What does your brand sound like?

I was visiting my 7 year-old niece Mallory and we went up to her room to play.  As we crossed the threshold she said: "Alexa, turn the lights on."  And then she turned to me and said; "I got Alexa for my birthday."

And just like that, I saw the future.  Or should I say, I heard it?

Mallory is at the tail end of Gen Z, currently ages 7 - 22.  And, while she knows how to type, my guess is that her interactions with technology will be mostly verbal. 

In 2017, 35.6 million Americans used voiced activated assistants at least once a month, an increase of 128.9% over 2016.  Amazon's Echo, aka Alexa dominates with 70.6% of users. (2017)

So it's time for brands to consider what they sound like.  That way, when someone has enabled Tide on their Alexa, and says: "Alexa, ask Tide how to get out a coffee stain on my tie," the answer can come in Tide's voice, instead of Alexa's."  (Ioffe, 2017) 

But the need to think about sound goes beyond finding an actual voice. VISA has developed a "signature sound" ala the "Intel inside" chime, primarily for mobile users.  Their goal is to associate the brand with the sound, and the sound with trust, so users will feel more comfortable making mobile purchases with it. 

It will be interesting to see how they accomplish that.  And I will also look forward to hearing what Tide sounds like.

Bruell, A. (2017, December 7)  Visa Spent a Year Developing a ‘Signature Sound’ wsj.com.  Retrieved January 31, 2018, from  https://www.wsj.com/articles/visa-spent-a-year-developing-a-signature-sound-1512644401

(2017, May 8)  Alexa, Say What?  Voice-Enabled Speaker Usage to Grow Nearly 130% This Year. emarketer.com.  Retrieved January 31, 2018, from https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Alexa-Say-What-Voice-Enabled-Speaker-Usage-Grow-Nearly-130-This-Year/1015812

Ioffe, D. (2017, November 15)  Give Your Brand A Real Voice.  mediapost.com.  retrieved January 31, 2018, from https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/310249/give-your-brand-a-real-voice.html

How do you change a perception? Fear

In the past few weeks I have been discussing how lies can become truth.  All it takes is getting your message out there first and then repeating it often enough. 

Once someone believes that message, new information that contradicts it does not change that belief.

So how do we persuade someone to change their mind?  Start by remembering that all decisions are emotional.  Here's a previous blog about that subject...

http://pjlehrer.blogspot.com/2015/01/you-keep-telling-yourself-that-you.html

And fight emotion with emotion. 

 Just ask the health care providers who are trying to convince the anti-vaxxers that MMR shots don't cause autism.  Telling believers the truth - that both the researcher and the research has been totally discredited, has not been effective in persuading them to vaccinate their children.

But, if we understand their perspective, validate their concerns, and then relate to them on an emotional level showing the harm that people suffer when they believe lies, we might be able to convince them to reconsider their stance.

And in fact, using that approach did yield some success.  Specifically, sharing stories from parents whose kids almost died and photos of sick children with ugly rashes resulted in a more favorable perception among those who were not adamantly against vaccines.  (Pinker, 2016)

Unfortunately, those who were strongly against vaccines, simply saw the stories and photos as supportive of their belief  (Kupferschmidt, 2017)

So the bottom line is if you are trying to overcome a misperception, your approach needs to be emotional, not rationale.  And then maybe you can overcome the influence of the primacy effect and cognitive dissonance.  Or maybe not.

Pinker, S. (2016, March 9)  The Peril of Ignoring Vaccines - and a Solution. wsj.com.  Retrieved January 25, 2018, from  https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-peril-of-ignoring-vaccinesand-a-solution-1457537743

Kupferschmidt, K. (2017, April 27)  Can skeptical parents be persuaded to vaccinate?  sciencemag.org.  Retrieved January 25, 2018, from http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/04/can-skeptical-parents-be-persuaded-vaccinate

If you want people to believe you - you must speak first.

Research tells us that we tend to believe the first thing that we hear about a subject, whether or not it is true.  It's part of the primacy effect. 

Then, once we believe something, we use selective perception to hear only new information that supports our beliefs, while blocking out additional information that does not. 

We do this to deal with the upset, known as cognitive dissonance, that occurs when we have a conflict between what we believe to be true and new information. 

Since cognitive dissonance creates such an uncomfortable feeling, we opt instead for denial.  How could something be true when it makes us feel bad?  Better to just ignore it and pretend. ( McLeod, 2014)

It makes perfect sense, but it does provide a significant challenge for people trying to change perceptions.

Consider Paul McCartney, who on October 22, 1969 appeared on the BBC to refute three years of rumors about his death.  He did so by paraphrasing a comment made by Mark Twain in 1897 when he faced a similar situation, saying: "The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated." 

Sadly, not everyone believed him. (Early, 2017)

McLeod, S. (2014) Cognitive Dissonance simplypsychology.org.  Retrieved January 17, 2018, from

https://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive-dissonance.html

Early, C. (2017, May 12) October 22, 1969: Beatle Paul McCartney denies rumours of his own death. bt.com  Retrieved January 17, 2018, from

http://home.bt.com/news/on-this-day/october-22-1969-mccartney-speaks-out-about-the-paul-is-dead-rumours-11364011642388

 

The Met (maybe) proves that words matter.

Last week the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that their $25 suggested admission price would be mandatory for non-New Yorkers.  Since they are dealing with a $15 million budget deficit they had to do something, but there's more to the story than that.

The museums original charter in 1893 mandated that "the public should be admitted free for at least 5 days a week and 2 nights," to the building, which the city owns.  A subsequent agreement between the city and the museum in 1970 allowed for a donation of a nominal amount from all visitors.

The rationale is that since the city owns the building and contributes $26 million to the annual budget, local visitors should get a break.  But, these days, 40% of visitors are from outside the US and an additional 24% are from outside NY state.  So that means only 36% of visitors are actually New Yorkers paying taxes to support the institution. (Deb, 2017)

It's also important to note that with this change, the city will be reducing their funding of the Met and reallocating the money to other less popular museums.  My guess is that this is the first step in transitioning the Met to a private non-profit partnership based on the Central Park Conservancy model.  It makes sense.  The Met is the fifth most popular museum in the world, so they can probably pull it off.

But back to the word change.  In 2013, a class action lawsuit was filed against the Met.  At that point the wording on their signs said: "Recommended Donation."   Settlement of the suit in 2016, resulted not in an end to the fee, but in a change in the way it was expressed.  Instead of "Recommended" the signs would be altered to read "Suggested." Changes were also made in the font size and placement of the words.

So how did these changes affect donations?  It's hard to say exactly since the only data that has been released is a comparison with 2005.  But in that time,  people paying the full admission price has declined from 63% to 17%. (Freeman, 2018)

The lawsuit got a significant amount of press, and travel apps now tell people all about free opportunities.  So those things no doubt contributed to the decline as well.

But at the end of the day, one has to believe that the word change played a significant part in the reduction of donations, proving that words do matter - perhaps more than we realize.  Choose yours with care.

Deb, S. (2017, May 14)  Would Fees at the Met Deter Visitors?  nytimes.com.  Retrieved January 10, 2018, from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/14/arts/design/met-museum-fee.html?_r=0

Lam, K. & Behr, K. (2016, February 27) Met changes fee signs to 'suggest' $25 ticket, rather than 'recommend.' pix11.com.  Retrieved January 10, 2018, from  http://pix11.com/2016/02/27/met-changes-fee-signs-to-suggest-25-ticket-rather-than-recommend/

Freeman, N. (2018, January 4)  Met to Charge Mandatory $25 Admission Fee to Out-Of-Towners, Ending 'Suggested' Rates. artnews.com.  Retrieved January 10, 2018, from

http://www.artnews.com/2018/01/04/met-charge-mandatory-25-admission-fee-towners-ending-suggested-rates/