Cultural Appropriation: Why People Hate Hipsters

“Hipsters adopt the styles and affects of many cultures; cultures which aren't theirs. Cultures which they don’t actually belong to… Other sub-cultures enjoy what they enjoy, and that is the end of the story… People see hipsters as devaluing cultural fashions by cashing in on their capitol without embodying their meaning.” - Mike Rugnetta

This is an interesting video posted by Mike Rugnetta on the PBS Idea Channel. It suggests that the social disdain for hipsters may stem from their blatant and condescending appropriation of sub-culture. If you have a spare six minutes, this video is worth a watch:

Instacode: A New Language for Digital Youth

“People show more of themselves on Tumblr. They don’t use their real names, or write personal stuff, but they blog pictures. I don’t do any written stuff because I don’t want people from school to read it… I wouldn't want them to read about my feelings and tell other people what I've been thinking… Depending on my day and how I’m feeling, I might post a dramatic picture of rain on glass.” - Digital Youth (2012)

For digital youth, participating online is a social necessity. While previous generations have the luxury of keeping their digital and physical lives separated, digital youth must stay continuously connected in order to remain informed and in-touch with their friendship groups. Digital disconnection = social death. 

However this continuous connection also means that any private conversation, comment or personal interaction, could easily be shared through their entire social network. Social success, or social distress, is only a click away.

Hence the rise of instacodes. The deep human need to express thoughts and feelings, without fear or social judgement, has given rise to a system of codes and visual metaphors that digital youth are using to express themselves secretly on platforms like Instagram and Tumblr. Instacodes let digital youth communicate private things in public places.

The Evolution of Self-Esteem

A few weeks ago while sitting in a cafe, I overheard two mothers discussing different ways to build self-esteem. Turning to her friend one mother remarked, "I'm trying to limit the amount of disappointment my daughter experiences, because it may be bad for her self-esteem."  

This conversation got me thinking about our modern approach to self-esteem: avoiding disappointment and criticism, providing only positive feedback, focusing on individual affirmation and positive self-talk.

Does this really build strong self-esteem, or can it result in a fragile form of self-deception? I thought this could be a controversial but interesting topic for discussion.

The Social Evolution of Self-Esteem

In contrast to popular definitions of self-esteem, evolutionary psychology views self-esteem as an objective assessment of social standing. In his book 'Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind,' Prof. David Buss states that:

"Humans evolved in groups and needed others to survive and reproduce. This prompted the evolution of motivations to seek the company of others, form social bonds, and [gain] the favor of others in the group. Failure to be accepted by others would have resulted in isolation and premature death... Given that social acceptance would have been critical to survival, selection would have favored a mechanism that enabled an individual to track their degree of acceptance by others. This mechanism, according to sociometer theory, is self-esteem."

While popular culture suggests that self-esteem is individual, evolutionary psychology has explored the idea that self-esteem may be a 'barometer of social standing.' You could think of self-esteem like the warning gauge on your fuel tank, when your social standing gets low, your self-esteem should start to warn you.

According to sociometer theory, for an individual to build their self-esteem they must learn the behaviors that promote social acceptance. For example, when an individual undertakes actions that are socially valued (i.e. volunteering), they increase their standing in society (i.e. gain status), which can lead to higher levels of self-esteem.

The Challenges of Building Self-Esteem

In everyday life, sociometer theory provides some significant challenges and implications for building self-esteem.

Challenge 1: Learning which actions lead to social acceptance.

It's essential for people to learn which actions and behaviors contribute to higher levels of social acceptance. By learning the social skills necessary to make close friends (like reciprocity), or the behaviors that contribute to workplace success (like discipline) individuals can improve their self-esteem through social bonding.

Challenge 2: Learning when to fight and when to give in.

It's essential for people to learn when they are capable of beating an opponent, and when they should consider making an alliance or playing a subordinate role. By learning how to accurately judge their skill sets, intelligence and power, individuals can avoid unnecessary social conflict and play a more meaningful role in social groups.

Challenge 3: Learning how appealing your personality really is.

It's essential for people to learn which aspects of their personality are appealing to others, and which aspects should be managed or modified (i.e. learning to control neurotic behavior). Building self-esteem that is out of touch with social reality, can disrupt social bonds and may actually lead to disappointment and depression. 

Learning to Build Social-Esteem

If the sociometer theory is correct, it's possible that the concept of self-esteem championed by our modern culture may be counter-productive. In fact according to Prof. David Funder, building self-esteem "requires something more complex than simply trying to make everybody feel better about themselves."

Based on findings from evolutionary psychology, one of the most effective ways to build an individual's self-esteem may be teaching them how to build stronger social bonds. So instead of trying to build self-esteem, perhaps we should try to build social-esteem? Would love to hear your thoughts on this topic.

The Future of Digital is Mobile

Occasionally, whilst foraging for knowledge berries on the internet, you stumble upon a patch of tasty information. This was the case on Sunday when I read an article by John Naughton titled, "Real cost of the smartphone revolution: The smartphone market is expanding at an astonishing rate, but is it damaging creativity and innovation on the web?"

The article referenced a May 2012 conference presentation written by the industry analyst Mary Meeker from venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Drawing from a range on secondary sources, the presentation puts forward a compelling view of current and future digital activity.

While there are numerous insights and trends from Meeker in the deck, I've pulled out two highlights that I found of particular interest.  

Insight One: The Future of Digital is Mobile

At present mobile traffic represents 10% of global internet traffic, but according to Meeker while "internet growth remains robust, rapid mobile adoption is still in [its] early stages" and will likely impact global desktop internet usage (see recent data from India below).

Insight Two: Companies Need to Think Mobile

The opportunity for mobile innovation to 're-imagine,' or disrupt, stable categories like finance, energy and retail is immense. Industries and companies that fail to proactively develop strategies for dealing with the shift to mobile are likely to lose market share.    

For those that are interested in the full presentation, a copy can be found below:  

KPCB Internet Trends 2012

Why Do People Photograph Their Food?

Have you ever been at a restaurant and noticed someone taking a photograph of their food? I have. In fact, having observed many instances of food photography I decided to discuss the topic with some friends and colleagues.

A great deal of work already exists on the complexity and underlying motivations of meals. In general the findings from studies on food and meal behavior have shown that, "although seemingly simple, [eating is] in fact very complex behavior in which many physiological and psychological factors interact."

So building on some of that existing research, here are a few fun theories about 'why people photograph their food.' If you have any additional ideas on the topic, I'd love to hear them.

Theory One: Social Ritual

Sharing and enjoying a meal is a part of social ritual.  Historically, meals have often been used as a medium for passing on important cultural and religious rituals.

Perhaps people photograph their food together as part of a new social sharing ritual?

Theory Two: Collaborative Process

Preparing and enjoying a meal is a part of collaborative process. The process of contributing to a meal can be an important part of bringing together nutrition and emotion.

Perhaps people photograph their food to feel like they have contributed to the process?

Theory Three: Personal Pleasure Arousal

Anticipating and enjoying a meal enhances personal pleasure. The process of delaying gratification has been shown to increase the enjoyment associated with consumption of pleasurable products or services.    

Perhaps people photograph their food as a form of pleasure arousal and gratification delay?

Theory Four:  Experience Objectification

Eating and enjoying a meal is an ephemeral experience. Although the memories and emotions associated with eating can last a lifetime, the food itself does not.

Perhaps people photograph their food in an attempt to make the meal experience last?

How to Harness Nostalgia in Marketing

"I'm thinking about when I was a child and there were no cares and no worries... You didn't worry about the calories in a cookie, you'd just go for it.” - Respondent (2012)

There's something special about hearing people re-connect with their childhood. Like unearthing a treasure chest of emotion, the first years of life can represent a source of comfort and nostalgia.

While the realities of adulthood can bury childhood memories under layers of parental, work and social responsibility - uncovering and harnessing nostalgia can represent a major opportunity for marketing.

The Benefits of Nostalgia

According to research, eliciting a feeling of nostalgia in human beings can, "serve a homeostatic function, allowing the mind to return to previously enjoyed states, including states of bodily comfort." From a practical perspective, this means that nostalgic thoughts are able to make you feel comforted and physically warm.

For any brand that wants to be associated with comfort and warmth, whether they're a restaurant like Johnny Rockets, a food product like Kraft Mac & Cheese, or a technology manufacturer like John's Phone, uncovering and harnessing nostalgia can be important.

The Sources of Nostalgia

There are two types of memories that are often associated with nostalgia: social interactions and momentous life events. Researchers have found that these "areas seem to be most frequently.. associated with the recall of [nostalgic] experiences," and may provide a fertile starting point for branding.

Social interaction memories are often focused on interactions with close friends and family. In research, exploring memories and metaphors from childhood can help to uncover these types of associations, for example:

"It's milk and cookies, warm feelings, and the glass bottles that used to come to the door… My mom would always say, don’t worry if you drop the milk, it’s okay. My favorite memory was her telling me not to worry about the spilled milk.” - Respondent (2012)

Momentous life event memories are often focused on periods of birth, death and transition. In research, exploring the memories of major life changes and evolution can help to uncover these types of associations, for example:

"I had a blog when my grandfather was sick and dying. I wrote it for the extended family, so everybody had a place to check in and get updated on what was happening with him… A friend of mine suggested this type of blog, because their child had died. They couldn’t field the phone calls and the emails... it was too emotional.” - Respondent (2011)

Harnessing Nostalgia in Marketing

So how can you harness nostalgia in your marketing? Here are a couple of examples.

When research manages to uncover existing nostalgic associations with a brand, building a marketing strategy around those memories can be an option. One example of a brand that used this technique was McDonald's in their 'feed your inner child' campaign:

   

Alternatively, linking a new brand with an existing nostalgic memory may also provide a marketing opportunity if the aim is to reduce feelings of risk. This can be effective when marketing innovative products that need to make people feel comfortable, for example:

          

Defining Community Trust at TEDx

Back in November 2011, I had the opportunity to present on the topic of community trust at TEDxSFU. Community is an abstract concept, and as an audience member I found it interesting to observe the way in which different speakers attempted to define it. 

The Definition of Community 

During the event, some speakers expressed a more traditional perspective on community; while others described community from a more progressive perspective. Some focused on the importance of control and structure in community; while others emphasized individuality and freedom. Below are a few quotes to help illustrate how different some of the community perspectives were: 

"Governments at all levels are now legislating consultation and need more accurate tools to validate their decision making... We've had some online consultation thus far, but it's met with varying degrees of success... because consultation has been largely anonymous and does not stand up to scrutiny." - Speaker 1 (Structure Oriented) 

"Social media is revolutionary in velocity and scale. It's being used as a tool for revolutions and the effect it's going to have on Government is going to be massive... Like we've seen in Egypt, in London and in Occupy, geeks are resourceful and they'll find ways to get information out." - Speaker 2 (Individuality Oriented) 

In my opinion, community isn't defined by any one of these perspectives - community is defined by all of them. Like any human concept, community is full of paradoxes and contradictions. Only by embracing these contradictions can you begin to understand what truly creates a community. 

The Topic of Community Trust 

For those of you that are interested, below is a video from my presentation at TEDxSFU. Like all research we conduct, it attempts to unify and explain contradictions in human motivation. In this case, it looks at the topic of community trust among leaders and public institutions.

Masculinity in American Culture

Over the past few months I've been spending quite a bit of time in the United States – both for business and pleasure. In contrast to many European and Asian countries, one aspect of American culture that always surprises me is the degree to which they embrace ‘masculinity’ in their everyday lives. 

From the way that meetings are conducted, to the car brands that people prefer, masculinity seems to play an important role in mainstream American culture.

Defining Cultural Masculinity

For almost half a century, the famous social psychologist Prof. Geert Hofstede has been conducting research based on six dimensions of culture. One of those six dimensions is masculinity, a cultural dimension in which “social gender roles are clearly distinct: Men are supposed to be assertive, tough, and focused on material success; women are supposed to be more modest, tender, and concerned with the quality of life.”

Below is a table outlining the social norms frequently found in masculine cultures:

Bigger, Faster, Harder, Stronger

According to the research, America is considered a higher masculinity country, meaning that many of the masculinity attributes listed above also reflect mainstream American culture. To wrap up this post, I thought I’d provide a few practical examples of how masculinity can influence everyday American behavior.

Muscle cars are defined by Merrium Webster as, “American-made 2-door sports coupes with powerful engines.” These powerful cars are an icon of American masculinity, with research showing that “engine power of a car is more important in masculine cultures. In feminine cultures, people may not even know their car engines power.”

Madison Avenue is arguably the home of global advertising, located in New York City, the home of American corporate culture. According to research, “masculine cultures show more confidence in the advertising industry… [it’s believed that] the skepticism of feminine cultures toward advertising is based on their markets having been relatively swamped by advertising reflecting US masculine values.”

In America, information is often presented rationally. According to research, “across cultures it appears that feminine cultures read more fiction and masculine cultures more non-fiction… Members of masculine cultures seem to be more concerned with data and facts: members of feminine cultures are more interested in the stories behind the facts.”

Informer or Meformer: Which twitter type are you?

There was an interesting comment posted yesterday by Bradley Hughes (thanks mate), highlighting a recent study from Rutgers University. 

The study examined the message content of 350 randomly selected twitter users and found two key clusters (or types) of user, Meformers & Informers. 

According to the researchers, "twitter users represents two different types of content camps; the majority of users focus on the self, while a smaller set of users are driven more by sharing information." So the question is, which twitter type are you?

Trendsmap: Tracking trends on twitter

If you’re interested in watching human thoughts as they sweep across the twittersphere, then you should check out this new service called Trendsmap. It’s an application that tracks twitter trends across the globe, and plots them on Google Maps. 

There’s something really powerful about watching a tipping-point occur in real-time. Seeing people in a state, country or community, tweet a word in unison. It’s pretty engaging stuff.

For example, above Australia, one of the key words appearing in the tweet cloud is Vegemite (an iconic Australian product, produced by Kraft Foods). They’ve just launched a new product called iSnack 2.0, which according to the twittersphere, isn't too popular with Australians.

Example Tweet One: “iSnack v2 for vegemite. Now that makes it sound sexy and marketable to a wider audience…NOT”

Example Tweet Two: “LOL at Vegemite now being called iSnack 2.0. I’ll eat my iSnack 2.0 sandwich while texting in my iPhone and listening to my iPod?”

And here are a few traditional media articles, following up on the product launch and subsequent twitter storm: ABC and Crikey

Insight without borders: Interview with Martin Frech

Martin Frech is the director of Accenture's Customer Innovation Network in Shanghai and a senior manager in Accenture's Strategy Practice in China. Martin has close to a decade of experience in delivering millions of dollars in sales and marketing presence for major brands, while driving growth in emerging markets across the Asia-Pacific.

His experience covers the areas of pricing and trade terms, sales & marketing and corporate strategy in developed and developing economies in Europe, Asia and North America. Martin holds the German Business Administration Masters Degree (Diplom-Kaufmann) and an MBA, both with honours.

Question 1) Describe your area of expertise: What is it, how did you get into it, and why do you keep doing it?

Martin Frech: My experience, most recently, has been supporting clients achieve breakthrough growth - and operational efficiency in Greater China. This has been mainly with established, multi-national brands, but also with clients that are seeking to enter the Chinese market.

Before that, I was working with clients in Western Europe on various topics, including pricing- and trade terms optimization, procurement optimization, pan-European logistics / distribution optimization, retailer turnaround programs, and distribution channel strategy. I’ve focused on the consumer goods and retail industries throughout my career.

Why do I keep doing it? Simple: consumer goods is, to me at least, the most exciting industry in the world. It’s as real as it gets: everyday products, for everyday people, but delivered in a hopefully non-everyday way. What could be better than that?

Question 2) What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt in the last year of business?

Martin Frech: Don’t use a recession as an excuse to cut marketing. This is the time when the bold get a chance to overtake the current leaders; this is where, if you have the guts, you can reach out to new consumer segments, build loyalty among your customers, and grow, grow, grow. I know it’s not popular, especially in a downturn, and it’s also not easy. But it can be done – and the rewards are huge. Also, you can use this time to get some real talent (i.e., employees) at a discount.

Nick Black: Well put Martin. In January I posted a similar quote from a financial services executive, who stated, “tough times are when great brands are built; what companies do now will determine their future in the market. This crash has turned the market into a muddy field and washed away a lot of competitive advantage. The brands that make their mark now will have a footprint for a very long time to come.”

Question 3) What major trend(s) do you see emerging in Chinese business?

Martin Frech: While many manufacturers, distributors and retailers are still just trying to get the basics right (For example: Planogram compliance, avoiding out-of-stocks, or even just getting product on shelves), some leading companies are working on more advanced issues.

More and more, retailers and manufacturers alike are building their understanding of individual consumers, as opposed to target groups or segments.

The ability to work through very large amounts of data and the opportunity to communicate to individuals using new technology, combined with the decreasing effectiveness of mass advertising is creating a real opportunity for many companies – and the leaders of the pack are taking advantage of it!

Question 4) What major trend(s) do you see emerging among Chinese consumers?

Martin Frech: Particularly in China, consumers are quickly becoming cynical with regards to mass advertising – and are, correspondingly, increasingly less loyal to large brands that rely heavily on it. Consumers in China, these days, expect to be treated (and communicated to!) as individuals; they expect retailers and manufacturers alike to understand their needs, to anticipate demand, and to develop products and services that serve them. Companies that do this are rewarded accordingly.

Question 5) Insight, strategy or innovation – Which is most important, and what role does it play in Chinese business?

Martin Frech: In China, insight is the most important, but it’s the combination of the three that creates real power. Strategy, in most cases, is far too long-term to serve any practical purpose in China – more often than not, laid-out plans are interrupted by your competition anyway. Innovation is actually quite common in China and there is no lack of new ideas.

Where most companies struggle is on insight: truly understanding the market, gaining access to sufficient data in sufficient quality (which is much harder than in developed markets), and then turning that into action. As anywhere in the world, information is power – when acted upon.

Question 6) Pick a successful Chinese product, service or brand. Why did you pick it, and what can we learn from its success?

Martin Frech: Touchmedia is an interesting company in China that has managed to scale up very quickly and now reaches millions of consumers every day. They provide screens to reach consumers where previously there was very little communication: in elevators and in taxi cabs.

In fact, the screens Touchmedia have installed in headrests of literally thousands of cabs in China, are touch screens, and consumers can pick and choose which marketing messages are most relevant to them; in addition, the company is now using this medium to collect survey data from consumers. Imagine the possibilities once they close the loop and gather a larger range of data!

Nick Black: According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, Shanghai taxis transport 90million riders per month, and they sit in traffic an average of 18 minutes per trip...a fairly captive audience.

Question 7) If you had one piece of advice for a foreign business or brand attempting to enter the Chinese marketplace, what would it be?

Martin Frech: Remember to adjust your approach to the market. The days of consumers ‘just waiting’ for the foreign brand to finally be available in China are over – actually, those days never existed in the first place. China is a country where everything is possible, but nothing is easy, so expect frustrations, expect longer cycle times, but also expect to open yourself to a whole new world with endless possibilities!

Brand Trust: The Six Drivers of Trust

Trust. The word of the moment. From advertisers to analysts, from the media to marketing, everybody’s talking about trust. In fact, according to a recent Mintel report on the top consumer trends for 2009, “trust is the paramount concern…as banks, food manufacturers and government officials suffer from losing people’s trust.”

So if trust is important. And everybody’s talking about it. What exactly are the benefits of trust, and how can brands and businesses build it?

These are the questions we explored in a recent North American study into the benefits and drivers of brand trust. If you want to know how you can get people to buy more, try more and pay more for your products and services, check out the following presentation on brand trust:

Brand Trust: The Six Drivers of Trust from Nick Black