Both Martin Lindstrom international branding guru and Prof. Baba Shiv of Stanford GSB are talking about the effect price has on perceived quality of a product.  A very interesting conversation, especially when deciding on the price point of a new product.

Check out this article from Prof. Baba Shiv on wine and experienced pleasantness.
Highlight quote from article:
For example, Shiv has shown that people who paid a higher price for an energy drink, such as Red Bull, were able to solve more brain teasers than those who paid a discounted price for the same product.

Lindstrom talks about this idea in his book Buyology.

Segmentation is crucial to what we do.  Without understanding who we're talking to and the different mindsets within the WHO, it's difficult even to ask the right questions.

I often think of myself as being the protector of research, helping guide what's appropriate when.  This article from Stanford Business School was a great voice of reason.  Thought you'd like to check it out.

Just to pique your interest:

The idea that verbal, visual, or cognitive cues can have predictable effects on consumer behavior might tempt marketers to look for magical cues to herd customers like lemmings. But two Stanford researchers have found that one prime does not fit all and, in fact, can have the opposite effect depending on the group. The moral: Take care to segment your market.

Product innovation can come from anywhere.  We love to facilitate using stimulus from Cirque du Soleil to Biomimicry.  Why not?  Some of this century's brightest ideas came from looking outside the category towards other inspiration.

Check out this article from National Geographic.

This afternoon's flight from LA prompted one of my favorite musings: who are these people on the airplane in rows 20 and higher, jolting out of their seats like the DJ just pumped this party the moment the plane comes to a halt?  What thought process affirms their decision to crowd into the aisles with over-sized carry-ons?

Invariably, I remain seated until the aisle clears...why doesn't everyone do this?  What am I missing?  [tone check: perplexed; not riled]

Seek's annual Planning Retreat gets underway in less than 24 hours here in blustery Chicago.  Last year took us to the sunny Caribbean, so I imagine this year's location was the logical offset choice.  Thought I might head up to Schuba's tonight but the featured 2-person "trash pop" band isn't ringing my bell, not to mention how flipping cold it is, just going outside here. 

The rewards of qualitative research rest largely on two principles: getting "mushy" and getting "empty."

The Mushy Principle states simply that we "enter and continue our conversation with empathy, patience, and levity."

• Empathy - everyone’s got a story: immerse yourself in his / hers
• Patience - (s)he’s getting to the good part (don’t ruin it)
• Levity - take him / her seriously; not yourself

A way to conceptualize this more broadly is to imagine how difficult it is to leave a detailed impression on a rock.  Now, think about how easy it is to leave a detailed impression on soft and supple clay.
 
When trying to learn about a person's thoughts / feelings in a way that you can later share with others, think about yourself as the soft and supple clay...

The Empty Principle suggests we "enter and continue the conversation with no expectation, no knowledge, and no memory."

• No Expectation - you don’t know this person; all you have are questions
• No Knowledge - you don't know this subject matter; again, all you have are questions
• No Memory - you have never, ever heard any of this before

Looking at this more generally, think about how difficult it is to add more material to a full container.  Now, think about how easy it is to drop that material into an empty container.

When trying to learn about a person's thoughts / feelings in a way that you can later share with others, think about yourself as the empty container...

What does this get me?
Following both principles, your answers will be authentic – as  opposed to filtered or customized to suit your anticipated need - and the responses you record will be fully articulated – so you don’t have to figure them out afterward.

It's interesting asking people what their favorite commercial is for several reasons.  I think it tells you a lot about them.  Here are some questions I ask myself about copy recall:

• Out of the millions we watch, why did they remember that one?
• I recently read that consumers are able to remember on average about 2 (read that loud and clear - TWO) commercials!  What stuck out from that one?
• How long ago did they remember it from?
• What did they relate it to?
• What look/feel did it communicate and why was it so relevant?

Maybe this is a shameless plug for my favorite commercial, this one on Dockers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEcR-5x8xwI

And in case you're wondering, I've never done any work for Dockers, so I in now way benefit from this plug.  Why do I like it?  The feel of it is mature yet chic, fun yet professional and to top it off, it's in my favorite city, San Francisco.  It seems so crisp and fresh.  A good word for khakis.  No, I don't own any Dockers, so it's purely art to me, and didn't increase my purchase intent.  Still love watching it though.

 So, in the last few weeks I've seen my share of airport security lines.

Not until now have I been accused of being a frequent traveler by one of the security dudes.  My life is complete.

I've learned effective habits and practices for successfully navigating the security line and I didn't even realize it until I got two comments from airport workers this morning.  For example:  

- I hold down my shirt when going through the drug-test machine that shoots air at you.
- I grab exactly two plastic bins to put my stuff in - one for my laptop and one for my bag and shoes.
- I know when to put away my license.  
- I get out my flight number and know which screen is next on the Delta check-in kiosk.

Without an outsider's perspective, I wouldn't have realized the adjustments I've made to make it through the system.  That's part of ethnography - I've learned to look at consumers' lives with a new lens, seeing things that they don't realize that they do, behaviors they've adapted, habits they're doing.  

Where have you adapted to a system?  Could that system be improved?  I sure know the airport security system could be (enough said...but then again, who's even asking?).  How can you innovate to make the system better?

These are questions we're constantly asking at Seek, externally AND internally.  Hey, there's always room for growth!

Hey there - long time no blog.
When this happened, I knew it was blog-worthy.

So, I'm out in LA for research and my cousin and her husband came out to pick me up.  We were driving back from lunch at the News Room (good bites, by the way) and their car turned off.

Yes, it turned off.

So, there we were, on the ramp between the 110 and the 10 with no shoulder, blocking one lane of traffic.  Nice.  A real-life LA experience.

We ended up getting hoisted up, then the tow-truck drove us to the exit, I hopped out and walked to my hotel.

(Getting to) research never gets boring.  Really.

It's easy to forget the assumptions we make before entering a space we've never visited.  This next exercise aims to dredge up a) what we imagine before b) what we experience. 

The "outside" template is to be completed before entering.  After entry, just soak up the next 15 seconds.  Next, the "inside" template can be completed.

What can we learn by comparing the two completed templates?  Are some circles tougher to complete than others?  Why?


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Check it out blogger friends!  Have you ever known a staff meeting to be so much fun!?

http://www.seekresearch.com/Videos/SeekVideo102408.mov

This exercise is an attempt to respond to a challenge laid out in this post.

I do this with my daughter, Hazel, now.  My dad used to do this all the time with my sister and me.  I get it now--I did not get it then.  Thanks, Dad.

When you drive somewhere, you get used to the noise around you. 

• the hum of the car's engine
• the whoosh of the car's tires
• conversation on a mobile device
• maybe even the racket blasting from the car's sound system

Look for the next opportunity when you put the car into park: turn off the engine; pull out they keys and set them quietly on your lap; then sit for a couple unchecked minutes.  Just watch, listen, breathe, and blink.

The effect is similar when you find yourself in a secluded / quiet spot after extended periods of cluttering your senses. 

Soon after I began making this a habit, I started to recognize more when I was just out in the world.  I became more available to my surroundings because I'm really able to connect them back to that silence and clarity.

There is not an end objective, here.  This is an exercise that might contribute to deepening and broadening our overall awareness.  I would love to know what experiences you have with it. 

Hauer (another Seekie) asked me a couple weeks ago where innovation starts.   I don't remember the exact words, but it went something like this:

"How're [worth noting: a homophone to Hauer] we supposed to just all-of-a-sudden be endowed with this magically beatific vision and insatiable hunger for newness?"

In the end, it isn't some remote magic.  No offense, unicorn-lovers.  And for starts, I'll reassert the notion that innovation is accelerated by over-developed awareness.  I think increasing our own awareness is a challenge for most of us.  Well, it's been a challenge for me, anyway.  So, I've been poking around, looking for "awareness exercises."  A lot of them feel too much like the picture up there, so in lieu of providing a link to a site that does it for me, here are two books that ratcheted up my own awareness development:















But why awareness?  Innovation is the combination of content and connections.  To have the connection, we need to have something to connect... And to have something to connect, you have to find something first.  Finding is aided by sensing.  Sensing is governed by awareness.  This makes sense to me, so I'm running with it.  In the coming months, I'll be working on some good exercises we can do to turn this motha out--I'll share my personal results, good or bad.  Do you have any?

At Seek's most recent staff meeting, we talked about how to understand the concept of innovation.  The word itself felt strange.


It's a strange word, hm?  And what does it mean, exactly?  I think it's just a suit-n-tie version of the word, "improvement."

• You find a shorter route home: innovation.  [bear with me if you disagree]
• You simplify your shopping trips by first ordering some things online: innovation.
• You rent out some storage space because your 2 BR can't hold any more baby toys: innovation.

Some of this doesn't feel like innovation, right?  Yeah, I feel that...but the fact of the matter is: innovation is what happens when you intellectually adapt to a challenge.  Some innovations are small.  Some are more badass.

The levers, as I see it, are:

• The relative strength of the challenge
• The relevant impact of the solution

So, let's take the "shorter route home" example.  If the route isn't drastically shorter and your trips home aren't all that time sensitive...it's a comparatively small innovation.  If the long way home has effectively been the only way home for not only you--but everyone around you--and has held up who-knows-what for who-knows-how-long...it becomes a more substantial innovation.

I've warbled for too long, but I'll pick up this discussion in the next installment.  Mental note to self: innovation really isn't anything fancy.  It's merely an extension of being aware of one's surroundings.

NPR did a story today on Silent Raves.  If you don't know what that is, neither did I until 5 minutes ago.  Here's the gist: via online social networking sites, a bunch of teens organize a session where you bring your iPod and dance to your own music, all together at the same time.

Do you know who likes you?  What it is people like about you?  And why?

Let me come back to that.  I have to get this off my chest before I forget it.

I like wine, but I'm certainly no connoisseur.  I've found my preferences to be pinot noir, cabernets, and the occasional shiraz.  Mostly, I like wine with hard or semi-hard cheese like montegrappa.  Yeah, I said montegrappa.  Just tried out that wedge yesterday.  Very nice.  Not a cheese connoisseur, either -- I just try out something new when I get tired of something I like.

When I'm looking at wines, I'm looking at prices first (can't be over $15) and then labels (no hard and fast rules that I can articulate) and then I'll turn it over to read a description of the taste.  From that point forward, I'm looking for cues like "oak" or "smoke" or "earthy" or something like that.  Just nothing too "peachy" or "minty."  I really have no idea what I'm talking about, but the idea of "mint" in my wine just makes my stomach turn.  Mint.  Seriously.



It occurred to me as I bought the wine to go with the montegrappa (In a bit of a rush, I went with a chilean wine, called Calina without actually reading the back label--very good as it turned out, for an $8 bottle of wine), that other people might be making that same purchase for very different reasons.  Maybe they adored the font or the hue of the label, the fact it was made in Chile, or their imaginary friend happened to be named Calina.  After drinking the wine, for instance, I looked at the description.  It said, "mint."  Ew.  I hadn't tasted it; in fact, my lummox of a tongue still doesn't taste it.  Of course, somebody may get excited about that wine because of the mint.  Unfathomable, I know.

People make "macro" choices for "micro" reasons.  Think about your choice for party music, presidential candidates, or pet food.  We gravitate to the most specific things for myriad reasons--even some that contradict each other.  Y'all know who you are.

In the end, let's go back to the initial questions--who likes you and for what?  and why?  Does it matter?  I say it does.  La gente de Chile who sell that vino managed to under-communicate what I would avoid (for apparently no good reason) and accentuate what I love...now, I can't help but wonder if some poor sucka is pacing up and down that same aisle wondering, "where's my damn minty wine?"

Why do some of us apologize for random stuff that’s not our fault?
Someone is running late, griping as they rush by; 
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
Someone tells you how their project just blew up; 
“I’m so sorry.”

Melissa and I have been thumbing through Codependency No More.
The author, Melodie Beattie, says you shouldn’t just apologize for stuff.
Apologizing implies ownership.
It’s like saying, “I’m so sorry I caused that thing.” (…that I totally didn’t have anything to do with…)
Beattie suggests saying something to the effect of, “It’s too bad that [insert what happened to person], is there anything I can do to help?”
But only say it if you genuinely mean it.

Melissa and I are making diligent efforts to cut out our over-apologization.
As an empathizer, I’m finding it truly difficult.
I am sorry when folks are struggling, but I guess the key is to communicate that without taking on the responsibility of it.  

Not long ago, in a conversation with Seek's CEO, I divulged my belief in the importance of the willingness to fail.  I conveyed advice given to me 10 years ago by my legendary jazz improvisation professor, David Baker: "fail gloriously."  One cannot create inspiration tentatively, was the implication.  Man, I took him up on it.  One brown note after another.  Clunking my way through "Confirmation," staggering across "Stardust," and singeing "So What."  It worked, though. 

The staff at Ode Magazine must've been on a similar wavelength as their most recent issue heralds not only the willingness to fail, but the benefits of failure itself.  Here's a substantiating video of J.K. Rowlings' commencement speech to Harvard grads about just that topic: failure.



"I'm not going to tell you failure is fun...so why do I talk about the benefits of failure?  Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential.  I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was....I was set free because my greatest fear had been realized and I was still alive and I still had a daughter whom I adored and I had an old typewriter and a big idea.  So rock bottom became a solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life."

Some failure in life is inevitable.  It is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not lived at all, in which case you fail by default.  Failure taught me things about myself I could have learned no other way."

Sometimes, after a long day of research in focus groups, clients will ask, "aren't you exhausted?"  Actually, I'm not.  Often I'm so pumped up I can't sleep.  There's energy in connecting with people.

A few weeks ago, I was in a research design session led by Greg, another Seekistador.

I'd had some espresso, OK?  And I hadn't slept well the previous night (thanks, baby Hazel).  And...well, I just wasn't on my game all the way.

So, I had a little trouble controlling the volume of my voice.  I got--er, irrepressibly loud, a la Jacob Silj, the Will Ferrell character from SNL's Weekend Update. 

Sorry about that, Greg.  I freaked him out.  The ironic thing, and not the Alanis kind of irony, is with that kind of volume, neither he nor anyone else could stand listening to what I had to say.  It probably wasn't anything worth hearing...but that's beside the point.

The volume and tone of voice we use to communicate is the most under-utilized component of speech today.  Seriously!  Are you in a public space right now?  Listen:  who's that loud person people are trying to ignore?  How closely do you perk up when hearing a whisper? 

I'd love it if you'd tell me what you notice for the next few moments as you put your ear up to the world...and while you're at it, lend your own voice an ear.  What do you pick up?!!  Sorry, I was yelling.

"a micrometer from here" (eng sub) from amit zakai on Vimeo.