HEAD TRIPS

Deadheads, we’re not (though we admit to loving that music).

But how to figure out what’s in consumer (or stakeholder) brains when they buy?

Some of our recent op-eds have dealt with sub-sets of the new ‘neuromarketing,’ from eye scans to facial coding.

That’s only part of understanding how we make decisions.  What our advertising and marketing colleagues are advocating is a holistic take on uncovering the reasons behind our behaviors.  In fact, they’re doing more than talking about it; they’re actively looking at subconscious perceptions, studying real-life actions, and field testing, in addition to ferreting out physiological clues.

Obama’s academic consultants are credited with the ‘gotta delve deeper’ movement.  Yet way back in 1915, J.Walter Thompson hired John B. Watson for market research (the U of Chicago co-founder of behavioral psych). 

Back to decisions:  Choosing A over B, say the scientists, is complicated.  Especially since 90 percent of our thinking occurs way below awareness levels.  It’s a meld of feelings versus thought, with our minds working at cross purposes during decision time.

But why can’t those of us in communications develop messages that appeal to the different parts of the brain (which is what our colleagues do, in absence of large budgets and loads of time)?  It’s the intuitive versus the deliberate, the fast versus slow, the effortless versus the planful.  No question, most of us are masterful in internal and external wordsmithing.  Isn’t it way past time we plot the appropriate ways to capture minds and hearts?

WHEN THE STARS ALIGN ...

We’re sad.

Only (you fill in the blank) more episodes to the Mad Men saga, a time when creative directors ruled and men were, well, men.

Seriously.  With the star power of that era faded (but not completely obliterated), today’s work world, no matter what the industry or issue, resembles team collaboration more than individual creations.  Diversity is rampant.  The pace of digital collapses time and barriers.  That one great breakthrough idea is subsumed by little mini-campaigns, building incremental value.

Except:  Psychologists and social researchers reveal that the notion of team consensus – replacing leaders’ command and control -- doesn’t always work.  Decision making often stops, or slows down.  Execution can be slow at best, stuttering at worst. 

Their solution?  A list of four actions, from playing the connector to ending debate, all within the scope of senior leaders’ responsibilities.  Yet at least two of them, in our opinion, fall into the province of communications/marketing, roles that might not be the most comfortable, but, certainly, are the most needed.

Here are the two we believe we must own:

• Connecting.  It is up to us to bring in the appropriate universe to our companies, our clients.  We should be cultivating information that others might not have heard, sharing it in examples and how-tos.  It might be an arcane approach to storytelling.  A new technology that might excel, inside and out, in achieving goals.
• Modelling.  For sure, we act in all the right ways when we set up cross-organizational diverse networks and labor virtually.  We need to extend that role modeling, showing it live and capturing it in memories for the rest of our populations.  Otherwise, how will they know what collaboration really can mean?

Why not adapt this riff on Don Draper’s witticism:   “If you don’t like what is being done, then change the behaviors”?

AN E-SALUTE ... AND WE MEAN IT!

In our never-ending search to make things simple, we forgot to tap one important audience:  The military.

What jogged our memory was American Sniper, quickly followed by the “Joining Forces” program FLOTUS and Dr. Jill Biden rolled out a few years back, asking employers not to diminish the skills of returning veterans.  To celebrate their accomplishments and recognize talents by providing job opportunities.  And to understand that, believe it or not, entrepreneurialism is baked into officer training.

Then one acronym caught our attention as civilians (and, yes, as communicators and marketers and the like):  SMESC, or situation-mission-execution-support-command. 

These five words serve as the foundation for a five-paragraph (no more!) plan that aids decision making.  It begins with the problem described and the ultimate strategy, articulated.  The next three paragraphs, in order, talk to tactics, the kinds of logistics and e-stuff needed, and the involvement of other audiences and organizations.

Done correctly, it’s a one-pager that dramatically states “we’re taking care of this.”  It could morph into a five-part infographic that visualizes the action intended, with just a few words.  And it’s a great sales piece for leaders and managers to use in socializing tangible plans for a sometimes intangible function in the corporation, helping everyone understand exactly how results will be realized.

Now all we have to do is think of a slightly different way to remember the veterans’ mnemonic  - Sargeant Major Eats Sugar Cookies.