Media Musing #5
by Steve Bennett
Back in the early days of microcomputing, during a foray to my favorite computer store for a box of diskettes, I noticed an odd-looking plastic box sitting atop a display pedestal. It appeared to be a small foot locker, but in fact was the carrying case housing IBM's new "portable" computer. The salesperson just rolled his eyes when I asked how many of these behemoths he'd sold that day.
How is it possible, I wondered, for a company like IBM, with its near bottomless pockets and cadres of brilliant, creative people, to develop something that was so obviously off the mark. Then I began thinking about other great companies that make truly stupid products, and not just in the technology field. Products that are only ergonomically fit for early hominids, products that require a Ph.D. in theoretical physics to operate, products that sport frivolous features or foolish functionality, products that would be so much better if only...someone on the development team had just applied a modicum of common sense.
Don't the engineering and marketing people talk to potential customers first? Don't they do focus groups? Sure. But they also ask questions that will provide the answers they want to hear and reject data that they don't want to hear.
To understand why smart people begin talking to mirrors and take detours from reality, it's useful to revisit the work of historian of science Thomas Kuhn, who proposed the concept of the "paradigm" to explain how scientific revolutions happen. A paradigm is a collection of shared beliefs that, once accepted, forms a kind of self-protective force field. Data that attacks the paradigm is automatically rejected, and those who propose data that challenges the conventional wisdom are ostracized from the knowledge community or written off as crackpots. Eventually, when the amount of "anomalous" data becomes overwhelming, the paradigm shifts and what was radical yesterday becomes today's accepted wisdom. In short, a scientific revolution takes place.
Back at the drawing board, the people who design and develop new products also commit to a paradigm — a concept of the product — and selectively filter out anything that doesn't fit their model, like the fact that customers might not want certain features or might not want the product at all. Without that commitment, however, the product would never get out the door. Unfortunately, at that point, the product's fate is sealed for better or for worse (too often the latter).
People in corporate communication often do the same thing when it comes to creating messaging platforms. They commit to a core message set that becomes a self-protective paradigm. They believe that the messages are GOOD because they capture the company's unique vision or mission...that the messages are POWERFUL because they set the company apart from its competitors ...that the messages will RESONATE with customers, vendors, and employees...and, most importantly, that the messages will surely IMPRESS the press.
So it often comes as a shock when the press is NOT impressed. Nor is anyone in the company who wasn't involved with creating the messages.
The solution is to perform a sanity check before you commit to a message set. As you create your messages, ask whether they're so general that you could substitute your competitors' names for your own. Ask how you'd demolish the messages if they in fact were your competitors'. Ask what would happen if someone deeply probed the claims you're making; are the claims really defensible or have you made a slight leap of the imagination to close a gap - in your own mind?
In short, vigorously and relentlessly attack your premises from every conceivable angle. Get opinions from knowledgeable third parties within your organization. Build up, tear down, and rebuild. You might just create a process for developing reality-based messages. Now THAT would be revolutionary.
Steve Bennett is a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based media trainer who specializes in helping spokespeople of technology and science companies deliver effective strategic messages to: the trade, business, and consumer media; analysts; stakeholders; and the public. You can reach him at steve@mediamentor.com or by calling 617-492-0442.
Copyright © 1998-2005 Steve Bennett. Permission is granted to reprint this article in whole or in part, provided that you attribute the material to Steve Bennett, Media Mentor (steve@mediamentor.com).
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