” Cri-Man-Squa. F and C, doubletime.” — Ditching Ambiguity in Business Talk

Posted December 12, 2011 by Ken Giffin | Permalink

On Monday, The Harvard Business Review posted a short piece by Dan Pallotta entitled, “I Don’t Understand What Anyone Is Saying Anymore.” Pallotta explains that “the language of Internet business models” has muddled meaning in a way that what we’re getting at isn’t even apparent anymore. Over-use of acronyms, tip-toeing around meaning, using ‘meaningless’ (and cliched) expressions, and a deadly combination of all three ends up leaving people sounding slick, but also sliding right over meaning.

Take Pallotta’s best example: “You should meet this guy with the SIO. He’s sort of this kind of social entrepreneur thinking outside of the box in the sustainability space and working on these ideas around sort of web-based social media, and he’s in a round two capital raise in the VP space with the people at SVNP.”

So why are we gracing over meaning? Maybe to make what we’re doing sound smarter than it is. Maybe to package it in a way that just, seems better. But delivering a message in such a convoluted way as to hide the meaning?  In our world, that just wastes time – or worse confuses someone enough to respond back with misinformation.  Or makes the other person feel like they aren’t smart enough to understand you and therefore less likely to want to continue talking with you.

The takeaway from this should be to really re-examine our word choices, cutting through commonly misconceived jargon to focus on specifics. Take the extra time to work out what exactly you’re trying to convey. Use your words. As Pallotta points out, while “an innovation in residential access” sounds great, “doorknob” is a hell of a lot easier to understand.

And no better way to illustrate this in a humorous fashion, than to look at the cast of The Office.   Enjoy…

Michael : Everybody in here, stat. No time to lose. Cri-Man-Squa. F and C, doubletime.
Dwight : Cri-Man-Squa?
Michael : Crisis Management Squad.
Ryan : F and C, doubletime?
Michael : Front and center, twice as fast as you would normally go. Any other questions?
Jim : One more. Why are you talking like that?
Michael : To save time, Jim.
Karen : Actually I think you could make the argument that it wastes time.
Pam : Yeah, she has a good point. I mean, for example, with the last thing you said, by the time you explained it, it actually took up more time.

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Our November Power User: GSD&M

Posted December 7, 2011 by Elizabeth Taddonio | Permalink

This month, we wanted to find out more about GSD&M, “a full-service advertising agency born and raised in Austin, Texas,” and one of our favorite users. GSD&M has done a couple of projects with GutCheck, both of which followed the services model. That is, our moderators did the chats for them so they could focus on reading through the chat transcripts and creating more work! We talked to David Matathia, GSD&M’s Chief Strategist, to learn more about how they’re using GutCheck.

GSD&M first contacted GutCheck when they had need for a very quick turn-around on a project in early November. David said he first heard about GutCheck on Twitter (PS are you following us yet? Follow us!). “I was working on a bunch of new business projects and it sounded like a great option in those shortened timelines so I tucked it away for future use,” he said.

Additionally, GSD&M needed to recruit based on some specific attitudes and behaviors, one of which was geography.

“The culture of the region was a critical part of our creative solution and we needed a quick way to get a read on a concept statement to ensure our language/thinking was in line with our audience. We didn’t have the time to hit the road and it was truly a ‘gut check’ to ensure we were on the mark,” David said.

Ultimately, GutCheck turned around the projects (20 chats each) within a short time frame – neither took more than 48 hours to complete. With their insights, especially the geographically-targeted projects – GSD&M demonstrated the power of their idea and how they went the extra mile to be sure it fit the client’s needs.

“We were able to show that the concept more than just felt right but that we’d taken the time to talk with the very folks we needed to appeal to,” he said.

GutCheck worked with GSD&M to develop a guide that would optimize their questions to meet their objectives, and set them up with accounts so they could watch transcripts come in and start to develop their insights as our moderators completed interviews.

Obviously we’re very excited to be working with such a fun and innovative agency, and we’re really looking forward to continuing to watch their next projects unfold. David said he could see GSD&M using us not just for new business but also for testing concepts, ads, packages or even as an omnibus alternative.

“I think we’ve just scratched the surface with how we can use it,” he said.

Want to be a power user? Let us know how you’re using GutCheck or how can we make GutCheck work better for you. Leave us a comment below, let us know on Twitter, or drop us a comment on our community page!

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Wired: Social media, locusts, and groupthink

Posted December 5, 2011 by Elizabeth Taddonio | Permalink

A friend recently forwarded me this short blip from Wired about how scientists applied an adaptive network model to examine the links between mutually aware insects, creating a better predictor of when locusts will swarm. Whoa.

Basically, the study revealed that “The more time locusts spend moving together in the same direction, the harder it is for the group to reverse course, which leads to swarming. Sound familiar? People get stuck in groups that turn into frenzied action, but for us, these clusters are built around common interests, politics, and background.”

I found this really fascinating in relation to market research, in that the adaptive network model can show how people start to think like their social networks. Why do brands want so many “likes,” for instance? At the heart of it, it’s so that networks can start to swarm. After doing some super serious Googling of “adaptive network model,” I found an article written by a couple of Stanford researchers which gave a nice lit review/ overview of the theory. They wrote that in an adaptive network model:

“Presentation of a stimulus pattern to the system corresponds to activating a set of sensory units. These units pass their weighted activation along their connections either directly to the output units or to intermediate units that relay them onward, eventually terminating on output units… By repeatedly cycling through a set of desired input-output pairings, the system “learns” just those weights that will achieve the closest match (of which it is capable) to the input-output pairings.”

This is obviously ridiculous and I had to read it like five times to get it, so let’s put that in terms of “liking” on Facebook. When a person “likes” GutCheck on Facebook, it appears in his or her newsfeed. If enough of his or her friends get curious and “like” GutCheck, too, the page goes viral until eventually it’s run its course. As we start to see the this enough, we can see what kinds of grouped interests and shared “likes” people have — showing you when and why people will swarm on certain pages, brands, or videos of cats yelling at printers. Pretty cool application of theory, right? [ETA: Check out this "anatomy of a Facebook Fan" infographic -- cool stuff.]

*Incidentally, if you haven’t liked us on Facebook yet, you probably should. Updates on product, interesting reads, and some important questions. Like “who’s your favorite Muppet?“

Posted in Just for fun, Technology News | Bookmark Bar