Why Play matters
Every purpose statement demands specific language to communicate not only how to differentiate but how to do so in an authentically meaningful way. So, I purposefully chose play because I do my best to come to my desk everyday with a sense of levity and possibilities. As a strategist obsessed with the beauty of the human condition and how people interact with today’s accelerating and shape-shifting cultural context, a sense of play helps navigate this space freely and find ways to rise above the sea of sameness permeating so many categories today. Any brander knows this is a hard ground to navigate. Play gives permission to stay agile, keep your head up and explore multiple pathways towards relevancy.
Don’t get me wrong. I take what I do very seriously, but I don’t take myself seriously. But, I guess in a weird way, play is serious business. Life has gotten so heavy these days. We suffer from self-induced pressure, stress at work to hit our targets and waves of covid news that have made us numb to the grim realities that surround us. Play allows us to let go, work together and meaningful connect brands to people through cultural content.
Truth be told, we all could use a little play right now. After two years of geopolitical news that extend beyond covid to politics, the environment and more, we can feel as if we have no control. Bringing back a sense of optimism and light helps us regain that sense of control and move the world to a better place intrinsically and organically.
After all, Play activates the neocortex, approximately half the volume of the human brain. Play drives engagement and flow, releasing feel-good chemicals that increase focus and productivity. But mostly, play helps us be in the moment to shape the challenge at hand and find new ways forward.
The Benefits of Play
Bringing play into the office permits us to stop seeing ‘work’ and ‘fun’ as polar opposites. After all, bringing them together creates intrinsic health benefits and increases productivity at work.
Studies have linked play and performance - specifically a 20% increase in productivity. (link to this article: https://www.fastcompany.com/90392816/the-relationship-between-play-and-productivity)
They have also linked laughter and happiness, which boosted productivity by 12% (https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/08/why-laughter-can-make-you-more-productive-at-work.html)
Keeping play at the center of how we work ensures:
work is productive and enjoyable (time flies when you’re having fun)
spontaneity is possible (being light and airy leads to blue sky ideas)
teamwork is prioritized (playing well with others builds trust)
empathy stays top of mind (play increases listening skills)
flexibility and agility reign (we have all gotten ‘stuck’, so icky)
judgement is kept at bay (play gives you permission to throw out what isn’t working)
All of this adds up to an Explorer Mindset, key to the branding process. What say you?
Control/Change
The Emotional Ecosystem: Dynamic One
Control/Change, Illustration by Ryan Hack
Welcome back! Today, we are going to explore the first dynamic of the Emotional Ecosystem: Control/Change. If it helps to visualize these dynamics, picture the angel/devil from Animal House, albeit much more nuanced.
To remind those that didn’t read the intro piece on The Emotional Ecosystem, as we all come to terms with all the acceleration happening around us, this exercise in engineered to take our emotional pulse and find tangible ways to move forward.
Each Emotional Ecosystem Dynamic will take a similar journey:
Yeah, yeah, I know…
The stats, data and supporting trends that prove this is actually happening.
This helps clean out the naysayer part of our brains, the part that wants to be critical, disprove and just not believe.
Leverage
Implications and ideas for how to apply to your business.
How can brands win in the Emotional Ecosystem?
How can brands continue to be relevant in people’s lives?
How can brands continue to grow meaning in people’s lives?
Emotional Ecosystem Dynamic 1: Control/Change
Control: Yeah, yeah, I know…
Pretty much any research I have moderated or observed over the past year has shown an underlying rise in the need for control. This was at a fever pitch pre-pandemic. With social structures crumbling around us, we were already reaching inward and finding ways to control our day-to-day lives and environments.
Just walking, thinking you got this!
Illustration: Ryan Hack
But, now, with a sense of helplessness and a ‘wait and see’ mentality permeating every corner of our culture, the need for control is off the charts. With around 3/4’s of Americans reporting one or more negative emotions ranging from stress to anxiousness, according to Russell Research, instability and uncertainty have clearly driven this need. Thanks Karen!
Control over our environment:
The great decluttering of 2020: The pandemic has inspired a clean-out of American homes, according to the Washington Post. Goodwills around the country are positively overflowing.
There is a great Covid flight happening in the New York and San Francisco areas, with people leaving city centers to root down in surrounding areas, where birds sing and masked children frolic. According to United Van Lines, between May and August 2020, move requests out of NYC to any destination were up 45%. In San Francisco, they were up 23%, compared to the same time last year. While an argument can be made this has more to do with ‘change’ than ‘control’, the impetus most probably started in the need for control. Why stay in that small apartment if you can chill on your back deck and commune with those birds?
Control over our bodies:
Selfcare has moved from a sub-set of health to a daily lifestyle, at least as an aspiration. Much more on this in ‘change’. Practicing self-care is key to controlling stress.
Control over our data:
84% of consumers want more control over how their data is being used. (Cisco)
65% of American voters say data privacy is one of the biggest issues our society faces.(Morning Consult)
As our lives continue to be more digitally-focused, this will continue to be a hot button issue.
Control over our money:
The savings rate hit a record 33.5% in April, according to the Commerce Dept.
Around 40% of US consumers have generally reduced spending, and they expect to continue to cut back on nonessentials. This retraction of spending illustrates a need for stability and control. (McKinsey)
How to leverage our human need for Control
Provide Choice
The biggest form of control is choice and successful brands provide choice navigation at every step of the funnel. This means limiting options, not increasing them.
“There is one way that customers have control: They have a choice. They can walk away. Treat them poorly, and the relationship is over.” Forbes
Partner and ListenThis is key and shouldn’t be short-changed. Leverage your social media base, test run NPD or comms, find the pain points and solve for where consumers feel like they don’t have control. Co-creation allows brands to truly walk in their consumer’s shoes and intuitively understand their needs.
Feel and Pivot Read between the lines of the data to find the feel. Don’t be afraid of it. Track the emotional benefits of your brand and be willing to find new spaces. Then, pivot with consumer sentiment so your brand’s evolution is reflected in your consumer’s needs.
Change: Yeah, yeah, I know…
Traditionally, the attraction of ‘the new’ was a better strategy than convincing people to change their behavior.
This is why diet advertising works — that ‘new’ thing will help me. My problem can’t possibly have anything to do with my own behavior!
Wait a minute, I didn’t ask for all this change!
Illustration: Ryan Hack
But, deep down, there is a part of us that knows evolution is key to survival. Since the start of the pandemic, many of us have looked at ourselves and our surroundings and decided, it is time for a change. It is hard to run away from yourself these days. If you have figured it out, please do let me know.
More importantly, the pandemic made it clear we all are capable of change, especially when given no other choice. Many of us are finding inspiration in the massive change happening around us and finding ways to ride the wave and incorporate new behaviors and activities.
Rise in Divorce
Divorce rates have risen 34% during the pandemic, since the same time last year., according to Legal Templates. And this number rises even more with newly weds.
Rise in Self Improvement
“There’s this trend toward self improvement and using this time constructively.” Jaimee Minney, senior VP of marketing and PR at Rakuten Intelligence.
This can be improving your mind, improving your skills, diet or even finding ways to make bank. According to Russell Research, more than 7 in 10 Americans set one or more self improvement goal during the pandemic.
Rise in Healthy Lifestyle
With poor cardiovascular health as an additional Covid risk factor, many are making positive healthy lifestyle choices to mitigate this risk.
According to Russell Research, about 1/3 of Americans set a goal to improve their diet or have already done so during the pandemic.
Sales of fitness equipment shot up 55% (Adobe) and Peloton’s stock has practically tripled since February.
Rise in Home Improvements
Houzz, an online home remodeling platform, reported a 58% annual increase in project leads for home professionals in June while McKinsey sites an 18% increase in home improvement.
How to leverage our human need for Change
Change as long term
Instill long term thinking and scenario planning then, create steps towards today, citing specific, actionable steps. It is time to make change a KPI.
Be the Change
I know, it sounds cheesy but, it’s true. This is specially true for the c-suite, the folks that set the cultural tone. Find new inspiration, meet new partners, find new research vendors. You get the point. Mixing it up always brings fresh thinking.
Be Authentic
The more we are ourselves, the more we can effect change. People believe others when they speak their truth. It is vulnerable and scary but it helps break through. This isn’t true of just people, but also brands. Don’t imitate category leaders, leverage what is truly authentic about your brand to set your own future.
Try Something New
According to McKinsey, 46% of American consumers saying they’ve switched brands or made purchases with a new retailer recently.
“The crisis has prompted a surge of new activities, with an astonishing 75% of US consumers trying a new shopping behavior in response to economic pressures, store closings, and changing priorities.”
Make sure they are switching to your brand and not away from it.
The Emotional Ecosystem
Introduction
Looking back, I don’t think anyone thought that the pandemic would last this long. We have been in this alternate reality coming on half a year now and riding the Corona-coaster is not easy. One day you are full of optimism, thankful for your health and family, the next day you are wondering why your school system doesn’t have a CTO, realizing they are on the same remote learning curve as you are. While the old systems that have supported us crumble around us, and the new systems feverishly innovate, we are left to our own resources, realties and emotions.
So, I thought I would find inspiration in our ever-changing world, capture our Covid emotional pulse and curate a collection of emotional trends, drivers really. Strange times call for fresh thinking so, these emotional trends are designed from the ‘inside out’. Trends tend to look ‘outside in’, approached from the category perspective to help clients understand how best to apply them. But that assumes a logical response and what we are experiencing is far from logical. After all, subconsciously, most of our decisions, choices, actions and behaviors are driven by emotion. Don’t believe me? Clorox wipes are on back order until 2021 and don’t even get me started on toilet paper.
Organizing trends via category also assumes categories are vacuums. If nothing else, this pandemic has proven how interrelated everybody and everything truly is. Culture is a thread that runs through all of us and the certainty of uncertainty looks like it is here to stay.
Being a human today is messy, downright scary and yes, highly emotional. We have been raised in America to believe that emotions are bad, they get us in trouble and since they aren’t easy to quantify, they tend to get swept to the side in marketing and branding. But, what if we dove into our emotions and found ways to leverage this understanding to better connect people and brands? So, let’s take a snapshot of how we are feeling and see if we can use this knowledge to empower brands to better navigate the New Abnormal.
Don’t be mistaken, culture lives in and around us. And these days, it is moving so fast that we can’t see what is really happening until it is in the rear view mirror. My hope is that by putting up this mirror and defining these universal drivers, we can apply the learning, be proactive and make some progress.
That has got to feel better than just getting sucked under the avalanche of bad news and feelings of helplessness that is surely permeating so many of us these days. Overcoming adversity is the American way and all this change has the power to give birth to a great reawakening.
Setting the Context
Before diving into the Emotional Ecosystem, let’s set the cultural context and shine a light on some polarities that illustrate underlying cultural tensions. These can make the Emotional Ecosystem feel more like an echo chamber. With all this change surrounding us, there is a re-ordering of values at play that I truly believe many of us are struggling with.
Today we are…
… seeing structures crumble around us but we are also struggling with the notion of the individual.
… acutely aware of our ‘herd’ but we are also living in our own bubbles.
… fighting over the validity of science but religion is still seeking control
… seeing truth die a slow death but we are also struggling with trusting others
… all sure we are right! but realizing we might be wrong.
… seeing death everywhere but struggling with the human need for re-growth
… digging deep for strength but struggling with the feeling or even power of being vulnerable
Taking a step back and looking at these dichotomies, you see how thin the line can be between these two sides and how interrelated they can be, contributing to the messiness of it all.
The polarity of the cultural context permeates the Emotional Ecosystem, creating space for brands to connect with people in meaningful ways. After all, trends have counter trends and the same is true in the Emotional Ecosystem. These drivers butt up against each other, rising and falling at record speed. We will explore the space between:
Control and Change
We love control and fight change but deep down, we know change is inevitable.
Fear and Hope
What is stronger, the power of fear or the pulse of American optimism, that still beats on?
Truth and Perception
In a post-truth world, where is the line between the objective truth and the subjectivity of perception?
Polarization and Nuance
The frenzy pitch of our polarized culture and how nuance can provide comfort and progress.
Finally, comments are welcome. This is a collaboration. I want this to be a conversation, not a diatribe. While I might be starting the conversation, I hope we all can move it forward, together. But, please only good vibes welcome.
‘Control and Change’ next stop!!
The Layered Experience of Culture
The one common thread that has intrinsically connected and driven my professional career is that of ‘culture’. But, ‘culture’ is a big, fat, potent, subjective word that can light a fire, coalesce people or worse, divide them. Looking at ‘culture’ through a layered lens helps people process the world around them and find ways to apply this thinking to brand building. This helps unlock that elusive ‘relevance’ that brands need but find hard to achieve. This layered view also helps break down exactly where the triggers and opportunities lie.
Over the summer, I’m going to deconstruct these layers and paint a picture of what they symbolize, how they connect and why this matters to brands. ‘Culture’ bridges the gap from wide-reaching cultural context to personal intrinsic motivations. Yes, culture lives on spread sheets but, I’m not talking short term thinking here. Instead, I hope to inform longer term thinking and help truly effect change.