PyroMarketing

I Stand

I woke up at 2:30 the other morning with two words and a song idea in my head.

I was troubled by NFL players refusing to stand for the national anthem.  I found their protest offensive, but also misguided because it foolishly forced fans to choose between supporting the player's cause OR respecting the anthem.  

But it didn't have to be that way. Our nation was born with the words, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." In America, standing for the anthem honors everyone who stood for American ideals and fought for American values including both military veterans and civil rights pioneers.  In America, standing for the anthem IS standing against bigotry!

So I wrote a song called I Stand in hopes it can bring our nation together and help NFL player realize there's a better way. 

Here are the lyrics to I Stand.  What artist would you like to hear sing it?

 

I Stand

 

They sailed on a collision course with evil

They fell on bloody beaches far from home

They died in trenches cold and lonely

And now they lie in endless rows beneath white stones

 

So, I stand when I hear our beautiful anthem

And I remember what those heroes did for me

I hold my hand over my heart and count my blessings

Because I know my freedom wasn’t free

And it may be a small thing, but it’s how I say thank you

If they ever look from heaven down to me, they’ll see

I stand

 

They marched from Selma to Montgomery

They walked through angry night sticks and tear gas

They sang we shall overcome 

And they dreamed great God almighty free at last

 

So, I stand when I hear our beautiful anthem

And I remember what those heroes did for me

I hold my hand over my heart and count my blessings

Because I know my freedom wasn’t free

And it may be a small thing, but it’s how I say thank you

If they ever look from heaven down to me, they’ll see

I stand

 

America’s not perfect yet, I know

And we still have a long, long way to go

But we won’t make much progress sitting down

 

So, I stand when I hear our beautiful anthem

And I remember what those heroes did for me

I hold my hand over my heart and count my blessings

Because I know my freedom wasn’t free

And it may be a small thing, but it’s how I say thank you

If they ever look from heaven down to me, they’ll see

Until this great country's all that she can be, they'll see

I stand

 

 ©Greg Stielstra 2017

Update: On December 12, 2017 a group of Nashville's finest studio musicians recorded the music tracks for I Stand.  I'll post a recording of the song to this blog when it's finished.

Update 2: I Stand is done.  Michael Lusk sang it.  Here's the music video.

 

 

How to Fumble a Protest - Lessons from the NFL

How you protest matters and NFL players made a strategic blunder when picking their approach.  By choosing to protest racial inequality by disrespecting the national anthem, players put their fans in an irreconcilable quandary. 

To join players in their call for racial equality and social justice, fans had to also join them in a show of disrespect for their country. Fans could either show support for the players cause OR they could show respect for the anthem, but the nature of the player's protest meant they could not do both.

Doubling Down

When President Trump made his inflammatory "SOB" remark, the players doubled down on their previous error.  Nearly the entire league disrespected the anthem as a way to express their disapproval for the president's comments. But, if their beef was with Trump, why take it out on the anthem? 

Again, fans faced an either or proposition. Unable to protest the president's remarks and respect the anthem, fans had to choose which was most offensive--Trump's "SOB" comment or watching hundreds of their football heroes disrespect their nation's anthem, flag and all they represent.  And, while many American's wish the president had chosen different words, they absolutely abhorred the thought of disrespecting their country and its veterans.      

Once more, the nature of the player's protest--disrespecting the anthem by sitting, kneeling or skipping it altogether--deprived players of millions of allies they may have otherwise found in their fans and pushed them reluctantly to Trump's side instead.  "Trump may be rude and crude," many fans reasoned, "but at least he loves this country."

A Better Way

The players could have enjoyed the full support of the fans had they chosen a protest that conflated racial equality with patriotism.  For example, they might have stood for the national anthem with their hand on their heart while holding a copy of the Declaration of Independence.  When the media asked them why, they could have said it was to remind people that our great nation was founded on the belief that "all men (and women) are created equal" and that real Americans believe this with all of their heart.  They could have made the point that patriots can't be bigots. 

This approach would have harnessed America's deep patriotism in support of the player's cause, endearing them to their fans and prompting praise from the president while marginalizing detractors.

I'll be watching my Packers play the Bears tonight and hoping the players don't ask me to choose between supporting their cause or loving my country. 

Spread the fire.  GS

 

Think Small

Stephen Covey said, "Begin with the end in mind."  That's good advice.  Whether plotting the path for a road trip or writing a marketing plan, it helps to focus on where you want to end up before deciding how best to get there.  Skip that step and you could end up in the wrong place...fast.

But the destination we imagine is almost always something BIG.  We dream of record-setting success for our product, bestseller-status for our book, or chart-topping popularity for our new song.  But big thinking can distract us from the equally important need to think small. 

Big is where we end up, but small is where we must start.

Every oak tree began with an acorn. Every marketing phenomenon began with a single sale.  Where will you start yours?  If I had to sell just one record by a new music artist I wouldn't buy national advertising, I'd talk to their mom.  If I had to sell a second, I'd talk to their spouse.  

I'd start with people who have the most reasons to buy--reasons that extend beyond the product's features and benefits.  With those initial sales secured, I'd turn my attention to friends of those that bought, and so on.  

By thinking small you can have a clearer idea of where to start and what to do next.  Spread the fire. GS

What's the Value of a Dollar? That Depends

What's the value of a dollar?  Well, that depends.

The other day my wife, who is an artist, wanted a specific book with photos of flowers she could use a reference for her paintings.   She told me with excitement that she found a used copy on Amazon for just $1.  But, then she added with outrage, "They wanted $3 for shipping so I didn't buy it."

I recognize a great opportunity to learn more about human decision-making when I see one, so I asked some additional questions.

"Darling, were you upset because you expect shipping to cost less than your purchase?"  "Yes," she replied.  "Shipping shouldn't be more than the product I'm buying."  

"So, if the book had been $4 but the shipping was free," I asked, "then would you have bought it?"  "Of course," she said.

What's interesting to me is that, in both cases, she would have paid $4 to have a book she wanted delivered to her door, but only one of those scenario would produce a sale. 

Cost of book	Cost of shipping	Total cost	Purchase?
$1	$3	$4	No
$4	---	$4	Yes

And it's not just my wife.  We're all wired in a way that makes certain scenarios more attractive than others--even when there is no practical difference between them.  By understanding people's expectations (shipping should cost less than the purchased item) marketers can characterize offers in ways people find more appealing without lowering prices and that's a good deal.  

Spread the fire. GS

Windows Brand Crash

It probably seemed like a good idea: Display the Windows logo on the desktop when no application is running.  You know, to get some free branding.

Except that when the software that displays arriving and departing flights at Nashville International Airport crashes, the only thing frustrated travelers see is the Windows logo...which they associate with the software failure.  Crash = Windows.  Probably not the free branding the good folks at Microsoft had in mind.  Spread the fire.  GS

Size Matters: Why Sale Prices Should Also Be in Smaller Type

Which of the offers in the visual below is the better value? Which would you be more likely to buy? It's NOT a trick question. I know, it looks like they're the same, but you--and most everyone else--would find A the better value and be more likely to buy it. The reason may surprise you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

People prefer A is because the physical size differences between the regular and sale price are congruent with their value relationship. In example A the sale price is lower than the regular price AND it is also physically smaller. Judgments on two dimensions reinforce the notion that the sale price is tinier than the regular price.

In example B the sale price is numerically lower, but physically larger. The size to value relationship is in-congruent and that perceptual disagreement makes it harder for people's brain to declare one better than the other.  "It's smaller, but it is also larger!"

"Yes, but wouldn't you want the sale price lower so it's more noticable than the higher price," you ask?  Not necessarily.  That question is related to salience--whether or not people notice the offer--and not to how they perceive its value. There are other ways to achieve salience without compromising people's value perception.

Suppose the product in question is a rack of shirts.  I might place a large, orange "SALE" sign atop the rack to achieve salience, but place a price tag on each shirt that resembled example A to created the optimal value perception.  This approach would attract people's attention to the rack while maximizing their perceived value and likelihood to purchase once they began looking at the product. 

You can read more about this effect in a paper titled: Size Does Matter: The Effects of Magnitude Representation Congruency on Price Perceptions and Purchase Likelihood. 

Spread the fire!  GS

Mental Priming: When Promotions Backfire

Can you spot the mistake in this poster's headline?

 

It's the word "Busy."  The word "busy" in this context is a form of negative priming (a stimulus that influences people's near-term future thoughts and actions). It causes people to think about their day as "busy" --an unnecessary and unhelpful modifier given the poster's goal. As they recall--even subconsciously--examples of their busyness, they begin to believe busyness is more common (Availability Bias) which makes them LESS likely to think they might "fit fitness into their day." Simply deleting the word "busy" (Fit fitness into your day) would have solved the problem.

Spread the fire.  GS

Unintended Consequences: When Incentives Backfire

OOPS! Many policies and incentives plans seem like good ideas on their face, but can have unintended consequences. Here's one lesson from hissssssssstory. 

When the British colonized India they sought to reduce the number of deadly cobras so they paid a bounty for each dead snake. Almost immediately, enterprising villagers began breeding them, producing a profitable bumper crop of the menacing creatures.

When the Brits realized what was happening, they stopped paying the bounty. This rendered the villager's snakes worthless, so they let them all go. The net effect of the program designed to decrease cobras was to INCREASE the total number of deadly snakes slithering about the colony. It's still called "The Cobra Effect."

I spotted this sign at Publix grocery store. The store intends to discourage after-hours crime, but may have unwhittingly encouraged daylight robberies instead.

Mistakes like these are easy to make because, when designing policies or signs, we use our conscious System 2 thinking process.  But, when responding to policies and signs, people most often use their System 1 process.  The logical, System 2 process that hatches the plan has a difficult time predicting how other people's irrational System 1 process will respond.

The way to avoid having your policy, sign or incentives plan backfire is to:

1. Understand the realities of human behavior (Behavioral Economics).  This helps your conscious System 2 thought process better understand and predict how people's System 1 process will respond.

2. Conduct experiments, where possible, to measure people's actual response. Where that's not possible, at least spend some time thinking about your policy--role playing or imagining how people will respond.

Spread the fire. GS

Power in a Name: Using Labeling to Direct Behavior

What's in a name?  Quite a bit, as it turns out.  Before giving something a label or a name, think about the behavior you want to elicit and then name it accordingly. 

Here’s an example.  Both of the photos below show a collection of receptacles where the goal is to get people to recycle certain materials.  But, sorting through stuff is inconvenient.  It takes time and effort.  So, how do you motivate people to expend the necessary effort to take the desired action?  The correct name can help.

In the first group (taken at the Nashville airport), the center receptacle is labeled according to “what you put in it”—Waste.  The label is true, but ineffective as it relates to the goal because it elicits the wrong response.  What do we do with waste?  We throw it away, of course.  This label makes it easy for people to throw waste into the center bin, guilt-free and without a second thought.  

But the center receptacle in the image next group (I took this at Georgia Tech) is labeled differently.  It's named according to “where its contents are headed”—the Landfill--and that changes how people feel about putting things in it.  People may not hesitate to throw away trash, but, thanks to social norms they are reluctant to contribute to a landfill.  So reluctant, in fact, that they would rather expend the time and effort to sort their recycling than add another plastic bottle to the landfill.  As a bonus, this name helps people feel good about themselves because there is less in a landfill because of their actions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Naming Your Baby

Before labeling something it's important to consider the following:

1. What action do you want people to take?

2. Who are those people and what matters to them?

3. What are the different angles from which you can look at the thing to be named?  Where did it come from? What does it do? How does it do it? What benefit does it provide? What is it made of? Who made it? Who uses it?

4. Which naming approach supports the desired action?  Would you rather wear a "Passenger Restraint"  (true to its function but has a negative connotation) or a "Safety Belt" (true to its benefit and has a positive connotation)?

Spread the fire.  GS

 

 

 

 

When Less is More: Starbucks and the Power of Positioning

The words we use to describe something powerfully influence how we think about them and, consequently, the place they occupy in our minds.  It's called positioning.  

That mental position, in turn, can determine the value we assign to something.  Too often marketing people miss an opportunity to add value through positioning because they simply don't pause to think about it. Ah, but when they do, really wonderful things can happen.

My favorite example of the power of positioning to add value is Starbucks use of the phrase, "Room for Cream" to describe its failure to give you all of the coffee you bought.  They could say, "I won't fill it completely" and that would also be true, but it would feel like you were getting less.  By calling it "room for cream" you associate value with the absense of product!  They're giving you less but it feels like more and that's the power of positioning.  

Spread the fire.  GS