the science behind our emotional response

So it is Valentine’s Day.  In thinking about what to write today I had to reflect on an NPR broadcast I heard on the way home last night about the science behind Grammy Award winner Adele’s amazing music.  It turns out that researchers have examined how the hit “Someone Like You” evokes an emotional response that keeps us wanting more.

The story introduced me to a musical device called an appoggiatura — from the Italian word “to lean” – a note that creates a slight dissonant sound with the main melody.  Psychologist Martin Guhn explains why it works: “This generates tension in the listener.  When the notes return to the anticipated melody, the tension resolves, and it feels good.”  Listen to her song…the appoggiatura can be easily heard when Adele sings the word “you” in the chorus.

John Sloboda, a professor of music psychology at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama, says that little vocal dip on the word “you” is the key to triggering an emotional response in a listener.  The Wall Street Journal even  wrote about the appoggiaturas in Adele’s song.

While I’m not qualified to debate the science of that type of musical trigger, the NPR story did get me to think about the role of music in powerful story telling.  Whether by design or by accident, Adele’s music taps a deep emotional response… and it earned her 6 Grammy Awards.

So as you’re enjoying this holiday which is ALL about our emotions, think about how our emotional responses are heightened by music in the movies we watch or the advertising we see.  Think of how flat most television commercials would be without a compelling soundtrack.  Are you using music to help you tell your story?

Happy Valentine’s Day!

super bowl and social media

This morning I noticed a story from MediaPost that took a look at HootSuite’s analysis of Sunday’s Super Bowl through the lense of social media success.  With marketers focusing more and more on the intersection between TV watching and social media activity, there are insights to be gained by reveiwing which Super Bowl advertisers did the best job engaging with fans before, during, and after the big game. 

HootSuite analyzed 105 ads ranking brands according to their use of social media channels and trending data. The end result?  Take a look at this infographic on the top 20 brands based on their real-time, and after-game social media engagement.

One of the statistics that stood out was that the Super Bowl generated 12.2 million comments on social media.  You can read more about their findings on HootSuite’s blog found here.

The biggest takeaway for me was that 88% of ads made NO reference to social media – missing out on social media’s full potential.  What were they thinking?!

By the way, you may also want to look at MediaPost’s summary.  If you don’t follow them regularly, you should!

students take action

The fifth meeting of Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) will be convened March 30-April 1, 2012 in Washington, D.C. at the George Washington University.  Building on the successful model of the Clinton Global Initiative, CGI U brings together approximately 1,000 students from all over the world, along with nonprofit leaders, entrepreneurs, and celebrities engaged in efforts to create positive change.

The CGI U meetings consist of working sessions, skill sessions, and large plenary sessions, where participants can learn about innovative approaches to solving global issues.  Chelsea Clinton and Jon Stewart will be among the speakers.  Today is the last day for students to apply.  Apply now: http://bit.ly/CGIUapply

By the way, if you cannot attend, you will be able to view and share session webcasts from the CGI U 2012 by visiting: http://www.cgiu.org.  Follow CGI U on Twitter at @CGIU and @ClintonGlobal or on Facebook at Facebook.com/CGIUniversity
for meeting news and highlights. The event hashtag is #CGIU.

piggybacking brands

The other morning I stopped into a local grocery story and noticed this end cap display.  Take a close look at what is happening here.  The store, in order to promote its own lesser brand of canned peaches, offers to give you one for free if you buy one can of a well-known brand’s similar product.  They are, presumably, hoping that by comparing the two products the consumer will find little difference between the actual contents in hopes of building an audience for thier more generic, lesser priced alternative to a strong, nationally known brand.

This form of ‘piggybacking’ may help them rotate inventory, but will it create brand salience for their product?  I doubt it.  It would be interesting to know what they really hope to accomplish here.

Derrick Daye describes ‘brand salience’ as the “degree to which your brand is thought about or noticed when a customer is in a buying situation” – it is what brands come to mind when consumers are in a purchase situation.  There is a lot more this store would have to do to create the perception of their generic alternative as on par with the strong brand in order for me to seek it out the next time I’m in their store. 

As Martin Lundstrom reminds us in his book buy*ology, “Every one of us ascribes greater value to things we perceive – rationally or not – to be in some way special.”  For me, this store’s marketing effort only reinforced the image of their product as a lower priced alternative – but not an alternative of equal quality or value.  Ah the mysterious workings of our minds!

race for the top

Every sector has its race for the top.  Toyota came close to claiming the #1 spot in the auto industry before its 2010 recalls.  Mobile providers like AT&T, Verizon and Sprint constantly jockey for position.  So many examples come to mind.  What can we learn from these high profile brand wars?

This morning Advertising Age ran an article that offers a few important lessons from the fast food industry’s most notorious rivalry: the #2 spot in the burger wars.  In the article, Maureen Morrison takes a look at how Wendy’s positioned itself to move past Burger King for the spot behind category leader McDonalds.  I recommend the whole article, but here are the important takeaways:

• Understand your core brand and who it targets
• Even good products need updating
• Improve the customer experience
• Be opportunistic

Improving your position in the marketplace doesn’t happen by accident.  Understanding your brand, your market and your customer are essential if you hope to create competitive advantage.  Think about these while you enjoy your burger at lunchtime!

evolve or die

Make sure to take a look at Thom Forbes Media Post article this morning about Kodak’s imminent filing for bankruptcy protection.   What lessons can we learn from the slow demise of an iconic company?

Wall Street Journal columnist John Bussey asks: “Was it a failure of imagination? Was it entrenched convictions and provincial thinking? Was it one restructuring too far?” All of the above, he concludes.

Robin Crow, in his book Evolve or Die, suggests whether you are a large company or small business owner there are seven principles that will help you meet current and future challenges:

• Exceed expectations
• Gets things done
• 100% accountability
• Commit to continual improvement
• Boundless optimism
• Environmental responsibility
• Make a difference

Sounds simple, I know.  These principles would obviously have to be translated into action steps appropriate for your company or organization.  But the basic point he makes, and the one that Kodak’s current situation prompts us to take notice of, is those that adapt the fastest are the ones that succeed the most.

11 gifts from 2011

It’s almost the New Year and, like many bloggers, I find myself taking time to look back on 2011 before looking ahead to 2012.  To help you prepare for the year ahead, let me offer a quick list of books, blogs and articles that came across my desk this past year that are worth review:

1. I’d humbly offer one of my own blog posts to start the list.  Life is but a dream offered inspiration from a children’s song.
2. Walter Isaacson’s book about Apple co-founder, chairman and CEO Steve Jobs.
3. Inc.’s It’s Cheaper to Keep ‘Em article by Karl Stark and Bill Stewart on customer retention.
4. Fast Company’s 30 Second MBA offers some really great advice “from the trenches”.  Take a look at Great Inspirations.
5. Even if you don’t work for a bank or credit union, any marketer can learn from the insights offered by Jeffry Pilcher’s The Financial Brand.
6. Chris Brogan’s Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation and Earn Trust.
7. Inc.’s Top 5 Most Common Networking Mistakes article by Jeff Haden.
8. Onward - How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul by Howard Schultz.
9. Ron Shevlin’s Snarketing 2.0 – A Humorous Look at the World of Marketing in the Age of Social Media.
10. Inc.’s 10 Zen Ways to Nail Your Next Presentation article by Eric Schurenberg.
11. And last, but not least, a few days before Christmas I was gifted a copy of RelationShift – Revolutionary Fundraising by Michael Bassoff and Steve Chandler.  The concepts offered have application far beyond fundraising.

I wish you a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

 

make a difference – one loan at a time

This year as a way to express gratitude to my clients I have chosen something other than the classic corporate holiday or year-end gift.  (Who really needs another Harry & David gift basket?)  I have, instead made a gift in their honor through Kiva.org.  Perhaps you will join me in making a gift to help fund a microloan to Ernesto, a young Peruvian farmer in the city of Ollantaytambo.

Kiva.org is a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty.  Leveraging the internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world.

Ernesto was born in the city of Urubamba and lives in the community of Pachar, he is 23 years old, single and has no children.  Ernesto works in the construction of houses and other projects, he also sells small animals like cuyes and chickens. It’s been a few years since he started this business and he does well thanks to the effort he puts in his work.  Ernesto needs the loan to buy more small animals.

Kiva works with microfinance institutions on five continents to provide loans to people, like Ernesto, that do not have access to traditional banking systems.  I recommend them as you consider your holiday and year-end giving.

missing a wise man

I couldn’t let this story go by without comment.

This morning I happened upon a report in the Zanesville Times Recorder that, for the first time in years, a nativity scene has been moved back to the grounds of Ohio’s Muskingum County Courthouse.  You can read the entire article here.

Anticipating some public backlash, County Commissioner Jim Porter is reported to have said: “I’m sure there will be in some form. But you know, the baby Jesus is what Christmas is all about…So I’m ready to fight that battle, because it’s not moving. My only problem is, we’re missing a wise man and we’ll have to do something about that.”

The article goes on to say that placing the nativity at the courthouse was prompted by a call from State Rep. Brian Hill, who is also a former county commissioner.  Hill reportedly supports the idea “because the nativity is a good symbol of what this country was founded on, and that’s Christianity.”

I guess Zanesville, OH really is missing a wise man.

A wise man (or woman) might remind the county commissioners that the United States was not founded on Christianity, per se.  While many founders were Christian, there was a plurality of faiths and non-faiths in the country which led to the founding principle of freedom of religion and the value of religious tolerance.  To this day freedom of religion is a constitutionally guaranteed right provided in the religion clauses of the First Amendment.

George Washington once wrote “Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause; and I was not without hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy of the present age would have put an effectual stop to contentions of this kind.”  A wise man (or woman) today might want to caution all involved in the controversy over the placement of the nativity scene that an expression of religious tolerance and respect to the diversity of religious beliefs should be the hallmark of the debate.

powerful stories

Yesterday, I shared a youtube video on my Facebook page of a gay 14-year-old who created the video to share his anguish over being bullied:

Some online accused the teen, Jonah Mowry, of being a “fraud,” saying that he had created the video as a way to get publicity. ABC News confirmed that he was the son of a music instructor technician at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, CA and the story shared was very real.  ABC News also reported that the teen’s mother has said her son has been “uplifted” by support online.

Teens have increasingly taken to social media like youtube, Facebook, Twitter, etc. to reveal their struggles with bullying.  Many reports cite that teen bullying has reached epidemic proportions.  Perhaps it is time for educators and all local, state and federal lawmakers to pay attention to videos like Jonah’s.  If you agree, please forward this blog post to your representatives and school officials.