Say "wat?"
Late Wednesday evening, after publishing the last post appearing on these pages, I decided to try combing Google for recent photos people may have taken, using various search strings. This is something I'll do from time to time in order to shore up content to include in the recurring StJ feature, "Have you seen That QR Code Guy?". To date, it's netted me quite the burgeoning collection of photos (thought they've mostly been taken from behind - darn our Canadian tendency to be as unobtrusive as humanly possible!). Anyway, on the second or third search attempt, I came across the following photo:
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| Taken by Jason Last, March 29. |
For the most part, when I find photos they're usually included in online photo-galleries with a minimum of tags to identify them. What set this particular image apart from others I've included as part of the "Have you seen That QR Code Guy?" feature on Stalking the Job is that the photographer (Jason Last, strategic planner at john st.) had included the photo as part of a post on his ongoing blog, "wat?". I must say it felt somewhat rather odd to learn that I'd made enough of an impression on a stranger that they'd felt moved to write about it - especially insofar as we didn't actually interact!
I contacted him that same evening to provide some context for the scene he ran across (the young painter to my left, a fellow by the name of Adam, had unfortunately just learned of a death in his family), and found him to be a most engaging personality. And to my delight, I learned that Jason is on the periphery of my own social and/or professional circles - proving yet again how much smaller a world it is than we might otherwise believe it to be.
Having discussed the matter (and having received Jason's blessing - thank you, Jason), I will now reproduce his thoughts and ruminations on that day's near-encounter on Queen Street West here for your edification, faithful readers. Oh, and I should add that after establishing contact between us Jason saw fit to provide his readers with an update to his original entry. So without further ado, here's the "Interesting People" article re-posted from Jason's own blog:
I was taking a little stroll around the block the other day when I came across the guy pictured below…
…and for one of the first times in my life I became interested in scanning a QR code.
What was it about this otherwise non-descript man that made me interested in taking the effort to scan him? Why did I want to learn more about whatever it was that he was hoping to communicate rather than all the other messages that were (and are) constantly competing for my attention?
It was a combination of two things, I think.
1) People are inherently more interesting than brands. Advertisers have known this for a long time, which is why hiring the right spokesperson to represent a brand has traditionally been one of the best ways to change or improve its perception. We care about other human beings – even ones we don’t know. We want to know their stories. We wonder what they’re thinking, feeling, doing. People provide us with ideas and perspectives that are important assets in a world where social interactions are fundamental to survival and success.
With the sheer amount of brands in the marketplace today, it can be very difficult for us to differentiate one from another – if for no other reason than we simply don’t care enough to make such categorizations. Gareth Kay spoke to this fact during his presentation on “Radicalism” in Toronto last week, noting recent studies that suggest brands in 4 out of 5 categories are seen as “increasingly homogenous” and that regular folk think that less than 1 in 10 ads today are different from one another (to see Gareth’s full presentation, go here…it is excellent). But it’s very easy for us to differentiate people from one another, to notice when a person does something unique or out of the ordinary. And it’s all the more powerful when we can experience that uniqueness rather than simply watching, reading, or hearing about it. This is a nice little feather in the cap of experiential marketing that puts people, and not just things, at its core.
2) He didn’t care whether I scanned him or not. He wasn’t pushy. In fact, he acted like nothing was out of the ordinary, as if he weren’t walking around wearing a big QR code on his front and back, asking everyone to scan it.
It’s natural for us to be more interested in things that aren’t overtly interested in us. This is why “hard-to-get” is a game we often play with one another during courtship, and why we become almost immediately turned off by someone who seems too interested. Surely, we think, anyone who is that interested must be desperate; it must not be worth it to spend time on them.
Yet, most marketers ignore this basic human truth. So often we lay it on thick with people in a desperate attempt to get their attention and to try to make them care about us, when the truth is that this strategy is, more of than not, entirely counter-productive. If we want to create relationships between brands and people, we’d all do well to acknowledge the manner in which people create relationships with one another.
Pinterest is a good recent example of a brand tapping into our psychology of attraction. By making us wait days to receive an invitation to join their social networking site, they appear confident, in demand, and powerful. It says, “we don’t need you, so just wait a couple of days and we’ll see if it’s worth it for us to let you in on our world.” And because of the laws of attraction, we wait and feel excited when we’re accepted.
Two good questions come to mind, then, in evaluating a new communication idea:
1) Can we make this idea stronger by using people as a vehicle through which to deliver the brand’s message?
2) Are we behaving discreetly enough to actually attract people? Could we make this idea more interesting by leveraging the laws of attraction?
Hoops and shout-outs
Never let it be said that I am passive in my pursuits - in fact, passivity is anathema to the goals I've set for this jobsearch initiative. While I do try to spend a fairly considerable amount of time out in the public eye, I still make every effort to seek out and apply for positions online (or as I tend to think of it, "to jump through the usual hoops"). This week saw me sending a number of cover letters and CVs to prospective employers who'd posted available positions through Media Job Search Canada and LinkedIn.
I've been a fan of LinkedIn for several years, now - I've always seen value in their network, and my profile there has been complete for quite some time - so I found it terribly kind for social media strategist & consultant Anita Windisman to have taken the time from her busy schedule Thursday morning to both evaluate and to suggest improvements I could make to my existing LI profile.Thank you once again, Anita. I've effected all the changes you'd recommended. First order of business: using a photo where I'm not wearing sunglasses!
Finally, I'd like to mention a few of the folks I have had the pleasure of meeting in recent days:
• Vergel Evans, Certified Usabilty Analyst and Information Architect
• Chris Spavins, Senior Marketing Representative at Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishing Group
• Nadia Beja, Intern at Zoom Media
• Paul Bennett of 3M Canada
Happy chocolate rabbit day
Before I go, let me wish a Happy Easter to all my Christian friends, with apologies to Mr. Christ: while I might not be a member of your many fan-clubs, I can't help but recognize that you were a really very thoughtful and kind fellow who wanted a better world for all... and for that, sir you have my appreciation.Also (as mentioned to me a few minutes ago by my Sister-in-Law, Joanne) a very happy Passover to my Jewish friends. So, whether you're enjoying chocolate rabbits or attending a Seder with friends and family, have a great weekend - whatever your personal belief system may proscribe! For Stalking the Job, this is John Currie signing off. And as ever folks, I'll be seeing you...!
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