'SURPRISE RESULTS"

Fresh from the general elections, it should be easy to understand what the topic this time means. Actually, haven’t we got used to the media expressing utter surprise when election results are announced. This is how the story pans out: In the run up to elections, their biases are in full flow; they take sides and exhibit allegiance to particular party or persons; they then do their ‘exposes’ and blow up incidents, to make sensational news. Now when the voting starts, they surround themselves with a section of the population of the country, each member of which, clearly appears to never stood in a queue on a hot Indian summer day in his / her life (so it seems highly unlikely they voted at all!), commenting on the possible outcomes, eulogizing heroes and condemning villains-the contesting candidates of the election in question. Now add to that a ‘psephologist’ (the latest ‘ologist’ to be added to the media motley), and you have a pot boiler in the media studio. Now go one step further-connect to a quixotically angry socialite talking in Oxford English about some ‘public indignation’; add a couple of film stars venturing daringly into the elections; pepper it with a few retired journalists and bureaucrats and you have enough dramatics personae to put Shakespeare to shame. Now thank god for commercial breaks, but no thanks!. For now you see a high-tax-paying film star display the electoral ink on his finger and with this ultimate act, our throbbing democracy, stakes claim to a long life expectancy.

And then finally when the results are declared, the media expresses utter surprise, cleverly pretending that the voter too is surprised, forgetting that while they were talking, the voter was voting! So the voter who voted is surprised that they are surprised. But what is most surprising is that this paradox escapes their attention in every subsequent election as well!

Now this is exactly what happens in the marketing world as well. That we wish to sell a product, is not a good enough reason for the consumer to buy! Now the consumer’s choice can surprise a manufacturer as much as the press was surprised recently. And the subsequent analysis too can be as bad as well.

That is why product concepts more often than not, produce surprising results. So brands either succeed or fail, but stoutly refuse to follow the 45 degree slope in the excel sheet of the business plan.

The reasons are also the same. The simple truth is that it is not enough to know about the voice of the customer, but it is important to know it first hand. The other truth is that the right question must be asked at the time of research or testing for the answer to be meaningful. And for this to happen, two ingredients are crucial - one, an objective mind that is free of agenda and bias; and two an understanding of not the elements being received in communication, but the composite appeal of the un-segregated story that is seen or heard by the recipient of the message. Now what does this mean?

Because when people vote, they vote out of sentiment, not out of the arithmetic. When people choose, they choose what they prefer. And their preferences are driven by need and hope. These needs are intangible more times than not. My sense is that people are hoping that Kali Yug ends and whichever party (read people in leadership) can help doing so, is who they prefer. They did not for sure, sit and do factor analysis deploying statistical tools to figure out which party has ‘performed’ better than the other. Just as voters vote with little knowledge, so do consumers.

Star Bucks was a ‘surprise result’ and it was a change. So was McDonalds. But it was not a surprise result to Starbucks themselves, or to their consumers who bought the coffee. It was a surprise to the others. At the heart of the conception of Starbucks, was a simple thought of getting the Italian coffee drinking experience to America.

At the heart of the many retail stores lies some simple thought or the other, of altering behaviour of the human race, sometimes inadvertently. Communist conversations in coffee homes; dating at Café Coffee Day (“A lot can happen over a cup of coffee”. Surely!). Who says Barista in a mall is about coffee and snacks. It is actually a break when shopping in a large mall gets tiring. It is a fuelling station for tired shoppers. But the role the brand purports to play is not achieved in a day. Remember, Starbucks took over two years. Two years of sensing the customer first hand. But as they say - ‘well begun is half done”

But we must always have a deep sensing of our customers and their needs, a rich understanding of our catchment. Do you know, all Starbucks baristas are on first name terms with their customers?

So have a good time watching TV over the weekend! Now when the press gets surprised, please be surprised, but at them!