Thursday, November 01, 2012

We see the world as WE are, not as it is: Global PR Summit

Do you see yourself? Or what's really there?

This morning at the Global PR Summit the panel that most captured my attention was this: "Persuasion, empathy and neural coupling: Where PR meets Dr Spock".

Don't let the fancy title confuse you. The take-home was pretty basic, as per this post's title.

We see the world through "me-coloured" glasses

One panellist presented what seemed like very robust proof that we do in fact see the world (or specifically, information) as we are, not as it is.

Georgia State University's Jason Reifler shared research that underscores just how subjective we are in our judgements about information - in particular information that, while accurate, contradicts what we already believe.

Our prevailing views, at least when they relate to politics, which was the subject of his research, whether right or wrong, seem to win out over the truth almost all the time. Why? Simply because we are so fixed in our views of ourselves that information that contradicts who we think we are (ie information that while correct, is at odds with what we believe and thus our self-identity) is more likely to provoke a response of denial.

This isn't a newsflash to most of us.

Think of these situations in one to one communication: surprising negative performance feedback; unpleasant truths about those we care for, or the "devil's advocate" colleague who experiences a certain withdrawal by colleagues.

Or, in the case of the research cited, populations who don't want to believe the reality of the employment track record of the political party on the other side of the fence to their own views.

So what do we do with this as communicators?

In many ways the real news was this: when people are feeling good about themselves they are MORE open to facts that run counter to existing beliefs.

Hence what the psychologists and HR folk call the "warm start" when giving feedback one on on.

You know the drill: I really appreciate that you do "x". What I want you do do more of/stop doing/modify is "y". "Y" isn't helpful because of "a, b & c". Can we talk about this more?....Great. In closing I want to remind you how great it is that you do "x".

The BlueChip Communication team call this the "sh1t sandwich". It's a good format for some people to hear feedback but can appear clumsy and patronising to those who recognise the format and just want to get to the feedback bit.

That said Reifler's research shows that this same format works on the larger, mass communication, scale. And I've seen it used many many times by CEOs in financial services giving the standard "call to arms" address to staff. The format, at some very basic level, is to tell people how capable they are, then ask for them to step up. Then of course the close involves reminding them again how great they are.

A simple way to more open minds

Why do this? Because it makes people more open to what you say after "you're great". So the "warm start" actually warms our brains up to hear information we need to hear - but may well be completely at odds with current beliefs.

Personally I think this simple finding is profoundly useful to communicators. As Reifler said, we should use this knowledge for good, rather than evil!

In particular he found graphs seem more effective at bringing people around to more accurate perspectives.

And as for our vulnerability to mis-information? As per the picture in the twitter screen shot at the top of this post, here are some of the ways we see things through those "me-coloured glasses"...we:

select like-minded media sources
reject unwelcome corrections
continue being influenced after corrections
use familiarity as a heuristic for accuracy.

This last one is similar to behavioural finance finds that suggest people are more likely to choose mutual fund (managed fund) investment options that are offered more frequently ie we also mistake frequency or simply numbers for merit in investment choice.

Frightening!

Here are a few select tweets from the session. One other stunning finding from Raymond Mar of Canada's York University was that reading fiction significantly helps us understand other humans - more below.

ExpandTheory: ppl who read a lot of books (fiction) are better at understanding other humans #prsummit Now that's extraordinary. NB TV NOT same

Expand

I am attending the Global PR Summit in Miami on behalf of BlueChip Communication.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Global PR Summit: integration; narrative; earned attention

Proctor & Gamble's (@ProctorGamble) Marc Pritchard talked today in Miami at the Global PR Summit (#PRSummit) about the power of earned attention.

What struck me was this: not the huge success P&G had with their Olympic "Mom" campaign, not the power of narrative, not the fact that more than half their impressions came from earned media but that NONE of this is new.

What is new is the channels (social) and the clarity of the 'take-home' for conference attendees.

That take-out is this:

1. Brand and event assets used to deliver 'earned' attention rather than 'paid' attention are MORE effective

2. The whole narrative was led by a PR firm not an ad agency

3. The narrative determined thecampaign strategy and elements - through the line, not just below the line

My own experience running AMP's Olympic and Torch Relay communication campaigns (circa 1998-2000) mirrors exactly the P&G message albeit on a much smaller scale:

Tell an authentic story and one that resonates with consumers
The more integrated, the more effective the campaign
Writing that story allows communication strategists and those charged with action to take the narrative into strategy, planning and execution

Marc's final exhortation to those on the "agency side" (consulting we prefer to call it!) was this: "Push us (clients) to make us think about the audience we need to reach – and push us about how to reach them with authenticity and brilliant story telling".

I am attending the Global PR Summit today and tomorrow in Miami on behalf of BlueChip Communication. For more info about any of the posts please contact us.

Global PR Summit: industry at a cross roads

An industry at a cross roads was the rallying cry from Paul Holmes as he opened the Global PR Summit today in Miami.

With US attendee numbers down due to Hurricane Sandy, Holmes addressed a more international audience of PR leaders than expected – about challenge & opportunity, about continual misconceptions of PR and of a future in which PR is becoming more central to brand building and corporate success.

Personally I'm fast becoming a PR-bear. By that I mean that when I look around I fear for our future with so little notable thought leadership globally. Some of the best thinking about our so called profession seems to come form those outside the actual industry – marketers, business leaders and social media experts in particular. And those pundits would suggest our biggest challenges are this:

Measurement
Integration with other forms of communication or campaign elements
Social media

To be fair all three of things, if right, are opportunities not just challenges, as Holmes suggested at the outset. But the intelligent debate isn't coming from the PR folk – maybe we're just too close to it.

It's the first time an event like this has been run, and while numbers were down, registrations exceeded all expectations. Why? In part because Holmes has been successful, through the Sabre Awards and The Holmes Report, in broadening the geographic footprint of the Holmes Report brand and its associated events.

I'm tweeting from the event using the conference hashtag of #PRSummit today/tonight (Wednesday AM AEDST) and tomorrow. Blogs will be posted here with the best of the thinking from the conference.

Financial Services Marketing and Communication: content and integrated marketing, PR, social media

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