the art of conversation

Success dilemma

We don’t like to blow our own trumpet. It’s not in our nature and not very blog-like behaviour. (Pic LadyAnnDerground)

And us qualitative researchers seem to like to keep ourselves (and any success) hidden away.

But when our (almost) top two clients BOTH win top prizes for marketing, we naturally want to,  um, ‘share’ in their success.

So we are wondering, what is the best way to do that? Should we even try? We have worked with both companies for many years and we have worked directly on the things they have been commended on.

Talk about riding on the shoulders of giants, we are right there, whispering the odd word of wisdom, so small and quiet they probably don’t even notice.

Link to the story, to reveal all, is here.

Geek is the new cool

2008 has now seen the launch of the first Geeknbury festival. In a lonely Surrey field, campers connect with each other face-to-face or via a 2 meg wifi where you are encouraged to let "imaginations to run riot and get creative".

We are off to meet them in Soho, to share ideas and educate each other on the latest social media.

It seems now it is good to be a geek. In fact, it is hard to get by without at least knowing what the latest gadgets and technology are and how they work.

It's not just an educational thing either, it's social: brands like Apple, Bang & Olufsen and Nintendo's Wii make 'geekiness' a must when keeping up with the Jones.

A good example is shown by the populalrity of the latest iphone that saw huge queues outside Regents Street's Apple store and that saw one inividual buy first place in the queue by bidding via eBay. The Playstation 3 is another example of a platform that offers multi-media functions via a console that was previously intended for gamers only.

Not only does this confirm the growing popularity of geekiness, but also that the more convergent the technology, the greater its acceptablility and role in our everyday lives.

To avoid missing out on social media and technology has to offer, check out Geeknbury and add a 'geeky' strand to your DNA.

Simon

The truth about truth and falsity

 

I must admit that I was rather shocked when I first saw this poster. ‘Surely not!’ If COKE has no artificial additives or preservatives, the cynic in me thought, what does? And, what IS in Coke, then? 

 

The truth is, I have always liked the taste and the ‘hit’ of an ice cold Coke. Probably because we never had it at home, but every once in a while I got to have a Coke in the club house as a reward for trailing after my dad around the golf course. A real treat, 'the real thing' indeed.

 

But we are all now told that Coke and other carbonated soft drinks are Not Good For You, unlike water which is Good For You. Hence I try (and probably fail) to drink enough water every day. (And I am still unclear how much water is ‘enough’ to drink per day. Especially now that someone on 'The Amazing Hydration Diet' just won £800,000 compensation after suffering irreperable brain damage.)

 

Hence, Coke and other manufacturers trying to get into water and still drinks. Sorry, beverages. Coca-Cola paid $4.1 billion for Vitaminwater maker Glaceau last June. Although Coke’s water brand, Dansani, failed in Dell-Boy style in the UK, it is the number two brand of bottled water in the USA (after PepsiCo’s Aquafina).

Small talk makes a big difference

In the BBC magazine today a feature on ‘the art of conversation’ reports that Polish visitors are being taught the art of small talk in Britain. (Picture by ThirteenEyes)

The weather is a good ice-breaker, it says, because in the UK it's so unpredictable and it's common to all of us. If you're stuck, look around you. If you're in a bus queue, then talk about queues!

The problem is, we Britons love nothing better than a queue, but we are distinctly cagey towards strangers who strike up a conversation.

The following rules of casual conversation (Source: Don Gabor) were listed as:

• Don't open with a complaint
• Avoid politics and religion
• Keep strong opinions to yourself

We once trained a group of senior business executives the basics of ethnographic research and briefed them to carry out a small field study, looking at how people get to work. Their task was to strike up conversations with people – anyone – to find out about their journey to work.

When they came back we found that most of them had not completed their task. Turned out it was so outside their comfort zone. Why?

Because we find other people frightening.

At the opening party of the AQR/QRCA Dublin conference I was introduced to someone’s friend.

What’s your line of work? (original opener, eh?)

I’m a professional assassin

Wow. You don’t look like one … not that I’ve met many, I suppose

That’s the secret of my success

Sartre said, ‘hell is other people’. I don’t imagine he struck up too many conversations with strangers at a bus stop.

Conversations don’t have to be profound. But conversation - not money - makes the world go round. Because, the article concludes, all we want to do is bond and have a chat and make the time pass more quickly.

On liberty, rules and cycling in London

Last week the Times ran the front page headline, ‘Should we put the brakes on cyclists?’ Rather than a pitch to Daily Mail readers, it was a good article by Richard Morrison about cycling, after cyclist Jason Howard was fined £2,200 for killing a pedestrian. The author’s conclusion: it's tough on the roads, but cyclists need to grow up.

 

And a more grown up Boris Johnson, ex-editor of the Spectator, is now mayor of London. And a cyclisssst.

Mayor Johnson felt the heat recently after being seen cycling without a helmet. According to the Evening Standard, his spontaneous cycle helmet policy was that:

"we should be allowed, in our muddled way, to make up our own minds … on some days the security of a helmet, on others hatless, sun-blessed, windswept liberty”.

This is the kind of nimble logic that has frustrates everyone about cyclists. Helmet? Depends how I feel. Red lights? So what. One way street, Mr Cameron? A mere detail.

 

Mayor Johnson then changed his mind and now sports a silver Bell Ukon helmet. "It's time for a change," he explained. "I need to wear a helmet and I'm going to start setting an example."

If Mayor Johnson is a Libertarian at heart, he may like the idea of relaxing the rules and giving everyone the freedom to go where and when they like. Cyclists are defenders of the last freedom to roam - along with Ramblers. Not that Ramblers often bear down on you on the back of a two grand machine at 40mph.

 

(Mayor Johnson himself ran into a spot of bother, incidentally, in the form of a large, French tourist, wonderfully described by him here.)

 

The irony is that, in order to give everyone more freedom, we need more rules to be followed, as we have suggested before. In the case of cycling, better cycle lanes and better cycling. More example-setting.

 

"TV Advert seeks good-looking programmes for better times"

A thought struck me last night while not watching TV. People talk about ‘the death of TV advertising’ as everyone channel hops while surfing the Web, while playing computer games and IM-ing.

But, could it be simpler than that?  Could people be turning their attention away from the telly because there is NOTHING MUCH ON? 

I certainly hear this from a lot from friends - I'd watch more TV if there were more things I wanted to watch. Of course, it may be a summer thing. And it may be a perennial British complaint.

 

But there is good news just in from Australia, where according to Brand Republic today the next series of Big Brother has been cancelled by Channel 10.

 

There is hope for us all.

 

Simon

Ethnographic research

This is Siamack Salari, at a recent AQR/QRCA conference in Barcelona.

He came in to see us the other day. His company, EverydayLives, does ethnographic research, which involves as a first stage, spending 3 days filming in households, watching and learning, no questions asked. 

Siamack talked to us about what makes ethnography ethnography and some differences between ethnography and qualitative research.

After the seminar, we went out for lunch in Quite Interesting Borough market.

But Siamack never stops. So over lunch, he interviewed me about qualitative research, ethnography, editing, clients and participants.

He uploaded the video to YouTube, as part of  something he has launched called ETHNOSNACKER, which is fascinating.

Siamack asked me if I was OK with the content before he released it. ‘Sure, no problem’ I said. But there was a problem. I look TERRIBLE, much older and more tired than I really am. And the orange wall does nothing for me.

But far be it from me to let vanity impinge on the expanding of the market for ethnographic research.

So Here is Ethnosnacker. It is a new forum for greater understanding and use of ethnographic research. It is all explained very well by Siamack and there is more content going up.

See how effortlessly Siamack talks to camera. An ehnographic master at work.