Capital C

Hedonic Adaptation

This describes the human condition of rapid adaptation to happiness.
It's why pay raises or new shiny toys contribute to a short lived elevation of happiness levels. Before long, after our new salary celebration winds down, our happiness set point returns to normal, and we're looking for the next hit.
So, as marketers, how do we battle hedonic adaptation? How do we create offerings that constantly challenge consumer's happiness set points, that continually 'jolt' our adaptive system?
Some of the world's best brands do this, without explicitly being aware of what they're accomplishing.
Lego and the i-run system do a great job.
But look for this being a key 'discipline' in the future, as happiness creation takes over where value creation left off.
Sounds like a book in the making...

The Map Is Not The Territory

Too often, we see a powerpoint plan as reality, rather than the abstract map that it is.
With few exceptions, most strategic blueprints are simple proxies of reality, in the same way a subway map might compress the space between stations into seemingly equivalent distances, while the real world measurements differ dramatically.
The problem is, we don't always recognize this. We take the 'plans' at face value, and don't bother interpreting and intuiting.
The key is combining data and empathy, keeping it measurable with a measure of humanity.

On Lip Gloss and Survival

Our continued existence as a species depends on the sale of lip-gloss. Every marketer lately seems to be blogging about the 'Lipstick Index'. You know, the idea that when the economy takes a dive sales of cosmetics invariably climb. They say it’s due to a realignment of priorities and values, the desire for small luxuries when the big ones are out of reach. They say that we as marketers should exploit this opportunity. Not only does this strike me as overly simplistic, it's sexist.

Let's view this through the lens of evolutionary theory 101. Many women would agree that the stock market isn't the only thing that's flaccid these days. Males in our society have been emasculated by the distraction that is our current economic situation. It's affecting their sex drive. The female of the species, because her sexual needs aren't being met, attempts to increase her desirability in an instinctual effort to ensure the survival of the species, hence the bullish outlook in the rouge market.

You could also view it another way. Where the female is increasing her desirability and signaling her availability to other suitors. It's a back-up plan - in case her mate loses the ability to 'bring home the bacon'. Again, the survival of the species is assured, happy endings indeed.

Much like the US Constitution and Maslow's hierarchy, Darwin's theory has been tested under load. It's one of our society's beautiful constructs and tests of truth. It's a handy, and useful tool when trying to determine root causes. Often, we need look no further than to our cousins in the animal kingdom to find analogous behaviour, and inspiration.

So, long story short: Lipstick will save humanity, and, as always, sex sells.  -Luis V

Systems Thinking

As change continues to change, the ability to apply proper systems thinking to any living organization will make the difference.
Proper systems thinking involves respecting dynamic complexity vs detail complexity. In other words, recognizing and anticipating results and implications of actions on the whole system, rather than than the static details.
We can't know the results of our actions in a change driven economy, but we can learn from them. In order to learn from them, we need to have a process in place to extract and decipher the learnings and implications of those learnings on the whole 'living system'.
This will be the only way to evolve and compete in the next decade.

Recovery

The saying goes, hope for the best but prepare for the worst.
The first part is easy, it's human nature. We are essentially hoping machines.
But the 'preparing' bit is a little iffy.
The ability to prepare for, and recover from challenges, mistakes, and general crisis might be the most valuable competency an organization can claim going into the next decade.
As change accelerates, and innovation dominates, mistakes will proliferate.
Realists will understand this and set in place the appropriate recovery systems. Scenario planning will also become a brainstorming staple, and creative problem solving and course correct will be of the highest value.
Be brave.

Employee Creativity

We're living in the most creative era humanity has ever witnessed.
The tools of expression have proliferated to the point where creating images and artifacts is effortless, at levels of professionalism that would boggle minds of the past.
Our industry attracts creative people; artists, strategists, account managers.  Yet many of these people are writing, photoshopping, photographing and imagineering outside of the office, because you might be ignoring their potential to create, having put them in a predefined box; ie- account exec or production manager.
Get them creating for you, remind them that you value their imaginations. You might unlock some of the most creative minds in your agency.
The days where writers and art directors rule the creative roost are over. Make your entire agency a creative department, and you'll win in many ways.

Propaganda

Mcluhan, in his typical insightful fashion claimed that "propaganda ends where conversation begins".
Go Marshall.
Wow, MM really was so way ahead of his time, it's astounding.
Sorry about the quote blogging. It won't happen again. (until tomorrow)

Your Wife

David O reminded us; "the customer is not stupid, she's your wife".
This simple idea points to a much deeper issue; empathy.
Not unlike your wife, (modernize with term 'partner'), there will always be issues, misunderstandings and basic stupidity on our part. But the relationship needs to be maintained, so we use empathy and emotional intelligence to repair and improve things.
Wise words as usual from mister Ogilvy.

The Best Buy Possible

Larry Selden, a professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Business suggested CEO Brad Anderson of Best Buy should view his business as a "portfolio of customers, not product lines; to identify their most valuable customers, and overservice their needs."
This lead to the now famous 8 personas that have helped BB continue to kick ass.
A portfolio of customers, not product lines. Crazy smart advice. Use it generously.

The Concesus Continuum

Of the many elements of persuasion that we stumble on, consensus is by far the most troublesome.
We are social animals, we live and work in hyper collaborative environments where multiple opinions are required. Sometimes it's overt (get 3 signatures) or implied (my wife liked the idea).
But we rarely offer the tools of consensus built into our persuasion framework.
ie 'Here's a few good reasons for mom to sign off on buying this gizmo',
or 'attached are e-mail ready shots of kids from 8-12 having a blast on the new slide at the BrandX hotel'.
Add the tools of consensus building into every piece of commercial persuasion you create, and you're recognizing a human reality many ignore.