CrapHammer

Focus Group Dystopia: Marketers Beware

I've been arguing against the validity of focus groups for some time now and I'm certainly not alone.  They are not effective tools for innovation, insight generation or validation. But now they are outright dangerous.

Focus groups lend themselves to being gamed.  We saw it very early in the dot com boom where the same people would show up regardless of how you worded the screener.  It didn't matter which firm you used, or whether you wanted someone with 1 year of experience online, 3 years of experience or a PhD in computer science.  Marla and Jim would be in the submitted names.  They were professional focus groupers and had registered with every research house in town.

So the market reacted and higher end houses worked to identify and screen these people out.  But now a new variation appears to be at play.  One where cheating the marketers is not only the order of the day, it's a business.

A friend of mine loves focus groups.  Let's call him Dan.  As an actor, focus groups allow him to make some easy cash between gigs.  The other day I met Dan for lunch and he informed me that he had a focus group to attend after our meal.  Nothing unusual.

What was unusual was he had notes.  While we were waiting for the bill he was studying them quite intently.  I was quite perplexed and asked him what the notes were for.  He smiled awkwardly and said he had to be a gay man between jobs with two kids from a previous divorce.  He was trying to memorize his previous work history and his views on dating sites.  My jaw hit the table.

His recruiter didn't call with a screener.  His recruiter called with briefing notes on who he was to "become" for the session.

I pity the marketer still using focus groups.  It's only going to get worse.

Image Source: Oliver Ingrouille

What is the experience of reading?

Would you read a paper every morning where the print was blurry and difficult to read?  Or what about a paper where the article refused to be read if you didn't watch an ad first?

I was perusing the feed of my favorite brain site - mindhacks - and came across a reference to an article in Salon that sounded very interesting.

I can't tell you if it was as interesting as it sounded because I was unable to read it.

Above is the page with the article on it.  Or at least I think there was an article somewhere under the ads. Ads that wouldn't go away I might ad.

Maybe this was a glitch - a bunch of rogue ads gone haywire and breaking free of their restraints to run unimpeded across my screen.  It's certainly not an unusual experience with more and more media sites becoming an insane asylum housed by disturbed ads that refuse to take their medications.

With online readership up to 20% of a paper's readership, at least up here in Canada, I had naively hoped that the online experience would quickly start to improve.  I expected to see organizations breaking new ground in how to leverage and engage with me using digital channels.

Instead I appear to be seeing the opposite on so very many sites.  I think there are two reasons.

First, online advertising brings in less than 20 cents on the dollar of what a traditional reader would generate.  So we are finding ourselves suddenly bombarded with wave after wave of larger and flashier advertisements - floating ads that block the page, explode, blink and even trigger epileptic fits.

Second, there is a lack of imagination in the industry.  Everyone is focused on how to leverage or extend print into the digital space.  What drives me insane is that even the digital-only zines, LIKE SALON, are doing anything but innovate in this space.

Can we help the media industry?  Set your critic hat aside and join in the conversation.  Imagine a different media space or share a site that you feel is doing just that.

What if digital media served a basic human need that traditional media missed?  What would this need be?

What kind of online media would be more trusted than print?  Where do we not trust traditional media?

What if digital media could create change in the world?

Creating Experiences that Bring About Change - Part 1

When Experiences Must Do Something

I feel it is important to start with a simple hypothesis - that what we are able to think of is constrained directly by what we are able to imagine.  So if we can't imagine different futures beyond the present situation, then we can't effectively explore new ideas, cover new ground or innovate.

Now imagine we are on a project with a large team and our role as a planner or as a UX person is to help the group frame the challenges and opportunities facing the client/organization. Some would say this is our only role.  Here I turn to a much needed conversation going on between Matthew Milan and Adrian about the overlap and state of affairs within planning and UX.

"As a planner I saw my job as creating new possibilities. I wanted to always be on the side of providing an opening for my brands and my colleagues to explore and play within a completely different and unexpected context."  Adrian

I agree and feel quite strongly that we have to "change" the audience so that they have the ability to "see" different realities in a world where few people spend time imagining things differently.  How we accomplish this is the "black art" of our field.  Do we draw a picture, create a powerpoint or tell a story?I

I propose that we must do what they are asking us to do - create an experience that has the potential to involve the viewer and enable the change to occur.

A Model For Creating Change
Hillis spoke some time back (2004) at the Long Now Foundation about the "Progress on the 10,000-year Clock".  Hillis is attempting the impossible by many accounts.  He is looking to change how we see the world, the future and - by extension - what is possible.

37 minutes into his presentation, he stops presenting what has been built to date and begins talking about how the clock is more than a thing - how it is an experience designed to change the viewer/visitor. 

He presents a model for the stages of an experience that can change the participant. (I was surprised to find out that he had spent time at Disney focused on creating experiences.)

• Picture:  we require a picture in our mind of what it is we are going to accomplish. 
• Commit:  the moment where we choose to engage - to commit.
• Glimpse:  a glimpse of something that pulls us forward - the "weenie in front of the dog."
• Trial:  a period of confusion where we leave behind our old ways of thinking - where we are unsure and even frightened enough to look for something different or new.
• Arrive:  we achieve what we set out to accomplish.
• Payoff:  the "high". A moment of reflection.
• Secrete Payoff: secret and personal payoff that only the people who have the experience can realize.
• Return:  start over at the beginning.

((Rituals appear to share many of these.  Future article?))

7 simple stages to think about in crafting an experience (or series of experiences) with a loop back to the beginning.  For this article, I want to call our attention to the very first step.  To have a picture.  A step so very often overlooked and yet so critically important.

It seems simple enough.  We paint a "picture" of what the experience is going to be like and use our media people to get this picture in front of everyone that matters.  If only it was that simple.  Going back to the opening hypothesis, our audience has to believe something is possible and be able to imagine it before they can even have a hope of "seeing it" let alone believing it.  So what do we do when we are trying to invent something "out of the box" or "new/different"?

Role of Comics
I've spoken about comics a few times now and I've been using them as a prototyping tool in a variety of situations.  This has been great, but it is becoming clear that comics are applicable for far more than just prototyping. 

They excel at the first step in the Hillis model.  They not only present a picture, they give the user the tools to imagine a different world and slowly change their perception to the point they can consider an idea.

There's been some high profile and really amazing uses of comics recently in just this context.

Google Chrome: Google wanted to introduce a new browser into the market that redefined a whole slew of protocols, technologies and methods used to build a browser.  They needed to generate awareness and buy-in on the concepts and why a new browser is needed - topics generally beyond most people's interest or ability to comprehend.   Yet critical if one were to imagine a new standard for browsers.  Their initial launch idea?  A brilliant comic by Scott McCloud.

Akoha: Akoha is attempting to bring "pay it forward" into a social networking environment.  This requires that people be engaged in learning what "pay it forward" is and then to be interested and willing to explore how Akoha works.  A lot of work when the goal is to create sign-ups and growth in the usage of the site.

 

I'm interested in what others in the field have to say about experiences that can bring about change, the Hillis model and/or the role of comics in this context.  Join in!

Exercise: Users, Objects and Goals

Overview of Users, Objects and Goals Exercise:
Most organizations are able to provide some level of detail on the organizational goals for a project, but rarely are the value for and needs of the target audience well defined. This exercise gives me insight into the different requirements of internal and external stakeholders/users and actually creates a checklist at a very detailed level for a feature review/requirements assessment.  All from the point of view of the end audience.

Continue reading...

I've been using this process as a kickoff for a number of digital engagements of late and thought I would share it.  The link above presents my approach, guidelines on how to implement it yourself and links to the templates I use to present the outcomes and learnings from the session.

When the shit hits the fan.

I don't know shit, but here is the kicker. No one talking shit knows shit. 

Funny that as a natural bullshit artist I suddenly find myself surrounded by experts, specialists and academics;  con artists, car salesmen and wizards. An endless litany of useless bullshit.  All being packaged up into a shiny little rose-smelling package of "tasty" shit for client consumption.

Are you sitting down?  Most agencies don't know shit.  In fact, they go out of their way to hire the glitz and glamour.  Creative Directors with award winning campaigns.  Account Directors that look good in suits.  Designers with more bling than sense.  Planners with PhD's in areas of research no one can pronounce.  And lots of number crunchers to turn the luke-warm stats into glowing success metrics.

Surely the agency you work for or have hired is not one of these.  We all yearn to do good work, no?

In over 10 years in the digital agency business (President to Employee), there is one rule that has applied to every agency I've ever worked with:  they are all bullshitting at least half the time. Even the good ones. Most of us who are "in on the game" are just trying to figure out which half applies to any specific instance.

I'd love to solely blame the agencies, the consultants and even myself.  But I can't.  We are just delivering to expectations.  Expectations handed down by who?  The industry?  The government? 

Shit.  It's the clients.  Everyone knows it, but very few will stand up and say it.

Not all clients, mind you.  The majority, for sure.  It's the clients that select agencies they "don't have to brief" because they "just get it."  Clients that are afraid to run a black ops project.  Clients that live in an environment of control and fear.  Clients that talk about "innovation" and "engagement" but then want the agency to "go away and come back with something hot."

Well.  Enough is enough.  There is another way.  It involves engaging with people who are dedicated and enabled to solve problems for your organization.

There are a growing list of agencies that tear down the walls between their clients, themselves and the problem(s) at hand. They look their clients in the face and ask the difficult questions.  They don't espouse to have some secret weapon in the reserve.  They just roll up their sleeves and work to identify and solve the wicked problems together with their clients in the room.

No magic.  No walls.  No bullshit. 

Who is at your project table?  Thinkers?  Problem solvers?  Shit disturbers?  Because you need all three.  And you need to be there when the "shit hits the fan."

Image Source: bubbo-tubbo

Google Chrome and Marvel sign movie deal!!

Okay.  There's no movie deal.

But there is a comic. And in today's world, that's a guaranteed movie deal within 5 years.  ;)

I love to see visualization sneaking into new areas.  So I was delighted to see that Google is developing a printed comic for journalists and bloggers that introduces their open source browser, "Chrome".  The great Scott McCloud doing the honors.

Talk about fuzzy.  Cartoonists are designers too.

UPDATE:  link to comic book