A friend of mine sent me a video of
Malcolm Gladwell speaking at a TED conference the other day
that got me thinking about the events industry and the way we
communicate with people. Gladwell, a staff writer for the New
Yorker and author of several best selling books including 'The
Tipping Point', retells a story of the food industry's pursuit of
the perfect spaghetti sauce and makes a larger statement about the
nature of choice and happiness in "Malcom Gladwell on
spaghetti sauce".
In the video, he describes the work of Dr. Howard Moskowitz,
'a well-known experimental psychologist in the field of
psychophysics and an inventor of world-class market research
technology.' Moscowitz is best known for pioneering the idea of
intermarket variability in the food industry. *
We all know every individual is different; we have different
needs, dreams and hopes and aspirations. Despite this, most
marketing communication messages focus on only one group of people,
the target audience, with one message that is
expected to get everyone to buy a product in order to turn a
profit. Illogical you say? I agree. Listening to the talk,
Moskowitz (via Gladwell) provided me with interesting insight on
the importance of choice, variety and the way we communicate with
consumers in general.
Two of Moskowitz's most interesting projects include a study he
worked on for Pepsi perfecting the level of sweetness in a can of
Diet Pepsi along with a project for Campbell where he analyzed what
the American people really wanted from a spaghetti sauce (All they
wanted was an EXTRA CHUNKY sauce!).
In his research, he found three key learnings:
When asked, most people are not necessarily able to express
what they want from a product. Asking the right questions
help.
Products like spaghetti sauce or mustard don't necessarily
need to follow a low to high end hierarchy based on purchase power;
they simply need to cater to different tastes.
By providing consumers with various choices and allowing
them to experience the product (in this case, taste), brands can
discover what consumers really want.
Gladwell poetically summarizes these findings with a simple yet
powerful phrase ".. in embracing the diversity of human
beings we will find a sure way to true happiness."
This perfectly summed up phrase struck the right chord. Most of
our clients communicate with an audience that is so diverse in so
many ways, especially here in the UAE. We've seen many a brief
targeting consumers from various cultural backgrounds in all age
groups and each one of these consumers has a different outlook on
what they need, want and like. How better to communicate and create
a dialogue with all these people than through an event…
Through events, we create a multi-sensory experience of a
product that engages people on many different levels. You are
invited to soak in an ambience, smell scents related to a product,
taste it, use it, learn about its history and its future,
experience it virtually and connect with others who might also
enjoy it all while being both visually and mentally engaged. Each
guest is offered an experience of a brand or product they can see
through their own eyes. While we can't promise each person will
walk out with a bag full of products, we can promise that each
person is armed with enough knowledge to choose what suits them…
after all, 'the greatest power ever bestowed upon mankind is the
power of choice'.
* source: www.mji-designlab.com