Is social media the cure for depression - or are we just faking all those smiles, all that OMG I LOVE YOU?

I listened to CMO of Deloitte David Redhill last night at a Dow Jones event, and he told us how their internal communication strategy had successfully used blogs to connect people within the company, and how twitter had helped them in their branding. He showed us several tweets from people who “loved their job”, and he told us how they all collaborated through microblogging and how Deloitte had found the perfect talent within minutes after posting a vacancy online. Hallelujah!  

It makes me wonder how the culture changes when everyone is “forced” to be positive? I say “forced” because of course, staff of Deloitte won´t whinge about low salaries, horrible bosses or workload in public, for their CEO to see. They will more likely tell the world how much they love their job – perhaps in order to please their boss, get a pay rise or make people feel they are Happiness Rich.

I believe happiness is a status symbol today, maybe more so than money. Everyone in the Western world has money, right? But being “happy”? In a society so overwhelmed by choices we are more depressed than ever. So the happiest person wins our admiration. We like happy smiling people; it kind of rubs off.

Social media has changed the way we talk and see life. On Facebook, everyone is so cheerful, so excited about the trips they go to, the views they see or the parties they attend. Our social life on social media is hyper happy.  Nobody posts a photo of themselves on a bad hair day, crying, feeling lonely in front of the telly. No!!! Those photos are quickly deleted – in our head too – and the future generation will see the social media era as the happiest ever. “Wow, they were always smiling, looking stunning, sipping wine on holidays!!!” Nostalgic people will forever look at 2000-2020 as the place to be!

On Twitter, most posts are hunky dory, la-la-la. And when you tweet on your employer´s own site, there is very little chance you will be open about anything that is negative or critical. You might lose your job, and people will find you annoying.

This leads to an interesting question:

-          Is social media making people fake a reality that is hidden underneath?

-          Or is reality changing when we only put the light on the good things in our lives?

Are we suppressing unhappiness or is it vanishing? Is always “pretending” to be happy actually making us feel genuinely better?

Studies have found that we think a wine taste better if we believe it is expensive. We buy more expensive items on a menu if classical music is played in the background. And if we get cuddled, oxytocin is unleashed in our body, our long term memory improves and our urge to shop reduces. Odd, but hey it´s science!

This means there is no “truth”, no objectivity. It´s all in the eye of the beholder. People constantly change. We transform when dancing with circumstances. We mould into the environment like chameleons. We try to fit in, and we do this both consciously and subconsciously.

This is why I believe that when we “fake” being happy, our brain gets so used to being happy and focused on the light events worth tweeting about and posting on Facebook, that we actually get better at being happy.

Happiness is a choice. You can look at any situation from several angles and perceive it differently. For example, you can smash your car and be upset about the car getting damaged – or you can thank God for not being dead. You can walk through any day and see the lovely tasting lunch, the sun, the smiling bus driver – or you can put your head down and worry about the mortgage. It´s up to you! And as with any other muscle, your happiness muscle gets stronger when it´s used.  

I wonder if social media is the ultimate cure for depression? I wonder if Deloitte´s staff is hiding their agony elsewhere, perhaps shouting at their spouses, or if they suddenly say “OMG, I LOVE life”? Is the “Happiness rich” person happy for real – or is she just tweeting?

What do you think?

Some information about social media and brands:
Consumers are spending more time than ever using social media, as demonstrated in the Social Media Report recently published by Nielsen and NM Incite, a Nielsen/McKinsey company.

- 60 percent of consumers researching products through multiple online sources learned about a specific brand or retailer through social networking sites.

- Active social media users are more likely to read product reviews online, and 3 out of 5 create their own reviews of products and services.

- Women are more likely than men to tell others about products that they like (81% of females vs. 72% of males).

- Among those who share their brand experiences through social media, at least 41 percent say they do so to receive discounts.

- When researching products, social media users are likely to trust the recommendations of their friends and family most, and results from Nielsen’s Global Online Survey indicate that 2 out of 3 respondents said they were either highly or somewhat influenced by advertising with a social context.

- 58 percent of social media users say they write product reviews to protect others from bad experiences, and nearly 1 in 4 say they share their negative experiences to “punish companies”.

- 42 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds acknowledging that they expect customer support within 12 hours of a complaint.

- A majority of active social networkers (53%) follow brands.

How to create positive memories of your brand

This fact is hugely interesting for people who create any kind of message to influence others:

What we remember about the pleasurable quality of our past experiences is almost entirely determined by two things: how the experience felt when it was at its peak and how it felt when it ended. (Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize winning psychologist)

Hence, if you wish to make people like you or listen to what you have to say, focus on TWO things.

1.       Create a big WOW moment in your message

2.       End with something pleasant, like a compliment, a nice word, a greeting.

If you want to inform about something negative, make sure your message is presented in a plain way, entwined in other facts, so you avoid a peak, or make the peak as weak as possible. Also make sure to be pleasant in the end.

Thanks for reading, have a lovely day... :)

Is our civilisation going under? Many signs of it for sure...

Once again, people are getting seriously concerned about their finances. The latest G20 meeting certainly put the light on what many would have preferred kept in the dark...

There are many signs - big and small - of something huge happening. Here are some of them:

1. Global online consumer confidence fell for the seventh consecutive quarter as confidence in 31 of 56 global markets measured declined, according to third quarter global online consumer confidence findings from Nielsen.

“A recessionary mindset is growing among consumers as more than half say they are currently in a recession—up four percentage points from last quarter and seven points from the start of the year. The result is continued spending restraint for discretionary expenses, which is expected to continue into the next year.”

In the latest round of the survey, conducted August - September 2011, the economy re-emerged as the top concern among 18 percent of online consumers around the globe. The economy last topped concerns in Q4 2010, before it was replaced by worries over increasing food prices in the first half of this year. Job security follows close behind for 14 percent of consumers, rising five percentage points from three months ago. Managing a work/life balance, increasing food prices and concerns about health round out the top five most stressful issues for respondents.

2. Smaller packages. An interesting fact is that the advice normally given about retail in developing countries – to make the packages smaller because people can´t afford to buy a lot at once, even if it´s “3 for 2” – is now becoming the way the west shops too.

3. We are not impulse shopping anymore. Businessweek reports that impulse shopping is on the decline. More people are doing their research online before leaving home, rather than browsing the shelves to find what they want. Less time spent browsing means those unplanned purchases are less likely to happen.

4. Look at your savings account!!!

So should we be seriously worried, or is this just a little dip? We don´t know yet. I don´t want to be negative, but I read an interesting article in Newsweek, where Niall Fergusson pointed out that most big civilizations have broken down quickly. “Here yesterday, gone today”

•  “In the space of a generation, the vast imperial metropolis of Rome fell into despair”
•   ”The Ming dynasty´s rule of Chine also fell apart with extraordinary speed in the mid-17^th century.
•  “A more recent and familiar example is the collapse of the Soviet Union.”
•  “The postcolonial dictatorships of North Africa and the Middle East imploded this year”

Fergusson says "What all these collapsed powers have in common is that the complex social systems that underpinned them suddenly ceased to function. One minute rulers had legitimacy in the eyes of their people; the next day they didn´t."

In branding the small things are the big things

It´s the little things that are the small things.
TVC, brand DNA, fancy reports on what you wish to achieve are BAH if you don´t get the details right.

Like... travelling is nice, but when the shuttle bus company claims you should have been there five minutes before the time you agreed on the day before, and you need to take a taxi instead - with a driver who is talking constantly, smelling bad and adding a few dollars on the meter, "travelling" is suddenly not as enjoyable.

Or when you order the fancy options at McDonalds and they are packaged without the wrap paper, hence all the grease and onion and burger is falling out in your lap and you look like a pig, it doesn´t matter how many TV ads telling me it´s fancy. I don´t look fancy!!

Details count. A brand is not really owned by the trademark, the product, the CEO. It´s common goods, and whoever comes across it creates it. Detail by detail. All a brand manager can do is to carefully craft a brand from inside and out, checking the bits and pieces, making it smooth and likeable. Be authentic. Be what you are.

No shiny logo magic can save a company that is not performing. No PR consultant can successfully sell someone who is a dickhead. It will be revealed in the end...

So what to do? I suggest you write a list of all your brands touch points, and review them. Feel them, touch, smell, look from different angles. Pretend you are your customers experiencing the brand, eating the food, being in their moment. You are not in control of that from your workshop with the ad agency - in the real world people Occupy Brands.

I´m at Sydney international airport right now and the generous Expedia.com.au is supporting this blog with free wi-fi. Thank you!

Why the mix of female and male energies leads to powerful marketing campaigns

Are women annoying to men in the workplace?

Yesterday I had a brief discussion with a guy on twitter who was asking why women apologize without having done anything wrong. I replied that it may be because women tend to seek harmony and balance, and when “apologizing” we are actually checking what others are thinking, making room for their opinion, kind of saying “it´s ok if you think differently from me”. For women this creates a safe environment for ideas to grow and emotions to be shared.

Another reason to why we don´t shout out our opinion is that we consider nuances and grey zones. We see the details and the emotional complexity, and when a male culture wishes to shorten and sharpen, we see the benefit of telling a story and kind of sending an energy message rather than a headline.

It can sometimes be annoying! I´ve been sitting through endless of hens party planning meetings, where nobody dares to put down the foot and decide; instead everyone says “no, whatever you want”. Among friends we don´t want to be the bitch who is too dominant and pushy. It creates a lovely atmosphere, but can at times be challenging, since you spend so much time pottering around an issue without solving it.

We are different, and we also get judged differently.

Victoria Brescoll and Eric Uhlmann at Northwestern University did three separate studies in 2008 that showed how people accept and even reward men who get angry but view women who lose their temper as less competent.

In all studies, both men and women were shown videos of actors portraying men and women who were ostensibly applying for a job. The participants in the studies were then asked to rate applicants on how much responsibility they should be given, their perceived competence, whether they should be hired, and how much they should get paid.

Both men and women in the reached the same conclusions: Angry men deserved more status, a higher salary, and were expected to be better at the job than angry women.

Source: Psychological Science 19: 268-275 (March 2008) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080402152707.htm

Men and women can´t behave in the same way and get the same response. A woman who acts “against her nature” will be punished. But the frustrating part is that she can´t be who she is either. When soft and feminine she is often considered weak and blurry. 

In advertising we often work with “creative briefs”. The planner interprets the brief from the client, figuring out what the brand is all about and how it fits into the target´s life, where it can serve and give value. Then (at least in Australia) the strategic planner pens down thoughts on insights, trends and ideas on a one-pager (preferably) and hand this over to the art director and copywriter who interpret this brief and create magic out of it. Tadaaaa!

This way may work for men. But to me with my female brain it´s ridiculous!! Planners spend days reducing their truckloads of research and findings into a concentrated form, fine tuning their briefs into as few words as possible – the Correct Words. Instead of being inspiring, telling stories, giving the creatives a feeling, we are supposed to find the Correct Words that will then turn into a winner in Cannes. Lots get lost.

In Europe this is the old way of working. Today you need to team work, to connect on an emotional level rather than with The Correct Words, and it´s so obvious people are much more complicated than we can ever imagine, that the one-page brief instead is presented as a story – you know like those mind capturing ones that you listen to and leave with a revelation... Aha!! They might be longer than an A4 page, but far more powerful, landing softly deep in our heart.

Men might find it annoying when a women is not “to the point” because he is trained in his peer group to find the Correct Word. A woman find him annoying because she is trained to be softer in her advice, more flexible and open minded. 

I think advertising must move in a female direction. When people no longer believe in authorities you can´t sell slogans, since they are like orders. We must be novelists rather than non-fiction journos.

Mandela is one of the greatest story tellers, which made him a natural leader. 

From the book “Conversations with myself”:

“ In real life we deal not with gods, but with ordinary humans like ourselves; men and women who are full of contradictions, who are stable and fickle, strong and weak, famous and infamous, people in whose bloodstream the muckworm battles daily with potent pesticides.”

“On which aspect one concentrates in judging others will depend on the character of the particular judge. As we judge others so we are judged by others. The suspicious will always be tormented by suspicion, the credulous will ever be ready to lap up everything from those taking advantage of the vulnerable. The vindictive will use the sharp axe instead of the soft feather-duster. But the realist, however shocked and disappointed by the frailties of those he adores, will look at human behaviour from all sides objectively and will concentrate on those qualities in a person that are edifying, which lift your spirit and kindle one´s enthusiasm to live.” 

Don´t judge each other - bring out the best in all. There is no wrong or right, just bits and pieces of both, and when management mixes and matches between the male and female we will get powerful campaigns.

Pst... In this blog post I generalize a lot... I´m male some days too :) I´m sorry if I annoyed you (hahaha...)

Why LG´s event at Bondi Beach today was so plain

As a strategist it can sometimes be an awful experience to see ideas and insights turn into something average – or just awful... That hard working strategic planners have to see their initial thinking develop into a boring campaign is a risk, especially as a freelance, and especially here in Australia when the process is linear – the planner starts, hand over to the creatives and then it goes to the suits – instead of circular – when everyone is closely involved from start to finish, adding their special flavour to the mix. In a linear process the planner has very little to say about the execution.

I just witnessed a disaster and I am sure the planner behind was doing all things right, but the result was still far from ok.

During lunch I went down to Bondi Beach to have a look at an event that LG had promoted on Facebook.

“Today Hayden Quinn from Masterchef will be hosting our Life's Good moment winner, Linda Hayward's BBQ outing at Bondi Beach Pavilion, Bondi Beach. If you're in the area, please come and check it out.”

The event time was 12-14 so I walked down at 1 pm, thinking I could learn something about creating experiential campaigns. When googling I found that the event had gotten lots of media coverage, so I expected it to be successful and inspiring.

It was not. I arrived at 1 pm and there is a handful of people sitting around the chefs, so I tried to walk into the little tent to see what was going on. I got stopped immediately by a couple of promotional staff who wondered if I was from the client? I said no. They then told me the event started at 1.30 and I was welcome back then.

HUH??? Why would you advertise an event 12-14 if I´m not allowed to enter until 1.30? There was no one there, and seriously... on a Wednesday around lunch time all you find down Bondi is Chinese tourists and students – everyone who can afford LG are at work!

I thought I was saving the event from the embarrassment of being a complete failure with nobody in the audience, but I instead I was the one who got humiliated when accused of trying to crash the party.

I´ve many times laid out complex strategies and built up ideas with digital components, all sorts of clever marketing details and strict guidelines on how it´s supposed to be executed to fit the brand DNA, just to find the client or the agency have cut the budget, and turned the holistic thinking into nothing. It´s frustrating! When you freelance you can´t be in complete control and inspire all the way. But seeing promotional staff lazing around handing out freebies without being properly trained in brand values, teasing with “free” instead of emotional values, makes me sometimes want to cry or change jobs.

I went back home after being rejected, and I really hope there was more people coming on the appropriate time. I still want them to succeed.

It is really important that the key influencer and creators of a brand are present all the way. Don´t expect those at the far end of the chain to get the brand strategy, the deep values, the emotional message we are trying to send. Don´t let all the work get wasted by not controlling the process from start to finish. It´s easily turned into a chinese whisper, so be firm. Hold tight. And think in circles or spirals. Don´t plan a campaign as if it was a factory from the industrial era.

Attract your consumers with some music - play it right and they come running

It is amazing how people change their behaviour based on environment and emotional states. Music is an excellent way to move people into a wanted direction (towards your brand...).

Some interesting studies:

- Research conducted by the University of Leicester across three weeks monitored the effects of classical and pop music and background silence on consumers’ spending behaviour.

The researchers found that when classical background music was played, the average spend per head rose to more than £24 but to £22 when pop music was played and only £21.70 per head when no background music was played at all.

In the same study, patrons spent over £1 each on coffee when classical music was played, compared to only 80p when pop music was played and just 54p when no background music was present.

Dr Adrian North (who held the post of senior lecturer in psychology at the university when the study took place) claimed: "When you hear a piece of music it activates all types of knowledge. If you hear classical music, it has got all sorts of connotations of sophistication, affluence and wealth and it makes you feel a bit posh. In a restaurant, this has the effect of making you spend a bit more money. Where people were really spending the money was on the luxury items, such as starters, desserts and coffees."

James Davis, owner of Softleys restaurant where the study was conducted, said: "The sort of music you play does affect people's mood. It is quite amazing how much it sets and creates an atmosphere in the restaurant. Sometimes you play what you personally like rather than what the clients like, so I think this research will definitely affect what we play in the future."

Source: http://www.musicworksforyou.com/background-music/diners-spend-more-with-classical-background-music.html

- Classical music seems to put even those who you might think are not really into the tunes of Mozart in a state of calm. When classical music was played in the London underground, robberies dropped with 33 percent, assaults on staff by 25 percent, and vandalism by 37 percent.

- When researchers at the University of Leicester played different kinds of music over the speakers of the wine section in a large supermarket, people made different purchase decisions.

- Another study showed that when French music came out of the speakers in a shop, 77 percent of consumers bought French wine, but when people instead got to listen to German music the vast majority of them bought wine from Germany.

Source: Buy-ology by Martin Lindstrom