EMPOWER issue 7 'divided and connected' July 2020
Exploring divided and connected, looking at how brands can understand people through research and why we should understand the symbols we use
Issue 7 - divided and connected
Since our last issue on activism and purpose the world has become, at once, even more divided and connected. This month our writers look to understand the complexities of people through research, how we can create value from remote togetherness, why we need to understand the symbols we use, how leaders can foster a sense of virtual belonging with their teams, and how brands have been taking meaningful activist action.
Michael Piggott, Editor
RESEARCH
Gemma Jones - Culture and Strategy, says, if brands are to be a guiding light in a messy world, they must acknowledge the complexity of people through research
(5 MINS)
VALUE
BVA Nudge Unit Singapore's CEO, Richard Bordenave, looks to the experiential reality coming out of China and new spaces brands are exploring as they create value from togetherness
(7 MINS)
ACTIVISM
Founder of Time for New Ways, Letesia Gibson, investigates behaviour brands and how they've been taking meaningful activist action on Black Lives Matter
(7 MINS)
LEADERSHIP
Building team belonging virtually is tough, but there are five approaches or levers that leaders can take for a more inclusive culture, says Katie Lee, CEO of Lucky Generals
(5 MINS)
BEHAVIOUR
The Behavioural Architects' Crawford Hollingworth and Liz Barker examine how brands can help the human mind adapt to our more physically disconnected new world
(10 MINS)
SYMBOLS
Cultural expert and semiotician, Becks Collins, on why we need to understand the symbols we use and why brands need to step up, do their research and use them responsibly
(5 MINS)
TECHNOLOGY
5G will change how we participate in concerts, conferences and sporting events forever, says Verizon Media RYOT Studio's Head of EMEA, Mark Melling
(5 MINS)
LAST WORD
Our former chief executive reflects on her time at the Society, including launching the three-year Brave trilogy, pushing boundaries and tackling taboos
(7 MINS)
Brands, ignore complexity at your peril!
Cultural Researcher and Strategist Gemma Jones says, if brands are to be a guiding light in a messy world, they must acknowledge the complexity of people through research
Reflecting on complexity - valuing it, working with it and committing to change
Words by Gemma Jones, a researcher and strategist specialising in cross-cultural insights, semiotics and design futures
Marketers are in the business of holding a
mirror up to the world and finding strategies, customers and brand identities somewhere in the reflection. As we find ourselves thrust into sharp focus by a pandemic, a civil rights movement and climate collapse, it’s time for some serious reflection on the how and the why behind what we do. For too long, too many of us have been walking a hall of two-way mirrors, reflecting a warped reality that obscures the bigger picture.
The explosion of context
The world is incredibly complex and as John Sterman says “there are no side-effects, only effects”. With any marketing question, there is a web of context to negotiate - finding out about say, laundry behaviours, implies a whole set of cultural, economic and symbolic cues subtly informing consumer preference and brand loyalty. This is because consumers are people and they are engaged in complex ways with culture. But so often because of factors like deadlines, actionability and presentation formats we try to reduce the wonderful complexity of people into charts and segments. Like many powerful systems, including governments, media platforms, education and businesses, marketing has a habit of reducing complexity so that the message is clearer. But messages have the power to reinforce norms or create change. I’ve seen too many instances where sustainability has been reduced to a narrative for a certain type of consumer or category. As though, a single parent of four working nights is not impacted by environmental issues because they don’t fall into the ‘sensorially curious nature lover’ segment.
Maybe our frameworks are broken when a humanity-defining issue like sustainability just won’t fit?
If brands and services are to be a guiding light in a messy world, they must acknowledge complexity through research, work with it and reflect on their role in a much bigger picture.
Widen the lens
One way to work with complexity is to widen the lens of research. A cultural framing helps - history, semiotics and anthropology are disciplines rooted in the negotiation of contextual complexity in qualitative and quantitative data. Try looking at your marketing strategy as a historical event, a product of its context with many interconnected sources that support and challenge its validity. This might sound too cerebral but it’s powerful to simply ask the kinds of questions a historian asks - ‘what are the invisible assumptions underpinning this document?’, ‘who is speaking and who is silenced in this dialogue?’ and ‘how has this strategy gone wrong, and for who?’. A commercial semiotician looks to make explicit the implicit cues that shape particular assumptions and behaviours. A powerful tool for interpreting and influencing consumer perceptions, but it’s perhaps equally empowering for organisations and sectors to put themselves under the semiotic lens. A process of decoding can reveal the holding patterns of meaning that are limiting the connections we can make. This isn’t just about identifying opportunities for category disruption, but holding ourselves accountable for our internal biases by seeing how they work, by making them explicit.
A commercial semiotician looks to make explicit the implicit cues that shape particular assumptions and behaviours
Working on creative strategy for diversity in beauty communications illuminated for me the worrying depth of implicit meaning patterns within organisations. It seems there is an invisible threshold for acceptably diverse beauty images - ultimately limiting the cultural impact of creative and the positive progression of the industry. Perhaps the missing prequel to the research brief is an analysis of the organisation’s diversity commitment. Anthropologists can teach us a lot about observing human behaviour with full awareness of the relative cultural position and biases of the observer. Erasing yourself from the data feels cleaner but it continues the false division between marketer and consumer, brand and culture. Come out from behind the two-way mirror. For instance with the practice of ‘embodied’ fieldwork, the researcher uses their own lived experience to understand a product or service and the context around it - we carry so much intuitive knowledge of the world in our bodies, we shouldn’t be afraid to use it.
Both acknowledging our cultural position and valuing our own embodied knowledge point to the commercial and ethical imperative for diversity within research and strategy teams.
We carry so much intuitive knowledge of the world in our bodies, we shouldn’t be afraid to use it
Upping the ‘anti’ on our ‘isms’
Much has been said about a move from a passive stance on racism toward a proactively ‘anti’ role. This has provided useful and powerful language for how change really happens. It’s also signalled a reckoning for companies who use the public face of their brand to support marginalized people while continuing practices that reinforce inequality. Adidas’s statement on Twitter; "We've celebrated athletes and artists in the Black community and used their image to define ourselves culturally as a brand, but missed the message in reflecting such little representation within our walls." shows a new and necessary kind of honest reflection on the double standards of marketing practice.
The North Face and REI, the latest brands (at the time of writing) to pull advertising from Facebook as a response to the company’s perpetuation of hate speech, indicates a move toward media planning strategies that consider cultural complexity as an ethical matter. The Ellen McArthur Foundation is working with brands to shift the sustainability agenda toward circularity; it's no longer enough to be clean, to really make a difference brands need to be regenerative. These are just a few examples of ‘anti’ marketing activity that is still the exception to the rule. But part of taking on this ‘anti’ commitment is that you commit everyday; as legislation shifts, suppliers change policies, resources deplete etc.
Backcasting looks forward to a possible or preferred future and then maps out the steps needed to take us there
As marketers we must push to be part of the nitty gritty conversations about supply chain, delivery systems, performance metrics and human resources. We can’t be agents of ‘anti’ until we are connecting the dots, internally and externally. As an industry we have cultivated a huge toolkit of foresight methods but not many of them prepare us to be agents of ‘anti’. A ‘backcasting’ approach can help us make sense of our proactive role in change. Backcasting looks forward to a possible or preferred future and then maps out the steps needed to take us there, starting with today. This isn’t the same as a pipeline of activity toward a new product or campaign, it's a picture of the events that need to happen to manifest change.
If there’s anything we can learn from the world right now, it's that we ignore complexity at our peril and we need our ways of thinking, framing and doing to reflect that. If we don’t analyse our place in the big narratives of change - as individuals, companies and as an industry - we risk perpetuating harm and not even seeing ourselves doing it.
Gemma is a cultural researcher and strategist and co-founder of the School of Critical Design. Connect on LinkedIn and follow her Instagram
Remote togetherness
Emerging after COVID-19: how can brands create value from remote togetherness. BVA Nudge Unit Singapore's CEO, Richard Bordenave, looks to the experiential reality coming out of China and new spaces brands are beginning to explore
REMOTE TOGETHERNESS
Emerging after COVID-19: how can brands create value from remote togetherness. BVA Nudge Unit Singapore's CEO, Richard Bordenave, looks to the experiential reality coming out of China and new spaces brands are beginning to explore
A new dimension for brands and customer experience
COVID-19 has created the conditions for a new type of human experience to emerge. One where physical and digital dimensions blend in a way that will transform our journeys with other people forever. As individuals as well as groups, we were all forced to dive into digital solutions to overcome our newfound life limitations during lockdown. The general and simultaneous adoption around the globe of tools to “connect” with each other has abolished frictions, distances, and physical limits. At the same time, it has created new opportunities to share very real experiences with others, no matter where they are and no matter how many of you there are.
The fact that everyone has endured similar challenges during lockdown at both a personal level and a societal level has also been critical. With enough variations in time and culture across countries, the various comparison points have fuelled a unique global conversation around our human condition, revealing our interdependencies at multiple levels. The synchronisation of our lives virtually has suddenly diverted our tools (Zoom, Teams…) from their communication or work functions to become “life enhancers” in a broader sense.
Beyond just talking, or deciding with others, we have exercised, learnt, dated, cooked, drank with each other.
We have learnt to share meaning and sensations in a synchronous manner… although on different sides of a screen. It is our emotional connection with a pinch of unpredictability that has recreated this “salt of life” and allowed new rituals to emerge. Indeed, although we have decoupled some senses (like touch, or smell), the combination of mobile and livestreaming technology as extensions of our bodies has made it possible to recreate a unique experience of “remote togetherness”.
China: where everything started
It is in China that this new “experiential” reality has first emerged, and not only because they had to manage COVID-19 consequences ahead of other countries, but because many other factors were pre-existing, offering perfect conditions for blended experimentation. China has one of the most advanced digital ecosystems in the world with an unparalleled level of personal mobile equipment, making it easy for everyone to adopt new behaviours “at hand”. It is also the country where ecommerce is one the most developed (with Alibaba, Taobao, JD…) and is now shifting to content ecommerce and social commerce (With platforms like Pinduoduo, or Little Red Book). Brands here massively leverage the power of influencers to drive traffic from social networks (like TikTok/Douyin) to content platforms where they can share product reviews, seek for advice from the community, watch a livestream demo, or buy the product. Converting the online retail experience into a social interaction has become the new normal: for shopping entertainment, gifting, as well as group deal purpose. The focus on live experience “see now shop now”, special event “days” and key opinion leader guests… has only accelerated to a new level during COVID, emphasizing the value of “now”.
How things have accelerated
The lockdown has suddenly accelerated digital transformation, forcing businesses or institutions to find alternative ways to operate; and experimenting with new ways to stay in touch with their customers or members. During the lockdown, everyone in China - from in-store advisors to company CEOs to government officials, and even farmers - jumped on the livestreaming bandwagon to sell anything and everything. JingDong organised livestream parties with famous DJs, where alcohol brands could be purchased and delivered at home. On the retail side, after O2O (offline to online and vice-versa) a new acronym is born OMO: offline merges online, to highlight the deeply intertwined realities allowing you to access virtual tours in shops, share impressions with others, and buy online.
Credit, this and cover photo: Elizabeth Renstrom for The New Yorker
And some businesses relying on social value of being together, likes bars and restaurants, have created a new reality online. Like BrewDog, a pub in the U.K. who turned its app into an ecommerce platform to sell its signature products as delivery, and then later created a virtual bar on Zoom to allow its patrons to share the same beer, from different locations, but together on the same screen. In New York, a restaurant named Junzi invented the concept of “distance dining”, inspired by what was happening in China. Junzi provides an elaborate three-course meal that is cooked, but to be finalised and served by the customer. Every week new menus are available, and diners can connect on Instagram to listen to chef tips and share their impressions and pictures of the food they have prepared. No one would have guessed that a restaurant could go “virtual”, but it is actually the re-invention of the sensorial and social experience via digital that has made it possible.
New spaces that brands have just started to explore
Leveraging a new normal where off/online, content/channel and sales/equity blend into a unique brand experience continuum, brands can explore new value propositions linked with the decoupling of social dimension, physical presence and live. Here are a few notable inspirations where “remote” and “togetherness” can deliver new value creation opportunities for consumers in the real world as well as the digital one:
How to livestream to Chinese consumers
The value of “far and authentic”: a live yoga lesson with a group and a yoga master based in the mountains in India suddenly has another spiritual dimension.
The value of “micro-docking”: everyone has experienced the complexity of having an appropriate physical space to connect (sound, light, Wi-Fi connections…) at home. Hospitality brands could offer pop-up docking services with isolation bubbles, as accessible doors to “remote” others.
The value of “group generated content”: workshops have moved online and made collaborative work easier through virtual walls and moderation tools. Brands can get their super-consumers to work together to create relevant initiatives, like Taobao Live has created groups for professional content creation.
40 Min At Home Workout: Traci Copeland | NTC Community Workout: Week 7 | Nike
The value of “crowd solving”: now connecting a group of experts from around the world has never been so easy to solve collective issues or start a social movement. Beyond teaching (one way), brands can become connectors that help people help themselves (like IT communities).
The value of “peer pressure”: working groups are now using peer pressure to support their commitment to deep-dive work done in a joint sessions (like in a virtual library), like Nike offered online coaching during lockdown.
The value of “celebrations with mates”: organising an online party with fans and celebrities that could be reproduced in a physical environment like Chipotle.
Richard is CEO of BVA Nudge Unit Singapore. Follow him @r_bordernave
As the world divides, brands can show us the way with unity
Founder of New Ways, Letesia Gibson, investigates behaviour brands and how they've been taking meaningful activist action on Black Lives Matter
AS THE WORLD DIVIDES, BRANDS CAN SHOW US THE WAY WITH UNITY
Founder of New Ways, Letesia Gibson, investigates behaviour brands and how they've been taking meaningful activist action on Black Lives Matter
“As the world divides, brands can show us the way with unity”
As a nation, we’ve become used to living with separation, four years of Brexit has been the perfect training ground. But it’s taken this lockdown to really bring home the scale of division we are truly living with (14 million and rising living in poverty, COVID setting women’s equality efforts back by years, and significant health inequalities for BAME people). The truth is we are a million miles from ‘all in it together’.
The (sadly) new realisation that implicit racism is everywhere is a tough pill to swallow. Partly because being hard to see makes it challenging to fix. Partly because we now see that it’s been in plain sight all along, and we all are complicit in keeping it alive. It’s deeply confronting and challenging for everyone. Consequently, we are an emotionally and spiritually Broken Britain. Honestly, as a mixed race, working class woman, the picture looks bleak. We’ve lost faith in our government to bring us equality. Our institutions are struggling; we hear the quiet admissions that our schools, universities, health service, the arts, museums and the police force all need some kind of reform. We’re certainly bringing new meaning to the Cool Britannia brand, with so many Britons literally being left out in the cold.
Brand and marketing workplaces are no exception. Our cultures and structures have, most likely unintentionally, divided us and enabled inequality. As much as we’re trying to conduct ‘business as usual’ our people are carrying the heavy weight of shaken foundations. The idea that brands are somehow protected from, or separate to this, is a fallacy. People build brands, and it is their choices that uphold or challenge structural racism, so they need to be subject to the same critical eye. And, more than that, brands are an integral part of our shared culture. They contribute to it and benefit from it. I for one want to know what Dove thinks about race protests, if Pimms feels awkward about what being quintessentially British now means, or why Nike isn’t doing more to stamp out overt racism in British football.
In the absence of inspiring leadership, I find myself looking for comfort and a tiny number of brands are an unlikely source of reassurance. We’ve already seen some brands bring hope at a time of lockdown despair, but on the tricky question of race, few are really stepping up to the plate. Those that are feel like a beacon of hope. It is genuinely meaningful to see brands and the businesses behind them championing my values, standing up for what matters most and critically connecting to me on a human level, as a fellow citizen of our society.
Conflicted brands
I’m not talking about the shame based back-tracking actions such as whitening products being hastily pulled from shelves, or racist imagery being taken off of iconic global brands. This erasing feels like a last ditch attempt to cling onto an outdated belief that brands can be ‘neutral’. We’ve seen it before, and we see through it. Remember Starbucks closing all of its stores for a 4 hours of unconscious bias training?
A 'fairness' serum and cleanser from Johnson & Johnson
The ability to take such drastic action so quickly speaks volumes about the power of white privilege.
Nor am I talking about the brands engaging in ‘performance anti-racism’. Well-meaning black squares, signed industry letters issued at the same time as examples of racist behaviour happening on the inside of those businesses. Good intentions have kept us in the performance space for decades. They allow us to side-step difficult conversations, to not do the work of looking deeply at ourselves and allow us to avoid putting meaningful budgets and energy behind real change.
Instead I’m talking about the minority that have stepped forward to play an active role in creating a better future. They have looked at their values and core purpose and asked themselves, are we really showing up to them? They have stepped into uncomfortable conversation to ask themselves, and to invite us to join them, to become better humans. They stand for unity, representing the 99.9% of our DNA that we share. They recognise the importance of holding and championing a vision for a better kind of society. They don’t have all the answers, but they believe all of us have a role to play in finding them.
I’m calling these brands behaviour brands. And we need more of them.
Behaviour brands take meaningful activist action
They put their money where their mouth is. They take action that feels risky, that potentially costs, but is absolutely necessary when one behaves from a place of principle. Good examples are Patagonia and Northface no longer advertising on facebook in protest of its promotion of hate speech. Agencies like Wieden + Kennedy unequivocally requesting employees, partners and clients share their anti-racist values to work with them. This is what activist action looks like.
They see everyone as a leader
In an age where brands and the businesses behind them are inextricably connected, it’s those that see everyone as having the potential to effect change and be part of the solution that stand out. Whether it’s the social media team at Yorkshire Tea or CEOs taking on racism commentary on their social feed, these businesses encourage each one of us to take personal responsibility to speak up and stand firm in our values. The skills to do this confidently may not be available to everyone, but businesses serious about their anti-racist stance need to nurture them if they want to be part of rebuilding our divided society.
They have uncomfortable conversations
Talking about racism is one of the hardest things to do. But talk about it we must, because fixing this problem needs us to come together. Some businesses are not only getting into the messy challenge of difficult talk but are also being vulnerable about where they’re getting it wrong. This feels so important to acknowledge. I’ve been particularly impressed by the humility shown by 23&Me and Octopus Energy (right) who transparent about their efforts to become better equality role models.
There’s a long way to go. Businesses need to start getting their houses in order so that their brands can also have a voice at this important time. More than ever, our society needs thought leadership, active repair of damaged culture and inspiring vision of hope for a brighter future. I believe there is a place for brands at the table of change, opportunity to use their influence and privilege for good and to play an active role in creating new solutions together with their communities. But they can only do that when then there is genuine integrity in how the businesses behind them are responding too.
Letesia is founder of New Ways. Follow her on Twitter @LetesiaG
Belonging in a virtual world
Building team belonging virtually is tough, but there are five approaches leaders can take for a more inclusive culture, says Katie Lee, CEO of Lucky Generals
BELONGING IN A VIRTUAL WORLD
Building team belonging virtually is tough, but there are five approaches leaders can take for a more inclusive culture, says Katie Lee, CEO of Lucky Generals
The three key components of intrinsic motivation, according to Pink in his 2009 book Drive, are autonomy, mastery and purpose.
I’ve always been a big fan of this framework as a way to build and measure our talent management strategy. However, I’ve always thought it lacked a fourth component, one of belonging, probably the thing that I find the most motivating of all. Right now, I believe that belonging couldn’t be more important, not just as people are missing those daily connections but also with the need for all companies to look inwards and ask themselves why their diversity isn’t yet where it should be.
As we look at how we continue to motivate the Generals, you’d think it would be simple to move to a virtual world forever and forego the office. After all, autonomy, mastery and purpose can all still be achieved through careful meeting structures, team and portfolio management and a very clear vision. But I think you are missing out on so many really important motivational nudges if you don’t add belonging to that list. And building belonging in a virtual world is tough, as we’re already dipping deeply into our cultural reserves right now (luckily the culture bank is doing ok).
Cut to a few weeks ago and a training course I attended run by Utopia which talked about 5 levers of belonging. As is the case every time I do one of their courses, I was inspired.
What was most interesting and unexpected, though, was the realisation that our office behaviour during lockdown has actually given us a number of interesting and useful tools for achieving the all-important feeling of belonging. Tools I hope we preserve when we get back to a slightly more ‘business as usual’ mode, and as we focus on how to continue to build a more inclusive culture.
The five levers of belonging
Connection
Team rituals
Cultural intelligence
Feeling valued
Psychological safety
Connection
I’m not saying that we have cracked all of this in lockdown, but we have noticed some of the ways we’ve been working remotely have led to a more thoughtful working environment. For example, if connection is all about moments of care and checking in, then we have become much better at starting meetings talking about how we are feeling as well as spontaneously checking in with people that we realise we haven’t spoken to in a while. It’s all too easy to forget that when you see them every day in the office and keeping space for this honest connection in the future would be a real positive to come out of this.
Team rituals
If team rituals are all about having set routines for communication, then we have really surpassed ourselves here. At the start of lockdown, we created Quarantime, our content series specifically created to keep us connected. Over the past few months, this has seen all sorts of Games masters rise to the challenge and all sorts of people from around the agency have played a part. The day starts with a Spotify playlist, there’s a lunchtime game, quiz or yoga class and then something to finish the day - often a birthday singalong. We have also brought our famous agency singalongs to Zoom with Andy Nairn, one of the founders, lifting our spirits through specially written songs. As I’m sure is the case with many agencies, our team rituals used to focus around the pub, but lockdown has widened the variety of those rituals, got more people involved in leading them and, I’m very happy to say, uncovered many a hidden talent. I’m looking forward to these continuing and broadening even more into the future.
Psychological safety
But I’d be lying if I said it was all rosy. There have been some wonderful lockdown moments but it’s been tough too. Building psychological safety in new working environments under stressful conditions isn’t easy. The zoom environment plays to some people’s strengths but others get lost. If you like to ponder, to build on other’s points quietly and not take centre stage, then it’s all too easy for you to suddenly find yourself saying nothing in a meeting. We still haven’t solved that but we have identified the need to be generous and thoughtful and learn a new way of interacting in the virtual world that gives everyone the time and space to be themselves.
Feeling valued
I’d like to think we were already pretty good at giving feedback and having one-to-one sessions, and that during lockdown we’ve become all the more conscious of the need for those check-ins. Not only are we catching up much more regularly in our teams, but we are also always on time (the biggest sign of respect) and they are rarely cancelled. We are valuing these moments now more than ever, not just because we can feel so isolated otherwise, but because we’re getting better as a result. Sometimes I think those 1:1s are even more valuable virtually as they are intense, incredibly focused and sometimes the screen allows more honesty and perspective than is possible in a cramped meeting space in the middle of a manic day. Maybe I’ll move more of my 1:1s into my new flexible working lifestyle?
Cultural intelligence
And finally, we have found being apart during the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement really tough. We had started building a resource library on this subject, and this had been swept to one side in the wake of Covid (the old adage of urgent vs important ringing true as always). So we’ve been connecting virtually to share learning and resource, to take time to educate ourselves and each other. It’s great having the space to learn but it’s lonely not being able to get together in a connected way to talk about things that aren’t easy to talk about, and even harder in such an unnatural environment. If we can make a good start here then I’m hoping that we’ve paved the way for a richer learning environment IRL.
Looking back over the last few months, there’s an incredible amount we can learn from it and we’re lucky enough to have credit in the culture bank to keep us going. But we can’t rely on that lasting until we’re back together, so we need to celebrate what’s been working and work even harder on those areas that we know are more important than ever. We all have a long way to go but putting belonging at the centre of that motivational framework is a good place to start.
Katie Lee is Chief Executive at Lucky Generals. Follow them on Twitter @luckygenerals
Filling the physical and online void
How brands can help the human mind adapt to our new, more physically disconnected world. Words by Crawford Hollingworth and Liz Barker of The Behavioural Architects
HOW BRANDS CAN HELP THE HUMAN MIND ADAPT TO OUR NEW, MORE PHYSICALLY DISCONNECTED WORLD
Words by Crawford Hollingworth and Liz Barker of The Behavioural Architects
Part one: bridging the forced physical void in social interactions
In this article we look at how the ‘physical void’ created by the Covid-19 pandemic – firstly, the loss of physical social connection, touch and closeness, and secondly, more multisensory, in-store purchase experiences - may be accelerating us toward alternative solutions and experiences. Behavioural science and psychology illustrate how multisensory experiences actually augment our experience so that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, making them more emotive and memorable, or easier to navigate and respond to. The last few months have seen an intense ‘physical void’ thrust upon us. Whilst we have been able to hear and see, we have been unable to touch others or even come physically close enough to feel ‘in their presence’. We’ve also been limited in where we can go and what we can do, resulting in a greatly reduced multisensory experience.
Physical distancing in some form is likely to be with us for a long time, driven in part by our own cautiousness, as well as new norms and security regulations. In a June survey of over 500 epidemiologists, the New York Times found that a significant proportion (42%) thought they would not hug or shake hands for more than a year. There is also a growing recognition that deadly pandemics will continue to be a likely scenario for the future.
Whilst some behaviours with extended family and close friends will return to normal, many of us will remain wary, even avoiding particular situations. We may no longer feel comfortable tightly packed together in small spaces. We have developed new habits, routines and self-enforced behaviours which help us to feel safer and more comfortable. In other situations, we will see physical distancing forced upon us, particularly at large events or in work environments.
Consequently, there will be a need to fill this physical void offering an opportunity for ways to do this. The human mind is amazingly adaptable and plastic; neuroscience research has illustrated how the loss of one sense can result in the intensifying of another; the blind compensate for the loss of sight with enhanced hearing and touch; the deaf are much more sensitive to subtle movement and vibration which can alert them to sounds. Some neuroscientists also believe the brain can find ways to compensate for touch too. Professor of Neuroscience, Francis McGlone says “If this evolutionary system is in any way disturbed or interrupted, brains are good at finding compensation... If you remove a reward system, the brain will try to find some other way to get that reward.”
Psychologists have found that sensory effects help to augment or heighten an experience; combining related sound, smell, sight and touch together makes what is called a congruent multisensory environment. For example, we perceive crisps to be fresher when we hear the ‘crunch’ sound – we don’t rely on touch and taste alone. Sensory effects also often help us to navigate something better, providing feedback – think of the visual, sound and tactile experience of using a tablet or smartphone. In social interactions we take in a huge amount of information via non-verbal cues, often unconsciously. It is likely, therefore, that the new normal will drive and accelerate the growth and adaptation of new technology or ways of doing things to fill this multisensory and physical void. These solutions may prove to be better than what went before.
New ways to rebuild lost human connection
Many families have had limited or no contact in recent months, something that is emotionally stressful. But imagine if, while video chatting, a mother could stroke her child, a child could touch their grandparent’s arm, or a hospital patient could hold hands with their spouse. It sounds unbelievable, but virtual and augmented reality technologies are making these outcomes increasingly possible and could revolutionise communication. Last year, a new lightweight, wirelessly powered synthetic skin was developed by a team at Northwestern University. The ultra-thin, flexible fabric-like patch can be stuck onto any part of the body and gently vibrates against the skin to simulate tactile pressure-based sensations - like the gentle touch of a hand. A demo showed the mother-child scenario above actually happening. There is more potential too - it might be possible to sense a stronger or lighter touch, different temperatures or different types of sensations. Other research teams in Switzerland and Singapore have developed similar devices - the fingertip and a sensory glove, respectively. It’s easy to see how this technology could dramatically improve our current tactile deprivation. Imagine the solace for the many who might have been able to remotely ‘touch’ the hand of a parent in a care home.
It may take time for tactile technologies like these to come on stream, but other communication technologies are already evolving and helping to make people feel more connected by recreating the ‘in-the-room’ social ease and commonality we experience with others IRL.
HBO recently partnered with start-up Scener to launch a ‘virtual movie theatre’ experience. New technology allows parties of up to 20 subscribers to livestream their chosen show “together” via a Google Chrome extension. and Netflix offers something similar. Initiatives like these help to facilitate some of the shared experiences we have lost. However, psychologists note that these technologies can be a big drain on energy as we attempt to socially interact on screen. The lack of many of the essential non-verbal cues we rely on face-to-face can lead to ‘zoom fatigue’ or even ‘Zoombies’.
Connect with friends while streaming your favorite HBO programs, together
But there is an opportunity for innovation to solve these challenges.
The current situation offers an exciting test market for innovators. Improved virtual and augmented reality technologies in development will improve social interactions by delivering a more immersive, multisensory experience. Ultra-high-resolution screens and cinematic surround sound will make the virtual world appear identical to the real one.
The much heralded 5G will also facilitate these much-improved VR and AR technologies. Its speeds will be a thousand times faster than 4G and reduce delay by 75% to just 10 milliseconds.
Summary/key take-aways
There remains a huge opportunity to bridge the physical void that will be the norm for a while to come. The concept of ‘new normal’ will drive and accelerate the growth of new technology to fill the void, to build back human social connection in ways that will feel revolutionary and empowering. This is just the end of the beginning.
Part two: filling the multisensory online void
It’s not only social connections which suffer from the physical void. The last few months have forced an acceleration in digital sales with limited sensory contact - certainly no touch or smell - pre purchase. Online sales in the UK jumped from 19% in January to a record 30% in April as a proportion of all retail. In 2018 this figure was just 18%. Many stores have also switched to trading online for the first time in an attempt to stay afloat. Pre-pandemic consumers often made ‘hybrid’ purchases where they combined the benefits of in-store and online; handling or testing a product in-store before buying online. Now, lacking the confidence, ease, or opportunity to go into a store as freely as we used to, people are increasingly buying without the benefits of touch and smell. Yet psychologists and behavioural scientists have found that sensory experiences - sound, smell, touch and ‘3D sight’ - are often a powerful driving force for our purchase decisions. Let’s look at touch:
● Confidence: Professor Bertil Hulten, Linnaeus University, Sweden, comments “Seeing is reinforced by touch, in that touch helps us get a fuller understanding of what we see.” A fuller understanding can mean we have greater confidence in a purchase; we are more sure it’s what we want. This ultimately means lower return rates which are around 8-10% for in-store, compared to 50% or higher for many online purchases.
● Positive sentiment: Research by Professor Joann Peck, an expert in haptic marketing at Wisconsin School of Business, has illustrated how we can become more positively disposed to a product simply because we have touched it or held it in our hands.
● Endowment: Professor Peck also says, “Merely touching an object results in an increase in perceived ownership of that object,” because touch helps to build a sense of endowment and ownership.
● Need for touch: Peck has also identified that one in four people have a high ‘need for touch’ in a purchase environment. One survey found that 64% of consumers said the main thing missing from online shopping was touch and feel.
However, with online retail rapidly growing, researchers have begun to identify ways in which we can compensate for the loss of touch. We already rely on consumer online reviews, something which is hard to find in-store. And there are also ways to partially compensate for the loss of touch. We can use language to describe the sensorial properties of the product. One study compared consumer preferences of two retail environments - in-store or online - and found that describing the tactile properties of a product using evocative and sensory language reduced consumers’ preference for the in-store environment. In other words, descriptive product language can go some way to compensate for the loss of physical sensory purchase environments.
Another solution is to use video showing a consumer touching, holding and using the product in question - trying on a pair of shoes or stroking a sofa. This can provide a multisensory experience - the sound of the zip on the shoes, or seeing the ‘bounce’ of a sofa as someone sits on it and how the fabric falls or creases upon sitting.
Fashion stores such as Zappos - an online shoe shop - usually include a video of the item being worn or tried on; cycle shops often post video reviews by staff for each bike on sale, allowing consumers to see components up close and the bikes in action.
Surveys have found that 52% of consumers are more confident in their purchases when shopping online using video content and 57% of consumers are less disappointed by a product ordered after having seen a product video and, consequently, less likely to return. Zappos say they achieve a 6-30% higher conversion rate with product pages including video. As a consequence, they film 2,000 product videos per week and have roughly 40,000 product videos live on their website.
The property and car markets will be interesting to watch as initial viewings will be more likely to be conducted online. For most people, deciding whether to buy a property or a car is a highly emotional, multisensory experience. Viewing a house or car is not only about sight, but touch, smell, sound and visual scale - something which can be hard to convey through photos or even video. These augment the overall experience and tip people over the threshold to purchase. The challenge for these sectors is to create a more emotional and multisensory virtual experience. Although online house viewings were possible pre-pandemic, the quality of the online product may need to improve vastly to impress both buyer and seller and lead to conversion. In the last few years, some agents have been developing virtual reality and augmented reality viewings which offer a much more immersive and transparent experience. Touch and smell are unlikely to be possible, but sound - as buyers move around the house or ‘stand’ in the garden - will be. Strategies to provide more immersive virtual experiences will likely be accelerated.
Summary/key take-aways
The physical void which has opened up will create new opportunities to optimise online purchase experiences, accelerating the creation of a more multisensory digital experience. Behavioural science illustrates how and why multisensory experiences are more engaging and powerful than a ‘2D’ experience. Just as we look back aghast at the retail platforms from twenty years ago, this pandemic will lead to such rapid digital evolution that we will find what came before highly limited and unsatisfying at a sensory level. Finding solutions which can compensate for the loss of the physical sales environment and even provide a more effective, immersive experience will benefit consumers.
Crawford is Founder and Liz is Global Head of Behavioural Science at The Behavioural Architects. Follow them @thebearchitects
Raised fists, bent knees
Cultural expert and semiotician, Becks Collins, on why we need to understand the symbols we use and why brands need to step up and take responsibility
RAISED FISTS, BENT KNEES
Cultural expert and semiotician, Becks Collins, on why we need to understand the symbols we use and why brands need to step up and take responsibility
Symbols can be incredibly powerful – we need to do our research and use them responsibly.
Lines are being drawn in Western society – the conflicting values of right and left-wing camps are creating huge rifts. These opposing groups are increasingly rallying around certain symbols – emblems of their values and opposition to contrasting ideals. The left has become entwined with Black Lives Matter solidarity, with Black people and their allies adopting motifs like raised fists, bent knees (and the mis-step that was the black squares). On the more revolutionary side even Anonymous has returned, with their Guy Fawkes mask signalling a new anti-establishment age. On the right (or the extreme right), the MAGA hat has been supplemented with more terrifying symbols, like reports of the Nazi salute at Trafalgar Square and the resurgence of the Nazi symbol for political prisoners (a red inverted triangle) in Trump advertising.
We cannot ignore the symbols around us
Even though some of these more extreme symbols have so far been adopted minimally, we ignore them at our peril. Symbols are important, and if we let them slide unchallenged or unquestioned, it can indicate acceptance of horrific acts and head-in-sand blindness. Take the fact that 5 Black people have been found dead hanging in trees in the past month for example. In every case the police have automatically deduced that these were suicides, despite 3 of the incidents occurring in areas known for white supremacist attacks and organisations.
Protesters topple statue of Confederate general in Washington DC
No Black person sees this and assumes suicide. We know a lynching when we see it. It’s a symbol of racial hatred that we have ingrained in our cultural memory. Black Lives Matter protestors in North Carolina responded by stringing up a confederate statue – but honestly, as a half Black person I don’t find that a symbol of justice. It’s still using the same symbol of oppression as before – many white people won’t necessarily understand that because it’s not in their cultural memory in the same way.
We all need to do better, on all sides
We need to do our research and understand the origin and meanings of the symbols we stand behind, and those we seek to remove. Statues, for example, are symbols of a different past, and removing them signals a shift in values.
We need educate ourselves to be able to articulate exactly what those shifts are, why these symbols need to be removed, and importantly, what we need in their place (i.e. better education around slavery and British colonial history). If we don’t do our research, we end up in a culture of misunderstanding and frustration.
Dominic Raab: taking a knee 'seems to be from Game of Thrones'
We end up with family members yelling ‘All Lives Matter’, not understanding that of course they do, but right now Black people’s lives simply do not matter as much to society as much as white people’s do. We end up with the British foreign secretary Dominic Raab stating on national news that he believes that taking the knee ‘came from Game of Thrones’, rather than a protest against police brutality started by an American Footballer in 2016. Understanding also prevents us from blindly adopting symbols that perhaps aren’t effective or don’t have the meaning we think. Earlier this month people across social media presented black squares believing it to be an easy way to signal BLM solidarity. Although the initiative was started by two black women calling for the music industry to pause their programming and give space to Black artists, it quickly became a trend, with people clogging up the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag feed needed for actual information, rather than actively amplifying Black voices as originally intended. We also get instances like the rainbow being used as a symbol for the NHS, without acknowledging its significance to the LGBT+ community who fought long and hard for the rainbow Pride flag and the rights it represents.
NHS Rainbow badge by Made By Cooper
Brands need to take responsibility for the messages they put out
As marketers, we have to demonstrate a more nuanced understanding of the cultural symbols we adopt. Brands have huge followings and loud cultural voices – we need to be educated so that we can explain these symbols to those who listen to us. We can actively help people understand the dynamics at play and make a real commitment to the ideals they represent by genuinely contributing to the cause. We can provide information and education behind the raised fist, we can make active changes to our internal diversity structure to demonstrate that Black lives really do matter to us. If we understand the history behind the symbols we use, they become ever more powerful, let’s use them responsibly.
Becks is a semiotician and cultural insight expert. Connect on LinkedIn and follow her on Instagram
Virtual events are booming with 5G
5G will change how we participate in concerts, conferences and sporting events forever, says Verizon Media RYOT Studio's Head of EMEA, Mark Melling
VIRTUAL EVENTS ARE BOOMING WITH 5G
5G will change how we participate in concerts, conferences and sporting events forever, says Verizon Media RYOT Studio's Head of EMEA, Mark Melling
As global economies closed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the events industry was among the hardest hit.
Thousands of live concerts, conferences, and sporting events were cancelled or delayed indefinitely as uncertainty around social distancing timelines continued. Fortunately, live streaming apps and digital platforms allow these same organizations to re-create the contexts of events in virtual environments. A recent Global Web Index study found that roughly two-thirds of UK consumers (66%) would livestream a live event at home if the event could not occur during the pandemic — including 73% of consumers ages 16 to 34. Now, artists, conference organizers, and sports leagues are taking unprecedented steps to accelerate their digital engagement with audiences. And despite some existing limitations, the introduction of 5G networks will provide new, lasting, and evolving opportunities for organizers, attendees, and the brands that sponsor their events.
The current state of virtual events
Even traditional event organizers have been quick to realize some clear benefits of virtual events. There are obvious cost and environmental advantages, but advantages that drive traditional event KPIs — novelty, audience satisfaction, and reach — have emerged in new and exciting ways as well. Verizon Media’s consumer research shows that live event and concert attendees are more excited than other consumers about the prospect of attending a live music event virtually, suggesting appeal for live events is transferable to digital environments.
Music in new mediums as we listen from home
As concert venues closed during the pandemic, artists around the world turned to live streaming across social media and other networking platforms to reestablish their real-time connections with audiences. The One World: Together At Home event, curated in partnership with Lady Gaga and launched on April 18, raised money for the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. Sponsored and marketed by Pepsi, the event reached 20.74 million viewers in the U.S. alone — the biggest audience for any Saturday-night program in the country, excluding the NFL playoffs. On a smaller virtual stage, a group of artists put on a benefit concert in Mojang’s Minecraft online gaming environment to raise money for COVID-19 research. The versatility of the Minecraft environment allowed organizers to recreate the original venue within the 3D world.
Billie Eilish & Finneas perform "Sunny" | One World: Together At Home
Playing to 4k people at a Minecraft festival
New value and experiential opportunities in virtual industry events
Conference production companies have had to reinvent themselves in 2020, with even the largest industry players realizing new advantages in virtual settings. Sessions at conferences with multiple days and tracks are now available to all attendees, live throughout virtual events or even on-demand after these events end. In some cases, attendees have more opportunities to engage speakers via digital channels, where they aren’t limited by time, physical, and the audio-technology constraints of the physical environment. Virtual conferences will only improve over time. Sophisticated features like virtual reality, connected via 5G, will allow attendees to engage in exciting, interactive ways. Just as Fortnite allowed the artist Travis Scott to create an otherworldly music venue experience, gaming environments may facilitate conferences “inside” exotic virtual reality destinations unachievable in the real world.
Travis Scott and Fortnite present: Astronomical
Taking sports seriously in virtual environments
In response to worldwide shutdowns, sporting-event organizers and their sponsors have re-created competitions in innovative and engaging ways via e-sports. In the U.S., professional NFL players participated in an online video game tournament covered on network television. In the UK, the 2020 Quarantine Cup grew from a small video game tournament featuring lesser-known clubs to an event featuring over 100 professional clubs and thousands of spectators. Even as traditional sporting events start up again, these environments will become increasingly sophisticated and appealing to fans. Verizon Media’s consumer research found football fans in the UK are three times more likely to find the prospect of augmented reality (AR) replays and stats exciting, where younger fans are more likely to visualize themselves using these technologies in the near future.
Checkdown x Madden NFL 20 tournament
PUBG MOBILE Quarantine Cup finals day 1
Realising the future benefits of virtual events with 5G connectivity
5G will be critical to facilitating the virtual events of the future as consumers turn to mobile networks to connect. Here are some advantages 5G connectivity may provide:
- Enhanced Experiences: Just as physical events are impossible to re-create entirely in digital environments, virtual events will offer their own experiential benefits not available in reality. Exotic VR settings, special effects, and new interactive opportunities will be available to attendees at unprecedented scales.
- Reach: Virtual events have practically zero limitations in terms of the number of attendees who can participate, vastly expanding the reach of performers, sports teams, and the brands that sponsor them.
- Monetization: Virtual events offer an unprecedented opportunity for evolved and creative engagement with consumers. Nearly half of UK consumers ages 18 to 24 appreciate when brands connect with them in new and innovative ways, our research suggests. Virtual events offer a nuanced opportunity to meet that demand in the right contexts.
Invent your own way to connect
Even as mainstream events return, collective online experiences will distinguish themselves from traditional events as they become more accessible and offer more desirable experiences. Brands should be thinking about their engagement strategies now to establish themselves in this evolving world. Verizon Media can help brands and marketers break into these exciting new environments. Our 5G Labs & Studios allow our media partners to produce premium quality 3D content, including virtual and augmented reality experiences, with state-of-the art facilities: volumetric capture, motion capture, AR broadcast, and more. In 2020, we introduced our newest 5G-enabled studio in London — a cutting-edge incubator for innovative and creative companies ready to shape the future of brand content in the emerging virtual event economy.
A final note from gemma greaves, our former chief executive
MY FINAL NOTE...
Our former chief executive, Gemma Greaves, reflects on her time at The Marketing Society pushing boundaries, tackling taboos and launching the three-year Brave agenda
If there's one thing I've learned in 14 years at The Marketing Society, it's the importance of sharing stories.
We need to share more stories with each other more of the time. We need to share stories about our industry, about our brands, about our leadership challenges, and also about ourselves as human beings.
My story is about something that I think we can all suffer from - imposter syndrome. When I became the Society's Chief Executive in 2017 I felt it acutely. I was too young, too female, too different from what had been before. What right did I have to step onto the stage and address a room full of brilliant marketing leaders?
Everything changed once I found the courage to acknowledge these feelings and talk about them. Daring to be vulnerable meant I started feeling braver for a start. And I also realised that I could do things differently from the past.
In March 2017, we launched a new kind of Marketing Society gathering called a Fishbowl. Instead of a conventional event where speakers address an audience from a raised platform sharing wisdom and insights, the Fishbowl was an altogether more democratic space where everyone could speak up. The audience become the speakers and everyone is encouraged to stand up and share a story. It was about giving everyone a voice.
This first Fishbowl event was all about mental health, at the time a taboo subject, following a conversation I'd had with the irrepressible Robin Wight, mental health was something that was talked about behind closed doors and inside HR departments. It was not regarded to be a relevant topic for a Society event. Except of course, it was. Because all our members, who are all brilliant marketers are also human beings who have good days and bad days. I wanted to create a safe space to acknowledge their humanity as well as their brilliant marketing skills. It worked. One by one, as we sat in a circle together, nearly everyone in the room stood up and talked candidly about their mental health. That night something changed in the way we started interacting as a community.
Fishbowl: being bold about mental health
Mitch Oliver, Mars' Global VP – Corporate Brand & Purpose, was there and remembers it well. "Someone persuaded me to go to a Marketing Society event. I wasn’t convinced. It was about mental health, an unusual topic and so I thought I would give it a go. I haven’t looked back.
That evening was incredible. The Marketing Society led by Gemma created an environment where people opened up, people cried, laughed and, yes, I did join in. Ever since the Society has been challenging taboos, sparking conversation, catalysing connection. Being brave. It certainly isn’t boring. It's why I joined the Board – marketing needed this – fresh energy, permission to be itself. The Society does that; creating safe spaces for us an individual and collectively as a discipline to free ourselves from the past and be a part of a more open, braver, more exciting future of Marketing."
Since that first Fishbowl we've created a space for people to feel comfortable about having uncomfortable conversations. All around the world we've talked about race, gender, mental health, sexual harassment - the things that matter that are normally kept behind closed doors. And that is essentially what The Marketing Society's brave agenda is all about - it's about people sharing their stories, standing up, stepping in, as we help one another with all these challenges.
