#ElmoEffect: How A Puppet Went Viral By Checking In

Welcome to The Pulse! Here is the latest update on what is ticking in the world of consumers, technology, and business.

This issue is a special edition - The Elmo Edition?

We are living in an area of institutional deterioration

• Conversations around tech are getting funny and gloomy, case in point, Zuckerberg was shamed into facing an audience of parents during a congressional hearing and apologizing for the emotional damage caused by his brands. Open AI and ChatGPT went from ‘wow’ to ‘wait, what?’
• Calling the political sphere a dumpster fire gets nods and ‘oh yes’ responses across geographies, generations, genders, and affiliations.
• Corporations are getting banged on for profit greed, hybrid work and return to work policies, and pretty much everything in between.
• Generations are at odds more than ever!

And the internet answered:

Elmo’s post garnered over 208 million views, 19,950 replies and has been reposted by users over 59,900 times within one week (05.02.24). Giant media outlets like The?New York Times, BBC, CNN, and CNBC reported on it. Also, the United Nations and busy people like Joe Biden responded. Sesame Street and many others provided resources to seek help when suffering from mental health issues or similar.

Elmo was able to extract some real and deep insights on the zeitgeist of the world more than any 2024 trend report about Gen Z, the state of media and institutions, trust, needs,?and any other effort to get a measure of the pulse of the world.

Everyone knew (let’s hope) they were talking to a puppet. But Elmo is the personification of a relationship we all seem desperately need right now.

Important conclusions and patterns?

Institutional Trust: We need trust in a sea of self-serving opportunists all around us, whose agendas are so badly see-through, getting back to something of innocence feels soothing. Elmo will not trick us, exploit us or try to get something from us.

Loneliness and need for connection: With so many connections, we seem to have no one to talk to. Social media gives a perceived connection while AI promises synthetic relationships. Elmo, albeit a puppet seems more real than the reality around us.

Having someone that listens: Talk talk talk. We are surrounded by pundits and fools, brands and businesses scratching for our attention, for our ears and our eyes, to tell us something, to sell us something, to influence our behavior. A 30-year-old puppet just opened up his ears.

Small business anxiety: It's?not just individuals who talked to Elmo in the last week. Business owners expressed their stress, their ability to make a living, about their ability to survive in an uncertain world.

The?need to bare your heart and share risk-free: In?a digital world where it’s so easy to be bitchy, to be bitchy in order to game the algorithm and gain more views, and more influence, Elmo does not troll.

Simply sharing: People?shared their raw feelings. They shared their success with sobriety, their dread of getting up in the morning to meet another day and some just shared that they are OK. Life is for sharing with no expectation of return in likes, or reposts. Just a place to park a thought, to know that we are not alone.

Human?empathy still exists, people were concerned about Elmo and trauma overload (dump): Goodness?prevails. Puppet, personification, or whatever Elmo was perceived to represent, people showed genuine concern about overburdening him, many asking “Elmo, how are you, are you OK?’

The news, even CNN, interviewed?Elmo:?Maybe as a sign of ‘this is the kind of news we need right now’. Not the news of a collective global sadness but the news that someone asked, a well-known brand stepped in to simply listen. To be there without wanting anything in return.

Here’s an interview on CNN with one of the most respected journalists there is, Jake Tapper. It’s strangely reassuring given the state of the news. Those burdened with doling out one miserable state of affairs after another, needed this life raft of positive emotion to grab on to. And they did. All the while raising awareness about mental health. Sesame Street pitched in with resources and contact information for those who needed it.

In closing and in jest

• Elmo?will no doubt be accused by the far right of being part of the ultra-left deep state, right up there with Taylor Swift and the NFL.
• Elon might troll Elmo as revenge for stealing thunder from the first Neurolink human trial. Maybe he will call him a pedo.
• Sam Altman and Open AI will for sure launch the Elmo chatbot.
• We are all eagerly awaiting the Elmo app (not)!
• Influencers will jump on Elmo in the most bizarre ways.
• Brands will, of course very badly and inauthentically, try to jump in the same space. Watch for Ronald McDonald asking people ‘what’s up’? Note to brands, please don’t!
• Let’s all hope there will be no Deep Fake of Elmo doing and saying things that will kill the specialness of this media moment.

But Elmo has made news, he tickled our deep-down need to share with someone, a puppet, a representation of someone wholesome, someone that has no hidden agenda. Someone who ‘just wanted to check in’ and ask us, ‘How are you doing?’

Hey marketers!

So if you are in business, marketing, research, and insights, check out the hearts pouring out to Elmo and feel the state of the consumer. It’s all quite easy to find. Take the time. Then ask yourself, how well do you know them? How can you represent a sense of trust, authenticity, openness, and the feeling that you simply give a fu*k? Ask yourself, what deep hole in people can you help fill? What can you celebrate, champion? Where can you help? In small ways and in big.

So in the spirit of Elmo, dear reader of The Pulse, let’s all take more time to ask each other, our colleagues, our friends, our customers, our kids, our neighbors, hell, maybe even our bosses, ‘How are you doing? Just checking in.’

And now, Elmo needs some rest too.