#21 – On imaginative risk, words that matter, ads that win through, and the alleged homogenisation of cultural content
Dear readers,
it’s a semi-rainy Friday in London (and probably a semi-rainy weekend, too), so this hopefully hits your inboxes just in the right time to click through to some time-filling, thought provoking reads that talk about strategy (and when it should and shouldn’t be everywhere), imaginative risk, words that matter (or don’t), ads that win, and the (alleged) homogenisation of cultural content.
Enjoy the clicks:
Strategy, Strategy Everywhere. Probably a must-read for everyone calling themselves a strategist or working in strategy or writing strategy. Not such much because of the clarity it delivers around the value of strategy – but because Roger Martin calls out that there is a point where nesting strategies underneath strategies stops making sense: “It is important for P&G to have distinctive strategies for Head & Shoulders and Pantene shampoos. They have different customers, competitors, and value propositions. While it could say that it needs separate strategies for Head & Shoulders Classic Clean versus Head & Shoulders Deep Moisture, it would probably be a net-negative waste of time. So be careful and stop when going one level lower would not result in distinctively different choices.”
How much do words matter? Not a week goes past where a strategist doesn’t discuss the meaning of words. (Often it’s hour spent discussing only one word, on one slide, in one deck.) This article is about a new book examining medieval literature and what it can teach us about empowering women today. But it’s also about the changing meaning of words and how we can could or should determine what they mean today. “‘Vagina,’ we learn in Chapter 1, was originally the Latin word for a sword’s sheath. ‘Slut’ was used as a general term for a maid, such that an upper-class household might hire a cook, a butler, and a slut. ‘Pornography’ and ‘prostitution’ share the same root (‘from the Greek porne, ‘a prostitute,’ a word linked to a Greek verb meaning ‘to sell’ ‘), while ‘male’ and ‘female,’ surprisingly, do not (the former from the Latin mas, the latter from the Latin femella)
Greg Eisenberg’s Retirement Plan. This is not financial advice. Nor do I encourage everyone to follow Greg Eisenberg’s plan to make money for their retirement. But I do think he is sharing some helpful ideas for how to do research into categories – and helping develop strategies for brands to react/adjust/pivot. Hint: it revolves a lot around Google Trends.
Why boundary breaking ads win through. Lots has been said about distinction and differentiation and why both are important to create effective creative work for brands. Richard Shotton now adds a behavioural science lens onto the topic and explains which biases are responsible for the fact that distinctive ads are better for your business: namely the von Restorff effect, the ‘pique’ effect, and the ‘red sneakers effect’.
Does digitization lead to the homogenization of cultural content? I stumbled over this piece of research while reading about, well, how cultural content seems to increasingly look and feel and sound alike. (People have written great pieces about this already, e.g. Alex Murrell.) The paper, interestingly, observes an increase in “acoustic diversity” since the arrival of Spotify and Co. Which seams to run counter to the observations of others who argue that songs increasingly sound alike and get less diverse.
The Imagination Muscle. In a slight departure from my usual content, this is a link to a book that I’m currently enjoying very much. Albert Read traces back the origin of ‘imagination’ and what role it plays in history – and in our lives today. It’s brilliantly written, has an enjoyable pace, and has me made anxious more than once whether I truly live up to my own idea of using my imagination. I’ve just finished the chapter on Imaginative Risk and it finishes with this little task: “Do one imaginative thing every day that scares you – scribble a short story, a drawing, an observation, an idea to change something around you. These small imaginative acts will make you uncomfortable and, when you venture to retrieve the piece of paper the following morning, they will look ridiculous in the cold light of the day. You might laugh at yourself and feel some misguided flush of shame. But eventually, you will lose your fear, your self-mockery, your embarrassment. You will begin to feel comfortable with imaginative risk – realising there is no real risk at all. They are just ideas. You start to wonder, what was I afraid of? You begin to feel stronger. And you realise: by risking yourself imaginatively, you will gradually build your courage to do the important imaginative work we all need to.”
That’s all for this week. If you enjoyed this, why not share Strategy Bites with one of your friends?
Enjoy your weekends and read you all next time.