and as our friends at MarketReach would remind us, Real wins].

Whilst this is in not an anti-digital book, it can be scathing about some of our worst excesses in the rush towards all things coded:

"When the history of the early 21st Century is written, will textbooks observe that internet users spent billions of dollars on 'virtual' animated online farm creatures during the worst economic slump since the great Depression?"

At the same time the combination of clear prose and strong evidence (more than mere collections of anecdote) makes this an excellent and reliable text.

And along the way there's lots to admire:

"The most successful businesses in the future will be the ones that embrace a model that puts people - rather than technology - at the center [sic]...[in particular]they will recognize that people have a far greater impact on each other than we previously realized, and that consumers are not just a collection of individuals"

A must read, even if - as I've mentioned previously - I don't happen to think that word of mouth [what people say] is even the most important part of social influence - it's what we see others do that counts.

It's I'll Have What She's Having NOT I'll do what she's recommending, after all...

 

I'll have what John, Eaon and Gareth are having

 

Pic c/o @willsh

 

Our new book is finally here and last night we premiered content at the RSA (many thanks to Matthew Taylor who mc'd and Mairi who put on the show)

Don't listen to what we say about it, listen to what John, Gareth And Eoghan say (and perhaps not what this lady whom we seem to have upset - actually maybe it's good to make someone want to "throw your book across the room")

Buy it here or here 

 

 

What the audience do with your data

Pic c/o Ancrack.co.uk

Caught up with last week's New Scientist yesterday and was struck by the relevance of the lead editorial's challenge to scientists about how their data is used (not just what it is, how clean it is or how it is obtained)

It is tempting to lay the blame solely at the feet of ignorant politicians or an irresponsible media. They do indeed play a significant role, often perpetuating mistakes, muddles and misunderstandings.

But journalists and policymakers can only work with what they are given. Scientists need to bear in mind how their statistics can be abused - or perhaps unintentionally read the wrong way.

The same point is equally valid for market researchers (as an old paper of mine suggested) or anyone who's creating information for other people inside or outside their organisation.

It's not an either/or: you've got to make sure your data is sound and clean but you've also got to recognise that it's what they do with it that matters (and they will do stuff with it if it it is to spread).

Data is never just data - it will have a human social context if it is to go beyond your desktop. So design the human in, please.

 

People stories vs. Thing stories

Talking last week to a good chum who's done some great stuff applying storytelling to brands prompted me to dig out this paper from Alex Mesoudi and the great Robin Dunbar. Download Mesoudi_whiten_dunbar_BJP_2006

Essentially, the learning for you and me in our storytelling activities on behalf of brands, organisations and our own ideas is this: people remember the people details not the thing details.

So use 'em or lose 'em, as the adage goes (and don't get hung up on the fact that people are more interested in each other than in you and your brand/policy).

 

The Joy of Making Music together

 

Pic courtesy of John "shortlisted" Griffiths

I don't know about you but I've had a rubbish week. Not sure next week's going to be much better, either!

But we're going to end it on a high note: making music together. Almost as old as humanity itself and a surefire way to lift the spirits!

"First night nerves and one-night stands", my arse. We're going to have a wild night in Camden

If you're in London on Friday 23rd, do come and join us for a raucous evening of glam and ska (and, I suspect, quite a lot of beer).

Now (as Newy famously says in HERD),...1-2-3-4....

Word of Mouth: The Eyes Have it

 

pic c/o Sodahead

Listen, I think we need to sort this thing out.

It's not that what people say to each other isn't important in shaping our behaviour.

Nor, indeed that recommendation (or advocacy or whatever you call it) in particular, is completely irrelevant.

It's just that the really important mechanism lies in what other people see, hear and feel going on around them: it's in the eyes and ears of the advocate's peers and not in the words of the advocate or recommendor. It's at the "influenced" end of the telescope and not the "influencer".

Of course, we all use "what other people are saying about x" as a general heuristic to shape our own behaviour and ideas but actually more of the time it's what we observe going on around us - the behaviours and the gestures of our peer - that really counts: what we see and hear and sense.

That's what brands and governments and managers and anyone trying to change behaviour need to think about and focus on. 

And that holds for Human and Timelord behaviour alike.