A Subliminal Point!
IMPLIED BUSINESS PSYCHOLOGY IV
From his book Antifragile: Things that gain from disorder, author Nassim Taleb states the following:
Inject random noise into a system to improve its functioning.
We can verify this philosophy, literally, in music!
This phenomenon is called Stochastic resonance. Adding random noise to the background which makes you hear the sounds (say, music) with much more accuracy.
The Buridan’s ass paradox
Buridan's ass is an illustration of a paradox in philosophy in the conception of free will. It refers to a hypothetical situation wherein a donkey that is equally hungry and thirsty is placed precisely midway between a stack of hay and a pail of water. Since the paradox assumes the ass will always go to whichever is closer, it dies of both hunger and thirst since it cannot make any rational decision between the hay and water.
The most common answer to this is, I feel more thirsty than hungry so the choice is obvious. Actually, the analogy would be more accurate if the reward (hunger/thirst) and the risks/rewards were the same. This would freeze the mind.
One example I can think of, which would be apt for a Buridan’s ass paradox, is if you’ve ever been caught off guard, while crossing the road, by a speeding car, the exact moment of the paradox would be when your mind freezes and you are unable to move either forward or backward because the risk/reward is literally the same in either direction.
It is proposed that in this situation a nudge is required which would be the key factor in the decision. Here the result of the nudge isn’t considered since any action would resolve the paradox.
In Branding and Marketing, we see various examples of ‘nudges’, directing consumers towards behaviours that are in the brand’s interest.
When it comes to products and advertising, nudges are used to distinguish between different brands. Take two cola companies for example. One company’s (Thumbs Up) ad campaign plays to the ‘macho/manly’ sentiment, where one drinks a cola after a strenuous physical activity, and the other cola company’s (Coca Cola) ad plays to the ‘friendship’ sentiment, where the result is sharing a cola.
Both these brands are selling a very similar product, where you are being sold a product based on your ‘sentiment’ or ‘emotion’, and the desired result is buying the said cola.
The book NUDGE describes two systems that characterize human thinking, which Sunstein and Thaler refer to as the "Reflective System" and the "Automatic System". These two systems are more thoroughly defined in Daniel Kahneman's book Thinking, Fast and Slow.
The Automatic System is "rapid and is or feels instinctive, and it does not involve what we usually associate with the word thinking". Instances of the Automatic System at work include smiling upon seeing a puppy, getting nervous while experiencing air turbulence, and ducking when a ball is thrown at you.
The Reflective System is deliberate and self-conscious. It is the one at work when people decide which college to attend, where to go on trips, and (under most circumstances) whether or not to get married.
Advertising and Branding are meant to nudge the automatic system. Although the decision to purchase any product would be made through the reflective system, the brand you choose would be driven by the automatic system.
In Nawabs, Nudes and Noodles: India through 50 years of Advertising by Ambi Parameswaran, a chapter titled ‘Har Ek Friend Zaroori Hota Hai’, various marketing campaigns of different telecom carriers in India have been discussed.
Even though the service being sold is practically identical, each service provider tries and appeals to the different sentiments to drive their end goal, which is, the sale of more sim cards.
Idea Cellular went with a campaign called ‘What an idea, Sirji’ which appealed to the intellect of the common man, implying that having access to the idea cellular network was tantamount to having access to ideas from across the world.
Airtel, on the other hand went with musically driven campaigns, headlining A.R. Rahman. This moved on to the ‘Har Ek Friend Zaroori Hota Hai’ campaign, which encapsulated the youths’ desire to stay connected.
Vodafone used two different characters to communicate messages about their network to their consumers. First it was the pug that followed a child around. This was followed by the immensely successful ZooZoo campaign, where animated martians speak in an unknown language to each other, and through their antics on screen communicate why you should buy Vodafone sim cards.
The addition of an external factor (not related to the end goal) to the system (AD), drives the said system (AD) to perform more efficiently.
In wars, we often see unlikely allies being formed and working together, when external elements threaten the existing system or status quo.
Ronald Reagan once said “I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world.”
The aliens would be the external factor added to the existing system of humans which would make the humans act more efficiently as a whole.
In the context of running a business:
We have our annual audits done by an external agency. It’s extremely striking, as a business owner, to see how efficiently the entire staff performs, as a team, whenever the audit is on.
The addition of the auditor (external factor) to the team, increases the efficiency of the team as a whole.
The addition of a new member to the team, instantly solidifies the bond between the existing team members.
I have also observed that under exceptional circumstances, the efficiency and productivity of the team is highly maximised.
How would you drive the actions of your team internally? Would you use any external factors to drive internal behaviour like they do in advertising?
Learning Solutions Development , Change Milestone Consulting and Peer Learning Platform at Firstmilemedia.com
6 年As far as paradoxes go, Protagoras, 'the First Sophist', trained Euthalos on the art of 'Arguing Effectively' in court. Since Euthalos could not afford paying the coaching fee, their understanding was that the Student would pay the Teacher his fee after the student 'Wins' his first court case. Euthalos completed his tutelage successfully and proceeded to avoid taking on any cases thereby subverting the need to pay Protagoras his fee. When the Teacher's patience ran out, he filed a case against Euthalos in the court of law, demanding payment of his tutoring fee. Protagoras argued that 'If I win the case, Euthalos must pay me my fee' and 'If I lose this case then Euthalos must pay me my fee because as per our agreement he would have won his first case in court'. The First sophist revealed the First documented legal paradox. There's more to that story, google it I say. I bring this up because the ROOT of all Nudges, all known decision triggers, every personal and professional relationship, advertising and marketing strategies are neatly encapsulated by and sourced back to 3 Powerful Words - Ethos, Logos and Pathos which belong to the same era. The Brand Value (also organizational values) is the Ethos that determines whether you will Woo or Shoo an Investor, whether you are able to attract, retain and drive a talented workforce. Genetic attributes like Integrity, CSR, Equal Opportunity (#thegameofequals) amongst many others are both defining and decisive characteristics of an organizations' health & future. The organized efforts made at scoping roles, aligning rewards, incentivizing, vesting and developing growth paths for the workforce is an ample application of the Logos principle in the business environment. Objectivity, Pragmatism and Rationalization are the governing forces and the guiding principles for sustainable business models. The advertising industry brings a praise-worthy twist to the Logos principle by proving that 'Irrationality' or lack of logic can grab even more eyeballs than usual. In advertising, you may not make a 'False Claim' but are free to make a 'Ridiculous' one. "Red Bull gives you Wings." "Even Angels will Fall - Axe Deo Excite". Very clever, wouldn't you agree? An organizations' attempt at Pathos manifests itself in the form of an entire function dedicated to Employee Management and Engagement along with every other fraternity building and team bonding exercise that it undertakes. A conventional adage goes - Emotions Drive People. People Drive Performance. Nuff said. If you are working on the next 'Nudge' project or an 'Influencing' effort towards culture transformation or planning a series of Change Events for your organization then you must base your strategy on the operating platform of the Ethos, Logos, Pathos principle. Where People are Diverse, they are the Same. Paradox that. Or do it because, ARISTOTLE SAID SO!!
Global Lead: Quality & Training at Accenture, Software & Platform Ecosystem
6 年Interesting note! I believe teams need to be aligned to a purpose to be effective. If I had introduce some 'noise' to push up the effectiveness of the team, I would align them to projects which might not completely be in their comfort zone. Projects they could work on as a team. They would have to understand, learn, apply and in the process, rise above the status quo. Adding value to the organization and themselves. And finally, be thrilled that they have been able to do much more than they thought possible. This awareness will then help them create a more exciting future for themselves
Student at Haribhai devkaran
6 年Nice