Strands of Genius: Life After Lifestyle, The "System is Rigged", Theory and Practice of Selling an Aga Cooker
plus our thoughts on direct vs systemic thinking
WRITING FROM | Toulouse, FR
WORKING ON | Writing articles, working on a new talk for a conference, trying to be healthy, planning a cycling holiday in Provence
LOOKING AHEAD
Sept 21-Oct 14 | Toulouse, FR
Oct 14-21 | Provence Bicycling Tour
Oct 21-24 | Arles, France
Oct 24-28 | Athens, Greece
Dec 1-7 | Nashville, TN
Dec 7-15 | Beersheba Springs, TN
Dec 15-19 | Atlanta, GA
Dec 19-21 | Athens, GA
Dec 21-Dec 31 | Nashville, TN
:: WHAT’S NEW & WEEKLY GRATITUDE ::
We’re in Toulouse visiting friends, who unfortunately have all come down with Covid. And so it goes. We have a little time to rest and recuperate while we build a new talk and eat some delicious French food. As we usually like to do, we did a ‘free'/pay what you wish’ walking tour here to help ground ourselves geographically and because history is fun! Did you know the Inquisition (usually known as Spanish because it was so dominant there) was founded in Toulouse?
This week, we’re especially thankful for:
Billy & Camille and all the new friends we made in Egyaliere, train travel, hikes and bikes, Paul, Anais and Apolline (get well soon!), Toulouse saucisse (we just learned that it’s only sauciss-on if its cured), cassoulet, a central apartment, Locke&Key, The G Word with Adam Conover, masks, parks, guitar sing-a-longs, quiet Sundays, Cult of the Lamb, Rachel & Aisha’s parents having sex (happy birthday, y’all!), & YOU.
:: THE LINKS ::
LIFE AFTER LIFESTYLE
Fascinating longread tying together various strands of culture, community and commerce from the last 15 years with particular focus on the DTC phenomenon and how it is primarily a cultural front end for an international supply chain: “The 2010s is what I want to call the era of Lifestyle. You know what it felt like, because you lived through it. And I did too. Since 2014 I have lived in New York, inside the machine where Lifestyle is made. Spending my waking moments moving through these branded experiences, I felt they they pointed to something I could say but not name.
Stare long enough, and you begin to see the whole: an economy where culture is made in service of brands. To be even more literal: cultural production has become a service industry for the supply chain.”
Interesting analysis of culture and sub-culture broadly, considering the participatory requirements, and where things might head next. “What would it mean for brands to stop pointing to culture, and to start being it? To do so, they would have to go far beyond marketing, to offer meaningful modes of participation.
Is it even possible for companies to be in service of something greater than themselves?” (Subpixel)
THE “SYSTEM IS RIGGED”
The CEO of the Frameworks Institute penned this opinion piece explaining that “As a psychological anthropologist, my team and I have conducted new research showing the idea that the “system is rigged” is gaining ground among Americans of all political persuasions.” However, despite progressiveness tending to be more systemic in their thinking, they have ceded this messaging to the far-right. “This rhetoric — if deployed in a way that doesn’t simply fuel despair — offers a blueprint for countering right-wing populism while providing the crucial fixes needed for our society.
Progressives already recognize the role systems play in determining opportunities and outcomes in the United States. Acknowledgment that institutions shape our lives can counter a tendency toward individualism and foster thinking that favors inclusion, justice and community. As an example, “systemic thinking” moves the conversation about poverty from one focused on individual deservingness to one about opportunity.” (Politico)
THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF SELLING AN AGA COOKER (OGILVY)
Before he became an advertising legend, David Ogilvy learned his craft selling Aga cookers door to door. He was so good at it that he ended up writing their sales training manual in 1935. It’s full of his characteristic flair and has lots of interesting tidbits to chew on:
Only a salesman can get the order. Press advertising and sales literature is intended to facilitate your work and not to do it for you.
In general, study the methods of you competitors and do the exact opposite.
Find out all you can about your prospects before you call on them' their general living conditions, wealth, profession, hobbies, friends and so on.
Never talk down or show superior knowledge.
Never appeal to a prospect's pity because the more prosperous you appear the more she is likely to be impressed with you and to believe in you and your Aga.
The worst fault a salesman can commit is to be a bore. Foster any attempt to talk about other things; the longer you stay the better you get to know the prospect, and the more you will be trusted. Pretend to be vastly interested in any subject the prospect shows an interest in.
Selling does not materially differ from military campaigning, and we may analyze it under two main headings, ATTACK and DEFENSE.
Learn to recognize vegetarians on sight. It is painful indeed to gush over roasting and grilling to a drooping face which has not enjoyed the pleasures of a beefsteak for years. (Aga/ConversionCopy)
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:: WHAT WE’RE THINKING ABOUT: DIRECT vs SYSTEMIC CAUSALITY ::
The research mentioned above from the Frameworks Institute - “a think tank that helps mission-driven organizations communicate about social issues in ways that build public will to support progressive change” - suggests that times of great cultural turmoil trigger shifts in mindset or worldview. They believe that it’s the time for “foundations and nonprofits to invest in communications and narratives that center systems”.
According to their research, many Americans have begun to become, or become more open to, systemic thinkers:
“Americans are increasingly sensitive to the ways that systems and structures–not just individual effort–shape our lives and create inequality. For example, 60% of individuals from our nationally representative survey support the idea that our economy is a designed system rather than a natural force.”
America is the most individualistic nation in the world, which leads people to believe that their lives are primarily a function of their choices and hard work.
“Like all cultural mindsets, it’s not that individualism is inherently harmful or that people who hold this way of thinking (i.e., all of us) are wrong. Individualism is true—individual choices matter. Individualistic thinking is important because of the way it boosts our sense of agency and motivates us to exert the power we do have to shape our lives. But as a singular theory of the world, individualism is incomplete — and dangerous.”
According to the philosopher George Lakoff:
“Direct causation is dealing with a problem via direct action. Systemic causation recognizes that many problems arise from the system they are in and must be dealt with via systemic causation.
Direct causation is easy to understand, and appears to be represented in the grammars of all languages around the world. Systemic causation is more complex and is not represented in the grammar of any language. It just has to be learned.
Empirical research has shown that conservatives tend to reason with direct causation and that progressives have a much easier time reasoning with systemic causation.”
He goes on to suggest that interventions like building a wall to prevent immigration are satisfyingly to direct thinkers but fundamentally nonsensical to those who see “the immense difficulties and dire consequences of such actions due to the complexities of systemic causation.”
He goes on to suggest that this is also why the (far) right is good at framing the narrative around topics and at simple, consistent messaging, endlessly repeated. Simple, direct causality statements are great for scapegoating, for example.
The challenge for foundations - and brands - is to find ways to communicate systemic ideas simply without distorting them while, crucially, highlighting solutions that can galvanize citizens and consumers alike with a narrative that prompts action.
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Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based in Tennessee where our company is registered, our admin extraordinaire is based in Playa del Carmen, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.
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