Thursday, February 08, 2007

Words just get in the way..


My last post talked about how interrogation was not a good idea to get a grip on people’s feelings, about different things including brands. Here’s something I wanted to illustrate that point with, but missed out somehow.
Visualize the last date you went on with your girlfriend.
Did you get to say all that you felt about her?
Was she able to word all her feelings for you? And all this when both of you more than just know each other.
It is not very different with brands. The feelings we have towards them are complex and sometimes not very clear even to ourselves. Even if these feelings are understandable to us they are not easy to articulate just the way we are experiencing them.
(Listen to Richard Ashcroft’s – words just get in the way.. –it says it all..)

While direct interrogation is the wrong thing to do, there must be a better way too. There sure is - informal discussions with different kinds of people at different places – dentist’s waiting lounge, the gent next to you on an airplane, business lounge before the flight, the family traveling with you in the second class railway compartment (my favourite), community playground (get kids here), pubs (after two drinks..)These are some that have worked for me.
Also, more important than listening to what the person is saying is to focus on how s/he is saying it because the conviction is not necessarily only in the speech, it resides as much in the gestures..

Last suggestion – always carry your MP3 recorder & digital camera. We are all living and breathing in one giant group discussion..

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