With all that’s been written about the motivational forces behind decision making, I’ve read very little that addresses one of the more foundational drivers of action in our lives: curiosity. Continue reading
The Irony of Curiosity
Yearly Archives: 2012
Archetype Branding in a Conversational World
Aristotle, an archetypal wise man, with a bust of Homer.
An elusive force exists that anchors characters, stories and brands deep into the throngs of history. It’s the rebel, the caring mother, the warrior — a backbone of storytelling that spans both longitudes and centuries.
We call it the archetype. Consciously or not, brand builders have been leveraging these archetypes for decades. Continue reading
Gears Of The Machine: What, specifically, does Klout know about us?
Something that was once of interest only to digital analytics geeks is now bordering on something of a cultural phenomenon. With its addictive business model in hand, Klout has become the supreme authority in measuring and ranking online influence. Each day it seems that more and more people are checking their Klout scores to see how influential they are among their online circles.
Yet the service has also left some people scratching their heads. Anyone who has peered into their Klout profile to see the “People You Influence” and the “Topics” may be taken aback by the combination of hair-raising depth and daunting precision. For me, Klout has been able to call out my top influencers, one of which I had only mentioned once on social media. Other times, Klout told me that I was an influencer of people I hadn’t engaged with on social media for well over a year.
This left me begging the question: What specific information does — and doesn’t — Klout have access to? Continue reading
An Unlikely Authority
Anyone who has ever boarded a crowded public transportation bus has witnessed this phenomenon: a line of people stand outside waiting to board. But the people already on board — standing in the aisle — refuse to scoot back so that the passengers outside can get on. Even when the back of the bus is nearly empty.
The infamous look of stress comes across the bus driver’s face, as they resort to shouting the same request over and over and over.
“Please move towards the back of the bus, people,” the drivers say.
Only by the third or fourth repeat of the phrase do people actually begin to move back. And even then, they do it slowly and grudgingly.
Can this problem be solved?
On my way to work one morning, during the first snowfall of the winter in Chicago, I witnessed one stone-faced woman take a stand. We were sitting down across from each other, and the bus had just stopped to pick up another load of passengers.
As predicted, the line didn’t budge, and the people outside waited patiently for the standers to wake up and move down the aisles. The bus driver shouted his request once. No movement.
Then — quite unpredictably — the woman across from me looked up with bulging eyes at the stagnant line of passengers.
“MOVE BAAAAACK,” she howled.
Like a herd of sheep, the line of passengers moved swiftly, all the way to the back of the bus.
I had never seen this occur with the bus driver — the one who we would presume to have more authority than any of the passengers. What was the difference between her and the bus driver? Did one have more authority than the other?
There are a few possible explanations, but I think the best one is that the passengers were so caught off-guard by the woman, that their brains were forced to process what she was saying. Contrast that with the predictable iterations of the bus drivers, shouted towards a crowd of people distracted by gadgets and books.
There very well may not have been anything unique or revealing about the situation, but I believe there is. Perhaps it shows us that novelty can be as persuasive as authority.
The implications for public relations are that unpredictability may be one of the most effective paths to gaining consumer attention. Commit to the unexpected, no matter how small the action. Those who break through predictability may have an authority all their own.
What are your thoughts?
