The future is psychology, not technology.
Wow. That is a statement. Few think it, even less say it.
It's not logical, and that is the point.
According to Ogilvy's Rory Sutherland, rational thinking is not the best path to creativity. He suggests discarding logic and start asking more stupid questions.
From a 2019 interview in Campaign, Sutherland goes on a rant regarding the beauty of video conferencing over email.
"I've had about 24 video conferences this week," he says. "It's fan-fucking-tastic. The extent to which you can do business with people really effectively once you make it socially acceptable to use this technology is, I think, genuinely the most exciting thing." On one day, he says, he started with a call to Australia and finished the day with one to Peru.
"You realize how slow and ineffective email is," he points out. "If you went round the average office, there would be 20 people emailing for every one on a video conference, and that has to be a productivity disaster." And yet, video calling is still used rarely – which, for Sutherland, illustrates two of his central points.
"There are these huge behavioral things, and they are clearly 100% psychological," he argues. Beyond the more obvious benefits of a first social meeting between business associates, "there patently is no economic reason why people aren't video conferencing."
I discovered Sutherland completely unplanned but planned via a podcast algorithm. Though technology brought us together, his views on psychology have changed my thinking and my business for the better.
Sure, software is good for the repetitive, crunch data, mundane tasks that fill our lives, but when it comes to creativity and applying old ideas to new business solutions, logical tech is often an epic fail.
Yes, a computer can help get you to the moon and back, but the machine doesn't know to run away if the room is on fire.
More from the Campaign article: "Technologists are obsessed with getting people to adopt the latest technologies, but as a marketer, you might say, we've got this thing where there have been psychological obstacles to adopting it, but over the next three years, this is much more important than, say, blockchain."
Technologists and economists assume that most decision-making is driven by logic.
This is flawed.
Using logic to make a decision is called System 2 thinking.
However, most decision-making is driven by emotion.
This is called System 1 thinking.
Facts and numbers don't drive our decision-making.
Facts take a back seat to emotional responses.
Numbers with no context and color are no match for actual experiences.
Great marketers understand the power of ubiquitous and unconscious System 1 decision-making to sell products or shape ideas.
Sutherland believes, "Once you reach a basic level of wealth in society, most problems are actually problems of perception."
The role of a business is to create value by solving problems for customers.
As I move through life, it is clear you don't always need to solve complex technical challenges with massive and costly technical solutions.
You need to communicate with a customer to see things from a different, more indirect perspective.
Acknowledging the importance of perception will better position your brand and improve your marketing communications.
When it comes to entrepreneurship and thought leadership, one is more significant than two.
Excellent marketing communication secures attention, frames the narrative, attracts the right clients, and repels the wrong ones.
Communicators tap into the animalistic self.
If your wine is Piedmont, you're worldly. If you have an iPhone, you're fashionable. If you wear Sid Mashburn, you're cool. If you read WM Brown Magazine, you are refined.
These examples are some highly functioning behavioral communications.
In plain English by Sutherland: "If you stand and stare out of the window on your own, you're an antisocial, friendless idiot. If you stand and stare out of the window on your own with a cigarette, you're a fucking philosopher."
At the end of the day, Nike shoes are globally sourced, low-wage assembled, overpriced pieces of cotton and foam.
Throw Serena Williams on a Times Square billboard, and all of a sudden, when you purchase a pair of Nikes, you'll run faster, serve better, and attack the net flawlessly.
That is some highly functioning behavioral communication.
Buying a silk scarf from a farmers' market vendor, even if the quality and design are high, isn't as satisfying as walking into Hermes, walking up to a well-appointed saleswoman, asking for a scarf, and paying a premium for the one in the center of a well-lit, French-designed showroom, and walking out of the shop with a glorious orange box.
That is some highly functioning behavioral communication.
Walk into a convenience store. When you see bulletproof glass, what do you think?
Walk into a hotel. When you see the doorman welcoming you into the lobby, what do you think?
As Campaign reports, Sutherland's thinking touches on many facets of life, but all come down to the importance of "psycho-logic," or non-rational factors, in how we make decisions and how problems can be solved – a point he says is fundamental to the creative marketing industries, because "every good creative idea has some element of apparent illogicality."
Creative agencies play a vital role, he adds, because unlike most areas of business and government, they provide "a safe space in which dissident and dissonant thinking can emerge" and "where you can make stupid suggestions and still get promoted."
Because marketing is about looking at brands through the view of the consumer, Sutherland says, "you're required to become quite trivial and frivolous."
Make plans to attend the Brigadoon April Call with Rory Sutherland.
Book your spot for just $25 and I will send you a Google calendar invite will all the access details for the gathering on April 21 @ 2:00 pm ET.
-Marc
Brigadoon April Call with Rory Sutherland
Title: Less Logic. More Magic.
Time + Date: 2:00 - 2:45 pm ET | Wednesday, April 21, 2021
Speaker: Rory Sutherland - Vice Chairman @ Ogilvy UK | Author of Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense
Ticket: $25.00
Format:
Brigadoon Monthly Calls are 45-minute moderated discussions led by a subject matter expert in an emerging issue shaping commerce and culture.
The guest speaker makes opening remarks for ten minutes and takes questions for the balance of the call.
All calls happen using Google Meet.
Just like all Brigadoon gatherings, Brigadoon House Rules govern the session. The call is powerpoint free, the recording is private, and participants are free to use data from the discussion but are not allowed to reveal who made any comments or participated.
Investment:
Brigadoon Monthly Calls are free to all Brigadoon Members in good standing and their guests or $25.00 for other participants.
Psychology > Technology
