#52 – On AI toolkits, empathy gaps, competition, metaphors, and the post-purpose election
Hello hello.
We’ve almost made it through 2024. Only a few more weeks. In between all the many year-in-review articles containing long and short lists looking back at this, that, or the other, here is the most recent issue of Strategy Bites looking at how to make the most of AI as a planner (curtesy of the APG UK); what’s coming after Purpose (with a capital P) ; a 36-page guide to marketing; a reminder why it pays to keep tabs on the competition; the business impact of the empathy gap; and the power and importance of metaphors.
Enjoy the clicks.
Six Links of Inspiration.
The Big APG AI Toolkit. A bunch of planners and strategists spent the last six months getting all philosophical about how AI is going to change our jobs. An old boss of mine used to call big groups of strategists affectionately “a confusion of strategists”. If there ever was confusion it now has made way for a lot more clarity. As part of that, Mara Dettmann and I pulled together an ever-growing toolkit giving the curious among us an overview of what’s out there, what it does, and what it can be used for.
The Big APG AI Toolkit At any given stage, this is merely a snapshot of the tools that are out there. And I’m 100% sure that we’ve missed a couple of great ones. Or that someone smart is working up a killer application as we speak. That’s why you can submit additions. Go and use it, make it better. (Thanks.)
The Post-Purpose Election. I’ve recently shared an Economist article that noted a decline of “wokism” in the media, now here’s a bit of more inspired writing that picks at the same trend and examines it through the marketing lens. Not only does the article feature a nice cheeky photoshop, it also asks the question what comes after the worship of the golden calf of purpose. I personally still believe that a purpose serves a…ehm…purpose. But we have to admit that too often the marketing bubble has pushed the concept into the Twatosphere. What’s next is hopefully a return to more tangible benefits, something people in the real world actually can wrap their hands and heads around. And brands better go and figure out what they have to offer.
A post about a decidedly useful guide to marketing. Gareth O’Connor wrote a guide to marketing. A post with a 36 page attachment that serves as a great reminder of the function(s) of marketing and how to think about it at different stages. It’s useful.
Advertising is Dog Eat Dog. There is a lot of writing and thinking out there that talks about ignoring the competition and focusing on your own strengths instead. None of it is necessarily wrong, but it overlooks a key component of strategy, as Joe Burns outlines in his post here. He writes that “our role is finding the advantages that competitors can’t, or won’t be able, to match” in order to create an asymmetry in our favour. This doesn’t mean we can’t strive to think beyond the category, but it serves as a reminder that we should move in a direction where our dear rivals can’t easily follow us.
The empathy gap that is imperilling future generations. Dave Tallon shared a great piece about the empathy gap. Humans seem to be notoriously bad to empathise with others, particularly when those others are groups or live in the future. In a study “people reported 8 to 16 per cent less empathy toward the future sufferer (depending on how far in the future it was)” compared to a person suffering in the present.
Now, I know there’ll be a lot of people saying, so what. So, here’s the so what: ”In one study, we framed the Clean Air Task Force, a nonprofit addressing climate change, as either helping people in the present day or helping people who will live 200 years from now. Compared with those who saw the present framing, those responding to the future framing donated 6 per cent less – and this difference was explained by reduced empathy. While this may seem like a small effect, the stakes are large when you consider the hundreds of billions donated to charity annually in the United States alone.” Being able to make other people relate has an impact on your cause. Or your business. That’s why our business is to make people care. At least a little. Because it can make a significant difference.Metaphors We Think With: The Role of Metaphor in Reasoning. I remember rolling my eyes when our teachers started talking about metaphors and analogies at school. Today I have a whole different appreciation them. Metaphors We Live By is one of my favourite books. I find the idea that language shapes how we perceive and communicate reality fascinating. (The things we have words for and the things we don’t.) And now there’s this study: “far from being mere rhetorical flourishes, metaphors have profound influences on how we conceptualize and act with respect to important societal issues. We find that exposure to even a single metaphor can induce substantial differences in opinion about how to solve social problems: differences that are larger, for example, than pre-existing differences in opinion between Democrats and Republicans.”
That’s it for this time, the last Strategy Bites in 2024. We’ll hopefully read each other again in the new year. There is lots of exciting stuff happening. Some of which will probably make its way into this little publication.
Until then, if you stumble upon a piece of writing or thinking that you think should feature here, drop me a line or leave a comment. And if you think someone else should read this, too, please feel free to share. (It’s almost Christmas, after all.)
Enjoy the last few weeks of this year & read you soon,
Maximilian