Business Thoughts, Favorite Quotes, Life thoughts, Rants and Observations

rituals and life (and some marketing thoughts)

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“When tea becomes ritual, it takes its place at the heart of our ability to see greatness in small things.

Where is beauty to be found?

In great things that, like everything else, are doomed to die, or in small things that aspire to nothing, yet know how to set a jewel of infinity in a single moment?”

―

Muriel Barbery

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“The human soul can always use a new tradition.

Sometimes we require them.”

―

Pat Conroy

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So.

I just had a discussion with a smart friend about … uhm … the crap you see sold in those obnoxious “call now” tv commercials. And it reminded me of the importance of rituals when thinking about innovations, new products and positioning your business or communicating to someone something you want them to purchase.

Now.

Having worked with a couple of the best new product/idea innovation groups in the world I have seen stage gate development, innovation funnels and a variety of modeling systems which are an attempt to develop innovations which have a likelihood to succeed <i.e., people want them>. I even think I have a white paper on innovation available on my site.

Anyway.

Anytime I discuss innovations and rituals I bring up Snuggies. Yeah. Snuggies. Stupid name. cheaply made product. But talk about maximizing a ritual <”curling up on the couch and ….”> this may be the new product development idea of the century.

Okay then… why do so many new products die? Shit. A variety of reasons but many die because they attempt to fuck with someone’s ritual.

Some of the blandest new product innovations one can think of <and I have worked on> have been successful because they have enhanced a ritual and not detracted from one … think of thicker softer bathroom tissue, bathroom scents and water proof radios for the shower.

For marketing people I would also suggest that finding a consumer insight which is within an existing ritual can be one of the most powerful insights you can discover.

That said.

Let me take a minute and talk about the role of rituals in our personal Life. We all have rituals. And I don’t mean any planned ones to ‘improve our Life’ but rather the subconscious rituals that are scattered throughout our day.

“Having my coffee in the morning” is maybe the most famous … but think about how you take your shower and the order you do things … brush your teeth … what you do as soon as you get in your car in the morning … heck … even your “morning constitutional.”

Many of these very personal rituals manage transition moments in our daily lives. In other words … they are not simply ‘task routines’ <even though they may simply look like necessary evil type tasks> but rather ‘prep’ moments for managing our Life and days.

Rituals play an incredibly important role in terms of successfully navigating our Life. In a world in which far too many people stress out over too many things to do and not enough time and distractions and technology and … well … just lots & lots of stuff trying to cram its way into someone’s Life … we maintain rituals as either as momentary barriers to the barrage of stuff or they are also quite possibly the epitome of a ‘slow down to speed up’ tactic in our Life.

“Slow down/speed up’? The rituals are the moments in which we seem to calibrate ourselves. I could argue that personal rituals may be the most important thing in grounding someone’s Life.

Now.

Let me be clear on the rituals which I believe are important and, to marketing business folk, the ones that matter.

I am talking about the unplanned rituals, non-contrived behavioral aspects of our Life, and not any of the numerous “6, 8, 12 rituals to improve the quality of your Life” type crap you find strewn across the internet.

I am speaking of the rituals that are so common in our lives we tend to overlook them. But we absolutely love them. They anchor us. They provide some reliability and security and … well … a safe haven from change.

Rituals actually play an even more important role. In their inherent ‘slowing down within Life” these rituals remind us of what is important and provide a sense of stability and continuity in our lives. In our minds these rituals, subconsciously, help us to work more effectively and stay focused on desired goals.

And while there are gobs of articles about how to build rituals into your Life to improve your life <and I assume create some happiness … although … ‘creating happiness’ continues to sound absurd to me> I will suggest the most natural rituals are the most powerful ones.

And the ones we naturally build into our lives tend to fulfill four requirements <I lost the source for this>:

It must be intellectually satisfying.
It must be emotionally satisfying.
It must have a strong beginning.
It must have a strong ending.

You may haggle over the words but this simplistic formula makes sense. It balances satisfaction and relevance and meaning <practical output> as well as fulfills a self-interest aspect <which feeds into a belief it should be maintained>. And the clarity of a beginning and the end creates some relationship with significance … or not wasting time & energy. That significance is fulfilling as well as enabling.

If you doubt this formula … well … go back to Snuggies.

Intellectually I have smartly <good investment> made the ritual easier to enjoy. Emotionally I feel even more in balance with the potential of the ritual. The beginning, putting on the Snuggie, clearly establishes the entry moment to my ritual. Taking off my Snuggie establishes a well defined ‘ending’ to my ritual <… in your head … ”okay … that was great but Life demands me to start something else … sigh.”>

In the end … something like a Snuggie, or something that enhances a ritual … does something John Green suggested … some infinities are bigger than others.

Ok.

But let me go back to the happiness point.

I think part of the reason we try and actually consciously try and build rituals into our lives is because … well … some ritual activity is actually necessary to achieve happiness.

But, once again, I would argue that real happiness is created, and maximized, because of the natural aspect of the personal ritual … not through any contrived ritual. It is the subconscious ritual which builds some structure & consistency into our lives.

Therefore when we consciously attempt replicate, or create, the subconscious ritual benefit … we are … well … kind of missing the whole point of the subconscious ritual.

The most effective ritual is one which you don’t try … it just happens. They provide a form of structure that makes life flow more easily. They are the ultimate in “life lubricants.” You do them without thinking which kind of means your mind rests and therefore your body kind of rests. And within this kind of structure you calibrate and orient yourself for what comes next.

Marketers who attempt to affect people’s behavior need to remind themselves of the importance of rituals … and how they should not attempt to fuck with them <because it is fraught with peril>. Without rituals, or changing a ritual, people lose some basic structure. And important structure … the things we like and calm us. The things that sometimes make us quietly happy in their consistency which, inherently, help to construct a new day with aspects of predictability and certainty <which makes us happy … just as increased unpredictability & uncertainty tends to make us unhappy>.

Regardless.

Businesses seeking to tap into consumer’s attitudes & behaviors and develop new products completely fuck up rituals in a variety of ways. Mostly they either try and force new behavior <which never is received well> or use gimmicks to try and show people it could be easier, more fun or ‘smarter’ to use the new product. They screw things up mostly because there is massive pressure to differentiate and be unique which inevitably steers someone the wrong way.

When dealing with rituals you are more likely to be successful if you can almost seamlessly slide into the ritual and enhance it from the inside out rather than attempt to get someone to ‘rethink their ritual.’

I could be completely nuts on this but in reviewing some of the best new product innovations I have ever worked on … if I strip away all the business hyperbole <which almost seems like a mandatory these days to convince people you have a great idea> I see that the best ideas weren’t viewed by a consumer as a ‘completely new way of doing something’ but rather ‘slipped seamlessly into my daily rituals and made that ritual even better.’

Look … maybe that is just a reflection of what I have worked on and not real truth … but it sure does sound like it makes sense. Think about all of this the next time you get shown a new idea or an “innovation.”

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with absence of showiness, planned spontaneity and true spontaneity, pooh says I just wanted to be sure of you, poor communication in general, positioning, possibilities, power of words, powerful words, predictability gets a bad rap, predictability rears its ugly head, predictions, preoccupied with possibilities, prioritizing actions, prioritizing what is right or wrong, process is a means to an end, product isn’t substantially different, productivity, professionally is where to draw a big fat line, project global generation, protecting children, protecting children from evil, protecting from predators, providing perspective, purposeful fragmentation, pursuing the way, put failing in perpsective, put off that thing you wanted to do, putting up with shit, quality of being simple or uncombined, quality versus quantity online, questioning the unquestionable, quicksand in life, quotations, quotes, raise the level of a company, randomness of life, rare to make complicated simple, razor thin balance of consistency, reach for the stars, real action steps, Real expectations, real happiness is created, real point is that, rearranging existing pieces, reason for being, reason to believe, recognize the unseen portions of consistency, recognizes the things that really matter, redefining children’s education with a global initiative, refer to as small living, regulating affairs of mankind, relationships, relatively indifferent world chuckling, relevant distinctive way, remain forever paralyzed by, remain forever paralyzed by muddled madness inside my head, remnants of everything left behind, rentiers, research, research and advertising, research and the client, research shows that people associate them, research spit out this tepid, reshaping things in business, resides a kaleidoscope of fragmented pieces of different people and feelings, resilience, resiliency, resiliency and character, respect, respect for individual choice, respect the burden of leadership, responsibility, responsibility of actions, responsibility to children, responsible for life’s action, rest of the time I adore myself, restless consistency, restless souls, results, results achieved, right but wrong, right is right, right words, risk something to achieve a dream, Rituals and life, rituals manage transition moments, Rituals play an incredibly important role in terms of successfully navigating our Life, ROI versus imagination, role of internet, role of rituals in our personal Life, running a business, running a busniness, safe, safest road to Hell is the gradual one, salary disparity, saving a human, saving someone, saving takes a change in attitude, say it is happening when it isn’t, say thanks and get a shrug, say that something is happening when it is, saying it is fine when it is not, saying the right words, says a shitload about life, says a shitload about life and individuality, scare the world, scared, search for new answers, see within the circumstances, see your own reality, seeing the other side of choice, seek every way possible to complicate our lives, seek out events without fear, seek to make someone speechless on occasion, seek truth, seeking the way of truth, seeking truth, seeking truth tellers, seem to calibrate ourselves, self actualization, self doubt, self esteem through problem solving, self reliance, self truth, self worth, sell your soul is the easiest thing in the world, selling people shit they don’t need, sense of consistency and focus, sense of self, separates what you are willing to do, sewn together by focus groups and researchers, shades of gray, shaking the etch a sketch, shared about consistency and inconsistency, shareholder activism, shareholders vote, sharing experiences, sheer nothingness, shit business, shit rolls downhill, shitload of really good people, shitty legacy, short term concentration capabilities, short term thinking, shortcomings leading to consequences, simple, simple is hard, simple isn’t the least, simple joy of being a regular at the diner on your block, simple solutions are often the best solutions, simplicity has gone the way of the dodo, simplicity in life, simplicity is an acquired taste, simplicity of solution, simplicity seems too chaotic, simplifying to make choices easier, simply communicate the commodity basics, single logo is always used in a similar way, six impossible things before breakfast, sizing up a situation rapidly, slavery to the predictable, slippery slope, slippery slope of despair, slippery surface of irrelevant brilliance, slobbering over some magical cup of coffee, Slow down/speed up, slowing the onslaught of compromise, small addition at the end of a thought, small gestures in trivial looking moments, small living, small things that aspire, small things that aspire to nothing, smallest actions contribute, smartly made the ritual easier to enjoy, so full of restraint, So much of modern life seems to be about more, social media is not antisocial, social perfection, soft choices, some astounding legacy, some easy low consequence decisions upfront, some inconsistency can actually make you happier, some infinities are bigger than others, some marketing thoughts, some marketing thoughts and rituals, some people do not talk about themselves, something earned emptiness status, something more important than fear, something to think about, sometimes be a crap shoot, somewhere above the least and significantly below the most, sort of marketing Frankenstein, sorting out the truth, sounds complex, sounds difficult, spans both professional and personal worlds, speak after listening, speaking, speaking truth, speechless. finding the right words at the right time, spiral of loneliness and despair, spontaneity is imagined to be better than it actually is, stand for something within yourself, standing on the uncertainty pedestal, standing out and being distinct, standing out and being distinct business, standing up every time we fall down, star gazing, starts all looking the same, starve my character, statistical decision theory, statistics, statistics cannot make the decision for you, statistics getting in the way of a good decision, stay or go, stays with a person forever, steam rising from the cup of coffee, still going to feel what’s missing, stimulus reponse, stop and think, Stop the onslaught of compromise, straight lines, straight lines are rare in life, Strangle your soul and character, Strangle your soul and character bit by bit, strategy, strategy has to be adaptable, streamline life, strength against adversity, strength of character, strength of character to make change, stress out over too many things to do, stressful decisions, stringent consistency rules necessary, strip away the undoable and identify the doable, structurally hostile to inconsistency, struggle between energy and indolence, struggle between vitality and decay, Stuff I Like, stuff trying to cram its way into someone’s Life, stumble upon doing it right, stunning grace in the face of overwhelming life, stunning realities of Life, subconscious influences behavior, subconscious rituals that are scattered throughout our day, Subtlety not only doesn't sell, success in life is inevitably tied to some version of focus, success of ROI, successfully navigating our Life, suggests differentiation is simpler, swallowing nonsense, take revenge on doubters, takes on all shapes and sizes, talking, tangled up people, teen despair, television the future and advertising, tell the truth, tend to believe is fairly crappy advice, terrorized and flattened by trivialities, that i will be tomorrow, that they wanted to get somewhere, that which could be, That which is simple is invaluable, that which is simple is valuable, the agency is not in control of their destiny, the answers are within you, the best advice is priceless, the biggest measure of a person, the bigness Life has to offer, the compromising of being as good as you can be, the decision or action, the discovery is the measurement, the discussion is a solution, the empty spaces it leaves behind, the global generation, the harder you try the worse it seems to get, The horizon focus is a less tangible destination, the line I have drawn, the meaningless minutiae, The moment of truth, the moments that words fail, the most powerful weapon in life is not a mission, the myth of original, the numbers told me what to do, the odd moment of beauty where time is not the same, the organizational crack, the potential of the ritual, the power of friends, the recovery is never mere return to a prior state, the strategy, the subconscious, the sudden emergence of a new insight, the thinking, the truth is that most surprises are bad, the truth may piss you off, the value fluctuates, the weight of emptiness, The Wire, the word failure is tough love, the world always belongs to the next generation, the world bends everyone, the world is always changing, the zany angles businesses take to differntiate, theories with regard to how to develop effective communications, There ain’t no formula here, there is no formula for good choices, These people are just as maddening as, they are nuances, they explore neither truth nor lies, They gaze at the television, things gone but not forgotten, think about how shitty you are compared, thinking, thinking about innovations, thinking big things, thinking big things for ourselves, thinking harder, thinking impossible things, thinking is good, thinking is messy, thinking too much, this i am today, this inconsistency discussion has infiltrated the business world, This is your destination, This type of consistency, this world we live in, thomas jefferson, thought leadership, thoughts, thoughts initiate action, thoughts initiate action and progress, thread of altruism, thrive on dreams and possibilities, tinge of inconsistency, Tired Old Visuals, to be at their best, to be sure of you, to slay a dragon you need to believe in dragons, to your client’s advantage, today’s time obsessed world, Today’s world encourages safe, too fond of free & independence, Too much consistency and predictability, Too much consistency and predictability only insures mediocrity, too young at 48, torture numbers, tortured and tremendous, torturing numbers, tough being a teen, tough for dreamers these days, training is woefully lacking, training means results, transactional branding, transformational people, trapped by fear, treat people with respect, trembling, trite philosophical thoughts, trivial moments, trivial moments in bigger life, True consistency contains no nuance, true friend, true happiness and self worth is attained, truly believe is the crisis advertising is faced with, trust, truth, truth and expectations, truth goggles, truth has never been more difficult to discern, truth is rarely simple, truth is that most surprises are bad, truth is what really happened, truth or lies, truth or nothing, truth teller, truth to oneself, trying to preserve will lead to stagnation, tug of war between hope & despair, TV advertising campaign, Tweaking your world inevitably means some inconsistency, tweens, Twitter, twitter triumph of humanity, two sides to the focus & consistency coin, two very distinctly different shades of black, typically hotbeds of egos and politics, ultimate in life lubricants, uncertainty is a bitch, uncertainty takes on geometric proportions, unclear leader, uncomfortable enlightened thinking, under the guise of consistency, understand irony, understand sarcasm, understanding what you do as an organization, unenlightened business, unexpected innovation, unfocused leaders, unintended results, unplanned rituals, unpredictability & uncertainty tends to make us unhappy, unquestionable, unrealistic expectations, unrealisticexpectations, unshakeable, unspoken part of creativity, untangling people, unthinking acquiescence, until we meet again, ur moments in life are far too often, use research to generate ideas, use your imagination, vachss Burke books, vachss protecting children, value fluctuates, vibrantly alive in repose, vision, visionary orientation, visual clichés out of your system, voices of a generation, voodoo process, walk in our footsteps, walking beyond our own footsteps, want, want children to do better, want children to go beyond, wasted energy worrying, we all fail, we all have dark moments, we are not always in sync with what is going on around us, we like to be spontaneous, we like to be unpredictable, we overlook the ability of great friends, we require rituals, we require them, what do you do when you get what you want, what I know opinions, what is missing, what is right and what is wrong, what is the alternative, what looks like chaos, what makes life pretty awesome, what problem needs to be solved, what we are seeking explanations, what we have is not what we need, what we need is impossible to get, what we need to get us through, what we people like, what we want is not what we need, what you want to communicate beforehand, whatever, whatever it takes, When tea becomes ritual, when to be consistent, when to be inconsistent, where danger can look divine, Why do we not give in all directions, wonder every day if, wonder every day if I am making a difference, words, words of truth, words reflecting experiences, words that become deeds, world is hostile to inconsistency, world of exhaustive compromise, yet know how to set a jewel of infinity in a single moment, you are doing the right things, you have done good kid, you stand for nothing, young people speaking, Your Life will be bigger, zone of mediocrity

May 25, 2016 by Bruce

Written by Bruce

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rituals and life (and some marketing thoughts)

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rituals and life (and some marketing thoughts)

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