The Expectation Problem

We have an expectation problem. This is how a car ad should look or how this beer spot should sound. And given similar kinds of people solving similar problems for similar markets with similar insights, that’s to be expected, I guess. Given a certain environment, it’s usually not all that difficult to figure out what the outputs will likely look like. It’s why every problem looks like an advertising problem. When everyone at a table hold only different sized hammers, it’s easy to find those nails.

It doesn’t help much that we’ve developed an industry built around distilling to single insights on single sheets of paper. These insights can be enough to drive a single piece of communication or maybe a campaign, but those that are sustainable enough to last are few and far between. We’re substituting this “insight” for actual understanding which only reinforces preconceived observations and makes it much more difficult to just solve problems.

“Playing the authenticity game in a sophisticated way has become a requirement for every marketer, because the opposite of real isn’t fake—it’s cynicism. When a brand asserts authenticity in a clumsy way, it quickly breeds distrust or, at the very least, disinterest.” -Bill Breen

Of course, most of us are clumsy. We are busy and pressured. We rarely get out of our own way enough to allow anything remotely organic to evolve.

But here’s the thing – authenticity isn’t something you do – it's something that happens. In the top down world we’re in now, we define as much as we can in order to minimize the gap between what we think might happen and what ultimately does. And when the practice doesn’t particularly match the assumptions, we blame the assumptions, not the fact that we assumed.

I don’t deny the need for top down some things, like leadership, organizational purpose, stuff like that. This is where long-cycle strategic planning is most needed. But from there, it’s time to get much better at understanding whole people, whole communities, in order to stop developing for the person we want rather than the one that exists. And it means we need to get much better at getting out of the way, leaving the spaces where those people can make use of us in the way that works best for them, too.

(photo via this isn't happiness)