EMPOWER issue 11 Mar 2021
Exploring the theme of empathy and humanity in this latest issue of Marketing Society publication Empower.
Issue 11 — empathy and humanity
There's been a lot of talk about empathy during this pandemic. Indeed, as one of our writers says this issue, the need for it has never been greater. So this issue we focus squarely on people: TikTok teach us about subcultures, The Forge say brands should do less, but do it better, we learn how to manage a crisis, why brands should focus on compassion, how we can all build a better world, plus why humanity should be at the heart of purpose.
Michael Piggott, Editor
CAREER
For Women's History Month we asked the CEO of hypnotherapy app, Clementine's Katie Lee, to share what she's learned from bold career moves over the years
(3 MINS)
CULTURE
TikTok's Head of Marketing, GBS, Europe, Trevor Johnson, looks at how communities on TikTok have thrived during the pandemic, and how brands can play their part
(4 MINS)
STRATEGY
With examples from Brewdog and Magnum, Co-Founder at The Forge, Simon Garnett, argues that the best way for businesses to regroup and thrive post-pandemic, is to do less, but do it better
(3 MINS)
HUMANITY
Authors Shaun Smith and Andy Milligan look at how leaders have succeeded or failed to use empathy during Covid, and what does this mean for brands
(3 MINS)
SOCIETY
The Behavioural Architects' Crawford Hollingworth and Liz Barker look at a divided world and ask, is it possible to build a better one using empathy and human connection?
(5 MINS)
PEOPLE
The Fitting Room's MD, Charlotte Mair, looks at new audio chat app Clubhouse and Twitter's Spaces, as two new places brands can listen to people, and learn things
(2 MINS)
LOGIC
With his first book, Go Luck Yourself: 40 ways for you to stack the odds in your brand’s favour Lucky Generals' Andy Nairn, examines how to manage a crisis
(3 MINS)
EMOTION
New Ways' Founder, Letesia Gibson, says our need for empathy has never been greater, and that brands need to make more space for emotion and compassion
(4 MINS)
Making bold moves
For Women's History Month we asked the CEO of hypnotherapy app Clementine's Katie Lee to share what she has learned from bold career moves over the years
MAKING BOLD MOVES
For Women's History Month we asked the CEO of hynotherapy app, Clementine's Katie Lee, to share what she has learned from bold career moves over the years
How many people do you know who have made a huge leap in the last year? Moved out of a city? Started a business? In the year that could be described as ‘really bad on hold muzak’, there have also been people making big decisions and changes. It feels like bold moves are in the air. Covid is responsible for this: the moves made from necessity - redundancy or changes to working hours due to homeschooling or illness but also the moves from the realisation that you only get one crack at life.
This IWD’s theme is ‘Choose to Challenge’ and from challenge comes change. I know so many brilliant women out there who have challenged themselves to make those changes and from talking to so many of them, there are some really interesting common themes. But before I go on to talk about them, it’s important to note how privileged I feel to be in a situation where I have the freedom (financial and political) to choose to make change. When talking to my children about situations that people find themselves in, they’ll say ‘Why don’t they just move/leave/do something else?’ and I have to try to explain the privilege of choice.
I’ll start with this amazing quote from Arianna Huffington:
“While the world provides plenty of insistent, flashing signals directing us to make more money and climb higher up the ladder, there are almost no worldly signals reminding us to take care of ourselves along the way, reach out to others, and pause to wonder.”
Such an important reminder that bold moves aren’t about upward progression, getting the ‘big job’ and constantly pushing ahead. Bold moves are about making the changes that feel right for you, your mental health and your life. That’s why they’re bold moves, not just big moves.
So, what were my bold moves in the last year? Firstly, my husband left a job that was making him miserable, leaving me as sole earner. It was meant to be short term but with the arrival of Covid, it’s looking a little longer term. Safe to say his knowledge of fractions, Pompeii and rock formations is excellent thanks to his incredible homeschooling efforts. Secondly, I left advertising to go and work for Clementine, a hypnotherapy app on a mission to reduce the anxiety and improve the self confidence of millions of women. So if there are lots of you out there who feel their past year has been on hold and are ready to take the plunge, here’s what I’ve learnt so far:
Firstly, the prospect is far worse than the reality
After 20 plus years in advertising, the thought of leaving an industry I loved and making such a bold scary move, away from the safety of my amazing network of industry friends and my ability to do a fair bit of my job from autopilot was terrifying. Partly the fear that I couldn’t do it - the job description looked enormous but also the thought of starting again without any of my social currency. But then you get there and you realise that you are capable and that learning and being curious and doing new things is energising not paralysing. Something you can only understand once you’ve made the move.
Secondly, you can’t overthink it
You can do a few ‘what ifs?’ but you can’t think through every possibility, sometimes you just have to do it. And if something forces you to take the plunge then try to think that a positive will come out of it. At Clementine, we’re interviewing loads of women at the moment on their bold moves and in most instances, something really cr*p led them to what they’re now doing and they look back on it with gratitude. (I’m also aware that saying that to someone who has just been made redundant is one of the most annoying things you can say.)
Having said, ‘don’t overthink it’, if you’re making this decision for yourself, do enough research to know how you can tighten your belt/commute to work from your new yurt life in a wood/your business idea is viable. When you know that you can tighten your belt and have enough money to live on, then a huge amount of money on top of that probably won’t make you that much happier. My husband looking relaxed every day of the year is so much more enjoyable than getting to see him looking relaxed on a really nice one week holiday.
Making bold moves means you get to meet bold people. Kim, the founder of Clementine, has the most incredible story and in turn we are fortunate enough to have a whole community of bold people whose stories inspire and reassure and remind us that we can do anything. Broadening your network is a really great way to remind you that there’s a vibrant community of people who have made sideways or unexpected moves that have completely changed their lives for the better.
And finally, bold moves make you bolder
You did it and your world didn’t stop turning, not only can you do the new job in the new industry but the sense of purpose can also renew your energy.
When a bold move pays off, it gives you the confidence to believe in yourself once again and that sets off a chain reaction that encourages you to be bolder, to choose to challenge both yourself and those around you and to redefine what success looks like, and that’s incredibly empowering.
Katie will be talking about bold moves on a future Marketing Society podcast. Follow Clementine on Twitter and Instagram.
Subcultures on Tiktok: For you, and everyone
TikTok's Head of Marketing, GBS, Europe, Trevor Johnson, looks at how communities on TikTok have thrived during the pandemic, and how brands can play a part
SUBCULTURES ON TIKTOK: FOR YOU, AND EVERYONE
TikTok's Head of Marketing, GBS, Europe, Trevor Johnson, looks at how communities on TikTok have thrived during the pandemic, and how brands can play a part
Whether online or offline, people crave a sense of community. A place where they're surrounded by like-minded individuals and feel the comfort and freedom to express themselves. After all, that sense of belonging is good for us. Now, more than ever, we are desperate for human connection and to chat and engage with people who have the same interests as us. And it's that feeling of connection that comes with community that we feel so starved of in recent times.
A community is a natural coming together of like-minded people, a small group within a wider culture who unite based on shared beliefs and interests. And right now, this is nowhere more prevalent than on TikTok.
There are countless subcultures in every corner of TikTok, with each bringing as much joy as the last. The New York Times described TikTok as "the last sunny corner on the internet" and there's a subculture for everyone wanting to bask in that sunlight. New Mums will usually find themselves over at #MumsOfTikTok which has over 2 billion views, and if you want to chat Fortnite and Minecraft, you’ll need to find your way towards #GamerGirl or #GamerBoy. And for those TikTokers that love working up a sweat, #FitnessTok has 62.9 billion views. With an algorithm that's built for endless discovery, the videos that a TikToker views, likes and comments on defines what content they're served on their For You feeds.
These patterns of engagement open them up to new worlds that resonate, where individuals can find their communities and connect, learn from and join them. According to a Nielsen study, 60% of TikTokers said they felt a sense of community while on the platform, and it was the only app where "to lift my spirits" was the top reason for using it.
It's TikTok's mission to 'inspire creativity and bring joy', and it seems that's exactly what the people want. It was Forbes who said 'The app is in essence an infinite feed of endorphin-inducing content that triggers a strong sense of unity and belonging within us as we consume each video', and as simple as it sounds, this sense of belonging is a vital ingredient to TikTok's success.
At its core, TikTok is simply people being themselves, and when people are comfortable being themselves, they're more inclined to express and create.
In fact, three of four people said TikTok is place where people can express themselves openly (Nielsen). Knowing they're surrounded by like-minded people, TikTokers feel inspired to get involved in conversations, trends and movements.
And on a platform that advocates imitation, engagement is much more than a like or a comment, it's those people that spend two hours rehearsing a dance routine before unleashing it unto their community.
TikTok may well be popular among Millennials and Gen Z, but more than ever, TikTok exists across every demographic - families come together on TikTok across ages and it transcends generations. In fact, 67% of TikTokers are over 25, and every single one of them has their own unique experience within the platform. The For You feed, where TikTokers spend most of their time, is an endless stream of engaging content, tailored to the individual. If you're interested in home renovation videos, that's exactly what you'll see. Football fans can expect to see behind the scenes content from their favourite players and teams, and beauty enthusiasts will have a plethora of makeup tutorials to scroll through.
In our article, Gen Z to Gen T, we mention how that on TikTok, people aren't treated differently based on their age group and that's because mindset trumps generations. People across all ages can share the same values, behaviours and attitudes, and it's these traits that open people up to subcultures that they resonate with.
Subcultures come in all shapes and sizes, with each one as equally as creative as the last. So where to begin?
#CottageCore
Now you might be thinking this is one of the more niche subcultures, but there's a lot of people that take great joy in watching videos of TikTokers in the idyllic countryside, surrounded by nature and animals (see picture on this page). At the time of writing, the hashtag #CottageCore has received 5.3 billion views, and shows no signs of slowing down. Within this subculture you'll find flower crowns being weaved, bread being made, and poetry being written.
#SkinTok
The human and authentic nature of TikTok is part of the reason #SkinTok has garnered over 31 billion views since its inception. This subculture might be a little intimidating for the average consumer, but TikTokers familiar with #skincare feel at home sharing their routines in the hope it'll help others within their community. @SkincareByHyram is a great example of someone thriving within a subculture, with his skincare tips leading to several brands selling out.
#EduTok
In a world where Gen Z are spending their days in their bedroom learning through a computer screen, you wouldn't think the educational side of TikTok would be so popular. But, at the time of writing, #EduTok has 129 billion views with brands such as @guinessworldrecords fully emerged within this subculture.
In here, you'll find a range of content from money management, to discussions around societal norms, but you may also find your way into this community via life advice and random fun facts.
There's a place for brands within a subculture
TikTok for Business brings marketers and people together to create unique and joyful experiences. This is the beginning of a new type of engagement built on tangible brand equity, changing the experience for both brands and audiences. On the platform, brands are encouraged to find their voice and create freely. When done right, brands and communities merge, converse and create together.
That's why we ask brands to create TikToks, not ads. TikTok is not for display advertising, it's for inspiring action. Advertisers need to approach ads on TikTok in a way that's reflective of the unique capabilities of the platform. And by doing this, they can explore new possibilities in marketing, for an audience that enjoys and engages with this different approach.
@washingtonpost have taken to #EduTok to teach their audience about what's happening in the news. Most recently focusing on the US election and reporting in a way that TikTokers will sit up and take notice. It was French fashion brand, CELINE, who entered the #Eboy community as they launched a fashion brand that paid homage to today's youth culture. They even used @NoenEubanks, a TikToker popular within the #Eboy subculture, as the face of their campaign. And not forgetting @LittleMoonsMochi, whose organic content was a huge hit within the #FoodTok space.
The thing all these brands have in common is authenticity. They joined the platform to converse with their audiences and build authentic relationships. By jumping on trends, using popular sound clips, and most of all, having fun with it, these brands have hit a chord with certain subcultures which has resulted in a form of brand advocacy that no standard marketing campaign could achieve.
Fewer, bigger, better
With examples from Brewdog and Magnum, Co-founder at The Forge, Simon Garnett, argues that the best way for businesses to regroup and thrive post-pandemic, is to do less, but do it bigger and better
FEWER, BIGGER, BETTER
With examples from Brewdog and Magnum, Co-Founder at The Forge, Simon Garnett, argues that the best way for businesses to regroup and thrive post-pandemic, is to do less, but do it bigger and better
Why a strategy is your best tactic
Throughout the pandemic many businesses have shown enormous resilience, empathy and agility. They’ve found myriad ways to step up and play their part and they’ve responded to events on the ground admirably. But now, as things begin to turn a corner and we look forward (hopefully) to the prospect of a less chaotic year, that valuable empathy and understanding need to be directed towards longer term strategic development.
This was the premise that sat at the heart of our recent Marketing Society podcast, which was themed around the importance of ‘fewer, bigger, better’. If businesses are to regroup and eventually thrive, then they are going to need to focus. We know that some consumer behaviours will have been changed permanently by Covid-19 and that others will have been accelerated or modified; businesses will have to deal with all of this against a backdrop of fewer resources and significant cost pressures. The thing that will make this herculean task a little easier is focusing and executing on a clear strategy.
But we know there are lots of impediments to making this happen. The evidence is clear: why is it for example that a quarter of all launches don’t make it past year one? Or that only two of last year’s top ten significant NPD launches are still growing? In preparation for our podcast, we spent the previous few months talking to an array of clients across seniority, geographies and sectors - from businesses big and small - in order to help identify the things that get in the way of ‘fewer, bigger, better’.
Here are a few of the key themes that emerged:
“We need bold strategic leadership from top down to ruthlessly prioritise and direct investment behind the right brand and commercial bets. We need to cut the tail significantly and empower teams to get behind this.”
One of the biggest reasons for businesses becoming overly tactical is down to a simple lack of organisational alignment. If businesses aren’t clear about how to win, then strategic initiatives can fail because no-one understands how they fit into the bigger picture. A local operating company can easily undermine a globally driven innovation just by failing to participate.
“Consumers see confusing and fragmented messages and are unsure what the brand/product stands for.”
Sales and activation teams want a constant drumbeat of news and activity in order to support retailer activation and promotion. This focus can often lead to incrementalism; a lot of small things implemented in a mediocre way. Too often, good innovation is replaced with ‘me too’ copies that do little to alter the overall growth of the brand.
No one 'single' version of the truth
“To some extent, insight is being weaponised. Different units are commissioning work to support their plans, but we aren’t truly learning from consumers.”
Bigger businesses have huge amounts of data and hundreds of reports at their fingertips, and yet often no-one can agree on what is actually happening and why. Too frequently, data is used as evidence to support an existing position rather than as a way of forging fresh insight to drive a longer term more successful strategy.
“Rushing to do things and not cracking them properly”
An obsession with the latest research technique or marketing tool can often lead to a distortion. For example, social listening may help to uncover new insights, but only listening to a vocal online minority can skew a situation. It can be more important to understand what the majority of your customers want. Many techniques and approaches that have been pronounced ‘dead’ at some point over the years are still vitally important when it comes to good marketing fundamentals.
Everything starts by really understanding what’s happening to your customers and your category. This is where a good insight function is critical, helping to understand the answers to questions that can help transform a business. Who is buying our products? Where else are they buying them from? Is this in growth or decline? Who else are we competing with from outside of our category?
While the above themes were cited as the main impediments to taking a more strategic view, our contributing clients didn’t attempt to duck the marketer’s reality. The key to achieving ‘fewer, bigger, better’ is to accept that while a strategy is essential, it need not be set in permanent concrete.
Businesses like BrewDog understand this. While they were able to respond tactically to the pandemic and pivot towards making hand sanitiser, it was still an activity consistent with their much longer strategic plan to become environmentally sustainable. Magnum did something similar with their pleasure store concept. Instead of abandoning the idea as the pandemic escalated, they teamed up with Deliveroo and delivered ‘home decoration’ kits instead – a tactical adaptation that was consistent with their overall strategy.
Tactics will always be part of the marketer’s toolbox, but it helps to view them through the lens of your broader strategic objectives.
We also discussed the power of ‘no’ and its critical importance in helping to realise a strategy.
Exit those areas where you are underperforming and take that money and invest it in areas that will help you grow. Building empathy and understanding is not just important when it comes to customers, however; it also matters inside companies. Real focus ultimately requires effective leadership – those at the top building a strategy based on real insight; those in the middle having the courage and focus to enact that strategy; those executing the strategy believing they have the support and trust to do what is right vs. what is expedient. And all of that requires businesses that have empathy, understanding and resilience built into the fabric of their culture.
Being human will be at the heart of brand purpose
Shaun Smith and Andy Milligan, authors and founders of Smith+Co and The Caffeine Partnership, look at how leaders have succeeded or failed to use empathy during Covid, and what does this mean for brands
BEING HUMAN WILL BE AT THE HEART OF BRAND PURPOSE
Shaun Smith and Andy Milligan, authors and founders of Smith+Co and The Caffeine Partnership, look at how leaders have succeeded or failed with empathy during Covid, and what does this mean for brands
We are entering a new era,
one that will require new approaches to marketing and customer experience, but it will go way beyond that. It will challenge the very way we think about brands and corporations. Covid-19 is a trigger for this change, but the cause is even more profound.
In the 1920s a maverick Russian economist, Nikolai Kondratieff, ‘discovered’ a series of 40-60 year ‘boom and bust’ cycles. He hypothesised each cycle had four ‘seasons’: Spring (boom), Summer (expansion), Autumn (stagnation) and Winter (depression). His adherents say we are ending the Winter phase of the 5th Kondratieff that started with the Great Financial Crisis of 2008.
More importantly, we shall soon enter the Spring of the 6th Kondratieff – a time of economic renewal and societal flourishing. Each new cycle begins with a wave of innovation that creates societal change: the steam engine in the 18th century, electrification in the 19th, information technology in the 20th.
So, what innovations will drive societal change in this next cycle? Environmental science, biotechnology and nano-healthcare are among the new drivers of growth. Their effect will be a greater emphasis on putting people first. ‘Building back better’ is the right slogan for our time and will have profound implications for brands.
Our most recent book, On Purpose - delivering a branded customer experience people love argued that the age of extreme capitalism and corporate greed is coming to an end. Brands must make creating value for customers and society higher on their agenda than pleasing shareholders.
This requires a fundamentally different approach to how we market and serve our customers.
A CSR advert or ‘Greenwash’ in the Chairman’s annual report won’t cut it. What you do matters more than what you say.
We’ve seen some interesting examples of this in the pandemic. Sports Direct CEO, Mike Ashley, argued his stores should stay open to help the UK keep fit. He then hiked the price of gym equipment by 50%. Tim Martin, the CEO of JD Weatherspoon, wanted his 874 pubs to stay open because ‘there was hardly any risk to the public’. When told to close he laid off all his staff without pay and told them to get a job at Tesco. Tesco, on the other hand, gave all its staff a 10% bonus for the extra work they put in and focused on deliveries to its vulnerable customers. Fullers, the pub chain, cancelled the commercial rents of its tenants, who are in effect the brand’s customers, because “It is imperative as a business we ensure your survival”. What Fullers demonstrated and Weatherspoon did not, is a sense of empathy extended to staff as well as customers.
HomeServe is a leading home repairs and improvements business in UK. It believes in the importance of both a customer focused purpose and of looking after its people so they can give a great customer experience. HomeServe's purpose is centred around making everything easy for its customers. During the first lockdown of the pandemic Greg Reed, its then CEO, was also determined to make things as easy for staff as he could. Everyday Greg and his Exec team would watch the 5pm briefing by the Government. As soon as it ended they jumped on a video call to agree the key points for a daily message for Greg to send all HomeServe employees explaining in simple, clear and reassuring language what the implications of the latest briefing were for them and their families. In addition, they developed a daily roster of personal calls to staff at home just to find out how they and their families were feeling.
The leadership’s empathy for their staff had an unintended positive consequence for Greg and Homeserve’s reputation. Greg’s ratings soared on Glassdoor, the employee review site, and soon he was in the Top 5 CEOs on the site. A success he puts down to a team effort.
What Homeserve demonstrated was a deceptively simple, but powerful process that we summarised in our book ‘See, Feel, Think, Do’. The best leaders observe a situation, empathise, think about how they can improve it and then execute quickly.
These four skills are all important, but arguably, empathy is the most powerful: what Daniel Goleman calls ‘Emotional Intelligence’.
What does all of this mean for brands? Empathy can only be demonstrated by empowered employees. Unfortunately, too many organisations are risk adverse, more concerned with compliance than empathy and so place ‘strait jackets’ on their employees. Banks can be the worst. Yet there are exceptions; First Direct has been winning awards for the past 25 years for its service and remains one of the most highly rated brands in the UK. It has managed this because it made its contact centre an ‘experience centre’. Rather than being a necessary pain point for customers it is a ‘hallmark’ for the brand. First Direct’s claim, ‘The bank built around you’ is not a marketing slogan but a promise to its customers which it empowers its people to deliver. It gives them the decision-making ability to resolve customer issues at the first point of contact personally (no automated systems) and cheerfully.
Timpson, the UK store chain offering shoe repair, key cutting and engraving promises “Great Service by Great People”. That is underpinned by extreme empathy and empowerment. For example, it actively recruits prisoners.
John Timpson, the Chairman, has found that these recruits, because they want to rebuild their lives, are amongst the best of his employees. In fact, he jokes that ex-drug dealers make the best managers because they understand margin management! The shop managers are empowered to do whatever it takes to satisfy the customer. Timpson calls it “Upside Down management’. They have two rules: ‘Look the part and, Put the money in the till’.
We believe we are entering a new and exciting era, one that puts a focus on humanity and empathy. It will require boards and brands to change their priorities. Putting people first will help us all build back better.
Shaun Smith is the founder of award-winning CX consultancy Smith+Co. Andy Milligan is the founding partner of strategic consultancy Caffeine, and managing partner of Smith+Co. To reach them email Shaun and Andy.
More than two sides to an argument
The Behavioural Architects' Crawford Hollingworth and Liz Barker look at an increasingly divided world and ask, is it possible to build a better one using empathy and human connection?
THERE ARE ALWAYS MORE THAN TWO SIDES TO AN ARGUMENT
By Crawford Hollingworth and Liz Barker, The Behavioural Architects
Challenging an entrenched, polarised world
Brexit, Trump, Covid-sceptics, Anti-vaxxers, Climate change deniers...the list of issues which generate highly polarised viewpoints is seemingly growing at an alarming rate. In the US, political polarisation and partisanship have been increasing over the last 50 years. In the UK too, the last four years since the EU referendum have also seen much greater polarisation. And the backlash of responses is also increasing, from cancel culture and no platform, to blocking on social media and even protests. False equivalence in the media is also adding to the fire.
Is it possible to build and shape a better world, with greater empathy and human connection? A world where we can at least maturely agree to disagree, or even find a sliver of common ground? And can brands have a role in helping to facilitate this?
We would very much hope for the answer to be YES. And behavioural science can help, firstly by explaining what gets in the way of empathy and connection and secondly, by providing the tools for anyone - from individuals to brands - to build more empathy.
A lack of empathy can be created by cognitive biases, often inherent to some degree within us.
In particular, we are drawn to overly simplistic two-sided framing - sometimes known as ‘binary bias’ - when we oversimplify large bodies of evidence into two categories. A simple example is how people often try to categorise foods such as chocolate or wine or butter. They're either categorically bad for you or categorically good for you, when in fact the answer is usually more complex.
Various scientists have noted this tendency; in 2004, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins argued that humans often make an either-or classification for ease and reassurance. And in 2018, psychologists Mathew Fischer and Frank Keil conducted research into binary bias, asking people to evaluate a continuous range of data points. They found people tended to sort into just two categories regardless of the strength of the data; meaning we have a tendency to create a dichotomy whether it exists or not. Rather like the stories we read as children with one-sided ‘goodies’ and ‘baddies’, we sort evidence into just two boxes - good, bad; for or against; positive or negative, when in fact the reality is much more nuanced due to the strength of each piece of evidence.
This tendency can also create an illusion of false equivalence, something for which the media is often criticised these days, whereby we are led to assume both ‘sides’ of the argument carry equal weight when in fact one side may be only a tiny minority view with a fragile evidence base. The discussion around climate change over the last few decades is a good example where critics have argued that climate change deniers have been given as much ‘airtime’ as climate change experts and activists.
With this understanding, behavioural science can provide effective tools to build and encourage greater empathy and reduce polarisation.
Amanda Ripley is an investigative journalist who has researched how the media could do a better job of presenting viewpoints and bringing people together. Through her research she has come to believe:
"There are ways to disrupt an intractable conflict… the goal is not to wash away the conflict; it’s to help people wade in and out of the muck (and back in again) with their humanity intact.
[We] will continue to disagree, always; but with well-timed nudges we can help people regain their peripheral vision at the same time."
Amandy Ripley, journalist
One successful strategy, developed by Professor Peter Coleman, a psychologist at the Difficult Conversations Lab at Columbia University, helps two people with opposing views on an issue to find common ground by just tweaking how an issue is framed or presented. Behavioural scientists have found time and time again that how information is presented can influence our perceptions and ultimately our decision-making. The exact language used, emotion conveyed and how numbers are used all have a recognisable impact. Semantically, 'not more than 5% risk' is subtly different to saying 'as much as 5% risk'. Numerically speaking, discussing a potential surgery with a 5% risk of dying feels very different from presenting it as having a 95% chance of success.
Coleman has explored how rather than presenting an issue as merely two-sided, which actually promotes polarisation, an issue can be better communicated by framing it as multi-faceted, with not just two opposing angles, but three or four nuanced angles. “Just providing the other side will only move people further away,” Coleman says.
In his experiments, he invites people with opposing viewpoints on issues like abortion, euthanasia, gun control and the death penalty to come into the lab, pairing them up for a discussion. Before each pair come together for a 20 minute discussion, they are asked to read a short article about another divisive topic. There are three types of article - one which only presents one side of an argument, a second which presents ‘both’ sides of an issue and a third which presents the issue as complex, with many different viewpoints, nuances and shades of grey.
After reading the ‘two-sided’ article, 46% of discussants found they could write and sign a joint statement stating their shared views. However, 100% of those who had been primed by reading the third article beforehand found they could sign a joint statement. The pre-conversation reading made a difference.
Amanda Ripley talks about respectful disagreement - Feb 2019
“[People] don’t solve the debate,” Coleman says, “but they do have a more nuanced understanding and more willingness to continue the conversation.”
Coleman highlights the implications of his findings for the society we live in today: “The more serious problems that our country is divided over today […] are immensely complicated matters. Because this complexity makes us anxious we are often comforted by overly-simplistic solutions offered by members from our side.”
Ripley also points to a slightly different strategy to promote complexity and nuance - moving away from a narrow two-sided frame and widening and broadening the issue. Topical examples today are whether we should still display old statues of historic figures who were involved in slavery, or equalising the distances for men and women in cross-country running. Both topics will generate extremely heated, divisive debates, but broadening the issue to “What is public art? What is included? How should we decide?” or “What part does cross-country running play in the athletic racing season? What athletic performance are we trying to assess?” is likely to lead to more productive, constructive discussion. Talk to most people and you’ll find they don’t like deadlock and impasse; it makes them anxious and uncomfortable; no-one likes feeling negative emotions. So giving them an alternative path of discussion is immensely appealing.
Brands need to be conscious of what division or polarisation they might create. The conversation around BLM and woke is illustrative as it is such a complex issue with so many factors to take in, yet brands continue to make faux-pas. After the 2020 riots so many brands and organisations felt a need to state their position in a very bland, black and white way and may have only embedded polarisation further. Brands can not only steer clear of muddy waters, but can actually help build greater empathy and reduce polarisation. What the research above shows is that brands do not have to pick a side of a polarising argument to appeal and be accepted, but can actually benefit themselves and society by reframing issues with three or four angles, or broadening the issue. It gives marketers the tools to present more nuanced arguments with multiple sides. Coca-Cola succeeded in doing just that with its recent #openlikeneverbefore ad and rather than getting into the politics of the pandemic succeeded in broadening the issue as to how we can collectively appreciate and imagine a better future.
Find out more about The Behavioural Architects and the work they do on LinkedIn.
Coca-Cola and George the Poet present: Open Like Never Before
Clubhouse: the new audio app driving hype back to social
The Fitting Room's MD, Charlotte Mair, looks at Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces as two new places brands can listen to people, and learn things
CLUBHOUSE: THE NEW AUDIO-CHAT APP DRIVING THE HYPE BACK INTO SOCIAL
The Fitting Room's MD, Charlotte Mair, looks at Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces as a great new place for brands to listen
There’s a new voice in town and it’s starting to be heard.
Kevin Hart talks to fans and it gets heated in Clubhouse
Clubhouse has landed. Part talkback radio, part Houseparty, part podcast and part conference call. First launched back in March 2020, Clubhouse was positioned a highly exclusive audio chat, with an invite-only door policy. Created by Silicon Valley professionals Paul Davison and Rohan Seth and funded by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, Clubhouse initially had a slim 3,500 members, that included some of the biggest names in Hollywood. The brand drove a high level of hype, demand, and FOMO in the later part of 2020 with its user list including Oprah, Drake, Bow Wow, Jared Leto, and Kevin Hart. Kevin Hart propelled the social media platform into the mainstream when a room was set up called ‘Is Kevin Hart funny?’. Kevin Hart pulled up to the room, metaphorically to defend his craft and accolades. That’s how it works, members set up rooms for discussions on any subject. People can join the rooms and listen in, and can also be invited on ‘stage’ by the rooms’ moderators to join the discussion and ask questions. Over the last few weeks, the platform has shown some teething problems when big names have appeared to crash the audio-chat. Most recently, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, whose rooms filled within seconds, making multiple ‘overflow’ rooms where people discussed what was happening on stage in the ‘main’ room’. Clubhouse have focused very much on user experience, with the co-founders hosting weekly town halls where they discuss updates and changes coming to the platform. The timing of the platform opening up to a wider audience couldn’t be more apt, at a time where influencers and celebrities are being called out for over-filtered images, Clubhouse makes a great spot for focusing on conversation. Recently we also saw Twitter launch their voiced based ‘Spaces’. Twitter has been testing this area with individuals from underrepresented backgrounds over the last twelve months. The challenge they are all going to find is, how do you moderate these conversations? Particularly around the rise in conversation around the boundaries of freedom of speech, with the recent downfall of Parler app and the removal of Donald Trump on Twitter. Bloomberg reported that the app made a brief uncensored stint in China and was quickly banned after users began discussing the Chinese government's genocide of Uighur Muslims.
In December, the cast of The Lion King performed the hit musical in a Clubhouse room - it was exceptional and was a great example of how voice can bring people together. Since then, there have been interviews with the cast of Hamilton and auditions for the upcoming Dreamgirls tour. While we’re at a time when the world feels very noisy, and most want to use Clubhouse as a platform to be heard, it’s a fantastic place to listen. As brands are challenged with finding more authentic storytelling, businesses are under pressure to deliver diversity and inclusion agendas, Clubhouse offers a space to hear the unheard and discover the undiscovered. You might also be lucky enough to catch a little Hakuna Matata on a Sunday afternoon from The Lion King cast.
The C.R.I.S.I.S. model of crisis management
With his first book, 'Go Luck Yourself: 40 ways for you to stack the odds in your brand’s favour', Lucky Generals' Andy Nairn examines how to better manage a crisis
THE C.R.I.S.I.S. MODEL OF CRISIS MANAGEMENT
With his first book, Go Luck Yourself: 40 ways for you to stack the odds in your brand’s favour Lucky Generals' Andy Nairn, examines how to manage a crisis
It’s now 12 months since Covid-19 arrived in the UK.
And although we’re still in the thick of it, we’ve also had long enough to develop some perspective for the first time. In particular, we can now see that some businesses have coped with misfortune much better than others – and not just because of the sector they’re in. So I thought this might be a good time to capture what we’ve learnt so far – not only from the current pandemic but from previous crises. Cutting to the chase, I believe the combined evidence shows the importance of doing six things well. Namely, Clarify, Review, Involve, Serve, Invest and Strengthen.
Or C.R.I.S.I.S. for short.
First, strong brands Clarify.
Any difficult situation is made worse when there is confusion or simply an absence of information. Either of these creates a vacuum where rumours can spread and fear or anger can set in. So leaders need to be all over the data and quickly establish both the facts and the organisation’s position. In the current crisis, our supermarkets deserve a special mention for defusing the initial panic and ensuring that the food supply chain worked as smoothly as possible. The Government’s own communications have arguably been less clear at times.
Second, organisations need to Review all their existing operations and activity.
Obviously, safety procedures and the like come first. But communications need to be checked too. Sometimes, long-planned campaigns no longer make sense – or might be incendiary. Nobody wants to end up like Spirit Airlines, whose automated email told America that there was “never a better time to fly”, days after the U.S. announced a ban on air travel.
Third, successful companies Involve their people.
A 2015 report by Deloitte noted that most studies of crisis management focus on the ability of employees to help. In contrast, Deloitte’s research found that willingness to assist is a more important factor. In particular, front-line workers need to be listened to, reassured and rallied so that they are motivated to help the organisation recover. It might sound obvious, but brands like Wetherspoons, Topshop and Sports Direct have all been roundly criticised for their treatment of employees during lockdown. Why would workers there want to go the extra mile for their bosses?
Fourth, organisations need to ask themselves how they might Serve the greater good.
In the current crisis, we’ve seen many companies retool their factories to make hand sanitiser, masks and testing kits. We’ve also seen organisations relax payment schedules, bring down paywalls and waive fees, as a gesture of goodwill. But service can be as simple as keeping spirits up.
For instance, we raised smiles by introducing a ridiculously long-spouted “social-distancing teapot” for Yorkshire Tea. Obviously, humour needs to be handled carefully in a crisis but, used in the right way, at the right time, it can be hugely appreciated. In fact, our research – conducted at the peak of the first lockdown, in April 2020 - showed that 90% of the UK’s population felt “keeping a sense of humour is important in times like these.”
Yorkshire Tea's social distancing teapot
Fifth, organisations should continue to Invest.
A Harvard Business Review study from 2010 found that fewer than 10% of companies typically emerge stronger, after a recession. These are the ones who cut non-essential costs but continue to invest in marketing support and innovation.
Finally, organisations should aim to Strengthen themselves.
It’s always tempting to go “back to normal” after a sudden disruption. But as Nassim Nicholas Taleb declared in his 2012 best-seller Anti-fragile: things that gain from disorder, companies should not simply try to be “resilient”. Instead, they should aim to improve under pressure. This means locking in positive changes that have come about through disruption and accelerating improvements that have been thrown up in the chaos.
What you will hopefully notice about this model, is that it’s not driven by opportunistic exploitation. Instead, it’s centred around making the situation better for everyone – and improving yourself in the process.
As such, it’s a rejection of a mantra that was often heard at the start of pandemic: Churchill’s (probably apocryphal) advice that “you should never let a crisis go to waste”. Of course, some companies will always profit from the human misery, tragedy and disruption of a crisis. But even leaving aside the moral arguments against this, we should be mindful that consumers will punish such gleeful attitudes over the long-term.
Put another way: if the last 12 months has taught us anything, it’s that Luck doesn’t look kindly on brands who chase ambulances – it favours those who purchase them, support them and kit them out.
This article has been adapted from Andy's new book, Go Luck Yourself: 40 ways to stack the odds in your brand’s favour and is available for pre-order. Follow Andy on Twitter @andynairn
Does marketing have an empathy problem?
New Ways' Founder, Letesia Gibson, says we're at a time when our need for empathy has never been greater, and brands need to make more space for emotional and compassionate empathy if they're going to connect with people
DOES MARKETING HAVE AN EMPATHY PROBLEM?
New Ways' Founder, Letesia Gibson, says we're at a time when our need for empathy has never been greater, and brands need to make more space for emotional and compassionate empathy if they're going to connect with people
Good marketing has always had its finger on the pulse of what the people want and has worked hard to put this at the heart of the business.
Yet as businesses are working out how to be more inclusive and what this means for the role of their brands, there is a growing community who are impatiently waiting for you to catch up to their needs, wants and aspirations for our future together.
We’re at a time in society when the need to use genuine empathy as our guide has never been greater. With a significant shift in people’s expectations for the contribution of brands to wider social issues, the Endelman report of 2020 shows an upward trend of new demand for brands to get where they are and what matters most to them.
When it comes to inclusive marketing, people are asking brands to be more active in the fight against systemic racism and discrimination and to be visible in celebrating diversity and inclusivity. There’s sensitivity to how identity is used, to be smarter about seeing whole people not just one aspect of identity, and to walk the tightrope of balancing authentic representation with authentic intention. Diversity is as much about what happens behind the camera as what’s shown on screens. People want genuine activism on issues preventing black and brown joy so that the celebration of them has backbone and substance.
Brand owners navigating this landscape need the full power of empathy to get there.
The kind of empathy that is multi-faceted and is about understanding the outside as much as the inside. Yet as our obsession with data has grown, we’ve lost connection with the humanity that comes from really understanding the full context of people, their world and how it intersects and is influenced by our own. We need to get back there, quickly.
One could argue that much of business understanding of people comes from a kind of empathy called cognitive empathy. This is a thinking empathy that exercised from a distance; outsiders looking in to better understand another group. We give lip service to their wider context, but mainly this kind of understanding others seems like othering and can feel quite intellectual. Probably so because we’ve looked at consumers rather than people most of the time.
But when we turn our marketing gaze to look at how we respond to these broader, bigger social issues, this limited kind of empathy is problematic. Not really connected with the whole person and their context. And what’s more concerning is that it comes loaded with all our bias and assumptions in how we decode what we hear and what we ask about in the first place.
So, whilst we’re walking a mile in someone else’s shoes, we can only take the route we know. With the obvious lack of diversity in the industry, there is a white, middle class monoculture informing that viewpoint.
Fundamentally, teams that lack diversity and operate at a cognitive empathy level are not equipped to find their way through cultural context and nuance and this means the risk of tokenism, cultural insensitivity and unintentional racism is higher. We saw this in the white liberal feminism biased Women’s Hour interview of Zara Mohammed, the newly appointed Secretary General of Muslim Council of Britain, criticised for being ‘white women’s hour’. It’s visible in the most recent ad from Walkers announcing their KFC collaboration with their complete disregard for their contribution to negative racial stereotyping and lack of understanding of the performative blackness that needs challenging.
BBC Woman’s Hour receives backlash after ‘aggressive’ interview with MCB's first female leader
What feels important to make much more space for is emotional empathy,
that comes when we deeply listen not to what people say but how and why they say it. It’s this kind of empathy that allows people feel truly seen and heard. For an industry that prides itself on emotional connection, there’s not enough different people being truly seen. In the work I do in embedding anti-racism in organisations, the biggest barrier to emotional empathy is being overly preoccupied with one’s own emotions and reactions about racism or other isms we are trying to avoid.
Effectively, it stops us being there for others and keeps our fear as the loudest voice in the room. When we can get out of our own way, we can use this empathy to start powerful conversations that enable perspective shifts, enrich worldviews, and bring us closer together. It can help us not only see the person but to better see more clearly how we are in relation to them. I loved the way Mattel’s vlogger Barbie used her platform to help a generation of young people and their parents step into a conversation about race with emotional empathy at its core. What made it so powerful was the willingness of Mattel to show its own vulnerability as well as be a facilitator for honest, real conversation. Supported by a wider diversity mission it made the whole thing feel positively authentic. Nike Japan ruffled feathers by sparking a conversation about the treatment of bi-racial and minority ethnic athletes, by showing the emotional impact of bullying and racism experienced.
Barbie and Nikki discuss racism
I truly hope that compassionate empathy is a destination that brands are aspiring to.
Those using empathic concern to guide real world action are already gaining the respect of the growing tribe seeking meaningful activism from brand owners. This sweet spot where genuine connection to what people need meets organisational power that responsibly and respectfully is helping to effect change. It brings humility, social responsibility and willing to learn into the work of business strategy. These are businesses that are genuinely doing the work inside and are now unlocking the power of their brands to elevate their impact externally.
The Future Isn't Waiting | Nike Japan
We’ve seen this happen in impromptu ways, such as the collective response of retailers to the backlash of racism towards Sainsbury’s Christmas ad from Sainsburys. It’s also there in ambitious racial justice impact visions for businesses like Unilever who want to see a measurable impact from their brands on structural racism itself.
These commitments are not without risk, they take courage and a readiness to try out new ways of being and working. Ending hair discrimination is a huge undertaking by Dove and considering how much Unilever has benefited from white beauty ideals in the past and how ingrained those same ideals are in the mind of many black and brown women. But those in the full throws of leading businesses driven by compassionate empathy are willing to take risks, take on big fights and stand up for what feels right. Anti-racism is about using all the tools at your disposal to bring about change, so I say bring it on.
