There's this great story in the New Scientist (via We Make Money Not Art) about some Dutch scientists who've discovered they can silence racist chanting by playing the chants back at the crowd with a slight delay. This confuses everyone and stops that chants (you get a similar effect on a conference call when you can hear yourself talking.)
This is interesting in and of itself.
But there's also a kind of metaphor here for those slavishly insight-based brands; those brands who find out exactly what their customers are like and mirror it back to them. On the face of it, not a bad idea, but in reality they're always echoing back with a slight delay. And the audience has moved on, they're not quite where they were, so this mirroring just confuses the relationship, makes the brand look out of kilter and insensitive.
That make sense? I think so.
More love to spell with flickr.
Excellent point. Which is also exactly the reason why market research can never be totally accurate.
As they say in business, if you arent going forward you are moving backwards...and finding out where your customers are is standing still.
A brilliant example here is Nintendo. With both the DS and Wii consoles they have completely ignored what their customers are saying now, and have completely anticipated where they will be next year.
Whilst Sony have gone for "now but bigger", but that is passing by before their eyes.
Posted by: Rob Mortimer | May 15, 2006 at 08:26 PM
Yes that does make sense. And yes you're correct.
And with Everything 2.0 that's gonna be more important than ever.
Posted by: Ben | May 15, 2006 at 09:37 PM
"We don't ask consumers what they want. They don't know. Instead we apply our brain power to what they need, and will want, and make sure we're there, ready."
Aki Morita, Sony
(from Sony's glory days, presumably)
Posted by: Dino | May 16, 2006 at 08:39 PM
I'll see your Akio Morita, and raise you a Steve Jobs:
"It is impossible to connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backward, so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future."
Posted by: Jason | May 16, 2006 at 09:48 PM
latest trend started by jason: planning poker!
Posted by: Dino | May 17, 2006 at 12:38 AM
Ill see your Steve Jobs with a Trevor Baylis:
"The key to success is to risk thinking unconventional thoughts. Convention is the enemy of progress."
Posted by: Rob Mortimer | May 17, 2006 at 08:50 AM
Interesting comments. I was reading Russell's post and wondering about examples, like the ones you guys posted here. Thanks!
Posted by: fernanda | May 20, 2006 at 05:33 AM