2023 DEVILS: Provocation, Anxiety

?I ANXIOUSLY await the year-end time period as it PROVOKES me to write something light-hearted having built up that ritual over the years. But every consecutive year, I worry about being perceived as having sadist tendencies mocking the misery we suffered in the previous 12 months. I feel increasingly at risk of sadism this year - less so from what we have gone thru but more so for the fear of the bad times we anticipate.

So this year-end, I will actually focus on the same two aspects i.e. anxiety and provocation itself. Introducing, the two massive forces which we must reign in to ensure the world is happier in 2023. Brands and marketers can contribute to this process and hence this post on LinkedIn.

Provocation: We tend to provoke and be provoked very easily these days. Whether we are talking global (e.g. Russia vs. NATO) or social (e.g. religious divides) or environmental (e.g. climate protagonists vs. others) or social media related (actually, anything vs. everything!!), we seem to love to engage in provocative behaviour. It shows power and gains immediate and potential viral visibility but it causes a lot of friction and risks sparking and spreading hatred. So in 2023, learn to spot provocative topics, people and context and flag it off or laugh it off.

Brands risk provocation by making unrealistic promises in an attempt to gain visibility and acceptance. In fact, CLEAR has sized the gap between promise and delivery (https://clearstrategy.com/the-experience-gap/). Clearly, not all of this gap may be provocative. But we must ensure that the part that may be is at least not perceived to be intentional or premediated as this will spark hatred and negativity. Such provocation often becomes the survival fodder for institutions and niche segments who stroke it further for their own benefit. While the initial provocation may help the brand, the end result is likely less positive for everyone.

Some examples of brands risking provocation are those that make ‘efficacy’ claims with fine print citing ‘test’ conditions and assumptions. Such claims may incite scrutiny from watchdogs or competitors or consumers themselves and cause negativity and loss of goodwill. In fact, brands must be ready for their messages to be deeply scrutinized by consumers, competitors and watchdogs who make a living from provocation.

Anxiety: We tend to be anxious about more things in life these days than ever before. From near subconscious actions like pressing the elevator button multiple times to consciously pondering over possibilities – we live a very anxious life.

Anxiety is only likely to increase in this data fuelled world. More data is necessary to solve the problems we have today. However, more data inadvertently results increasing anxiety as a result of either uncovering new problems (no data would have meant ignorance and therefore bliss ??) and/or being misused to create problems e.g. identity theft

Brands also inadvertently contribute to anxiety. For instance, if you are a brand that has a touch point at hospitals or airport or other such high anxiety environments,?you need to make sure that front end staff are trained differently to deal with related high anxiety customer interaction situations. Else, interactions with your brand will only add to customer anxiety. Another example if how you deal with customer feedback and update requests on transactions with your brand – is your response detailed, frequent enough, sufficient and conclusive? If not, you are adding to the anxiety in the world. In short, you will find many way to spot anxiety creators if you review your entire touchpoint experience ?journey. Looking at this from a relieving anxiety lens focusses on loss aversion from a customer benefit perspective and this is more compelling versus the obsession of customer delight by giving more.

I hope this short write up has ‘provoked’ some thought as you do your goal setting for your business in 2023. I ‘anxiously’ await your comments on other forces you think will shape 2023 and good behaviours for a better year.