Parting is such sweet sorrow

Parting is such sweet sorrow…

…which doesn't make it right necessarily. It does, however, require (almost by definition) more effort.

Staying, on TheOtherHand, is normally easy. It requires no positive action other than doing what you're already doing. It comes across as a bit lazy. It's passive. Sure you can 'stay the course', 'Stand your ground'... 'Stand tall' was the latest version I heard the other day (more of which another time), but each of these iterations requires a back story, some imagination. Simply staying, or worse remaining, is passive.

And this, at heart, is the problem of communications for the EU referendum 'in' campaign. It lacks a direction of travel. And because it lacks this movement from something - to something better, it lacks emotion.

'What do we want?'
'More of the same!'
'When do we want it?'
'Ummmm...'

Let's dial back a bit.

The 'In' camp in the EU referendum have decided to concentrate on the economic argument, and have done so for what they consider to be sound, rational reasons. I won't bore you with them here, but put briefly, they think economics will win them the vote. It won't.

What will win the in camp the vote (if indeed they do win), is the great big element they've completely ignored so far. The moderately good news for them is that they are slowly (and ham-fistedly, waking up to it). Namely, Emotion. Or more specifically passion.

The in campaign is lacking the emotion which bridges the gap between numbers and people. Between economics and aspiration. I'll say it again, passion.

'Leave' naturally entails passion. You have to leave for a reason, you must have a cause.
'Remain' doesn't.

And passion isn't something we Brits express very well, particularly when we are a bit embarrassed.

The other week, I came across #hugabrit - a response from some of our Euro chums to make us Brits realise that they love us and want us to say, (in the absence of a vote a hashtag has to do). The problem of course is that we Brits (on the whole), don't like to be hugged (except by our nearest and dearest of course), and certainly not by the French (that is a joke, please don't write in).

The point here being that if the 'in' campaign wants to secure all the votes it can get, then it needs to find its mojo… some real homegrown passion, and be quick about it.

I honestly have no idea why this obvious lack hasn’t been picked up by ‘in’ strategists and planners. Maybe it’s because the ‘in’ camp is so divided across party lines, and maybe this division leads to interest groups doing their own thing rather than focusing their effort (this is definitely a problem – though maybe not merely concerning the point above) on clear agreed messages.

I’ve worked in communications for a long time now, and fairly early on was taught that if you want to sell a drill bit, you don’t sell the hole in the wall… you sell the joy of having your painting on your wall or maybe the satisfaction of using a power tool (it depends on your audience. The same is true of the EU… cold economics don’t cut it.

Theresa May, the other day, told prospective voters to ‘stand tall and lead in Europe’… and this is exactly the type of half-cocked waking up to the need for emotion I was talking about earlier. It says I’m passionate… but not about being European (presumably because that would be unpopular with voters), it says I’m passionate… because Grrrrrrrrrr… hope and glory… Fair enough, it does say I want to stay in Europe and we should lead the way, but it’s still missing the point.

Here’s the question. Why do you Theresa May (insert any other name you wish), want to stay in the EU? Why are you passionate about it? What delights you about being European? What wonders are we missing out on if we choose to #Brexit.

That, in short, is what’s missing.

So here’s my own personal view, and many people will disagree with me but its true and I think it’s worth saying. I should also say that I’ve considered the economics, the defence issues, the freedom of movement problems, the impact on the Union of the UK… but that is not what I want to say. Here’s me:

I was born in 1975, I was born a European. I’ve lived in Europe all my life.
My God-daughter is Belgian, my wife is Welsh. I love being European.
I love exploring my continent. I love its food*, I love its cultures, I love the people… I wish I was better at speaking its languages.
I am also British. I was born in England, Britain and Europe - there is no contradiction in this. I love exploring my country, love its food, its nations, cultures, foods and peoples.
And, I will be really unhappy if we vote to leave all this behind.

 ...Oh and if you don’t agree with me, fine. Just don’t tell me you’re more passionate about your view than I am mine. You're not.

 Whatever we vote later this year… Fine. We’re all grown-ups**, and we made up our minds. I just hope that we can find a way to move forward together (the UK and the EU), that we are not bogged down by continuous neverendums on either side, but that we knuckle down and start to deal with the huge issues this country and continent are currently facing.

Fin.  

(as they say at the end of European films - which I generally quite like).

 

(*except croissants – I’ve never understood them)

(**except the 16 and 17 yr olds  who weren’t allowed to vote on the single biggest political decision to impact on their lives:))

Schelling points and football chants

Communication, Schelling points and the football.

I go to the football. I go regularly and like to sing and jump up and down.

When I was a child I would occasionally go to the football with my step dad and brother . From my seat I can still see the space where we used to stand as a kid and happily (for I am a Norwich fan), I can still hear the same songs we sang all those years ago (for those not in the know Norwich has the oldest football song in the world - the glorious ‘On the Ball City!’ – containing reference to having ‘a little scrimmage, a practise which disappeared from association football many many many years ago). I digress.

At the beginning of each match, an echoey voice crackles over the speaker system and counts the faithful down into their fortnightly rendition of ‘On the ball’ – it is one of my favourite moments in life.

Like many people I wonder in awe at football songs. Where they come from, how they spread, how it is that an individual can be singled out and a song composed in their honour (or detriment) within seconds of an incident. Football is a wonder.

Thomas Schelling is also a wonder, though he is not a football.



Thomas Schelling on the cover of his book



Thomas Schelling is a Nobel winning economist, strategist and game theory guru, after whose work is named ‘the Schelling point’. For those not in the know, a Schelling point is really useful. It describes a position which people will tend to adopt in the absence of communication. A Shelling ‘moment’ is the instant where a group of people act as one, in the same way without overt communication.

What in the world is Tony on about, I hear you cry (it’s not an uncommon sound).

There is a moment in every football loving adolescent’s life when he decides to hitch up his trousers, lower his voice a few octaves and start his (or her) own chant. Without the right conditions, this process is almost certainly doomed to failure. I know I’ve tried.

Chants I have failed to start:

·         ‘Your team’s irrelevant’ – to some Italian opera tune that is impossible to describe if you are typing and don’t know its name

·         ‘Come on ref that’s preposterous!’ – To the tune of ‘come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough.’

Chants I have joined in with and quite like:

·         ‘We’ve got more salt than you’ – aimed at the 30 or so Cardiff fans who were able to make the treck from Wales in during the big freeze a couple of years ago.

·         ‘It could have been you (oh Sammy Klingan!)’ – which the other three Norwich fans out there will get, aimed at a player who left Norwich upon our relegation to league 1 two years ago… sung on the final day, two years later, of the season that saw us promoted back to the Premier league.

·         ‘We shoot bur-ga-lars, say we shoot bur-ga-lars’ in reference to Tony Martin, a Norfolk farmer imprisoned for shooting burglars. Usually sung at Liverpool, Hull or West Ham fans.

·         ‘Ooo, arrrgh lets be avin yer!’ sung in honour of our delightful patron Delia, and her bibo centric activities.

·         Numerous, far from savoury anti Ipswich numbers which I will not repeat here.

The point is that they are all funny, clever (I think), erupt spontaneously, and suddenly spread to engulf a crowd. Their inception is a Schelling moment, where unbidden 26 odd thousand supporters suddenly erupt into song unbidden by pre-training or communication. It is, as I say, a wonderful thing.

 Why am I talking about this?

Firstly Schelling didn’t develop the theory to describe football songs, he was (amongst other things) talking about riots…

Why a riot kicks off is a difficult thing to say, but it is usually set aflame by a Schelling event. This is normally a window being smashed (since they are visual, potent symbols of rebellion and make a lot of noise – which means crowd members not in the line of sight hear about them).

Now for a Schelling event to take place, there are normally any number of other factors in place. All of which add up to people being primed. I offer two examples:

In a riot:

·         People turn up with the expectation that something will happen.  (Expectation)

·         There are generally far fewer authority figures than crowd members. (Empowerment – or a sense of it)

·         Signals are given off between crowd members (nervousness, defensive clothing, common/group language etc…)(Behavioural cues)

·         There is an underlying sense of dissatisfaction (not always about the target of the action) (Emotion)

At the football

·         There is expectation that there will be a good singsong (Expectation)

·         The crowd assumes authority (Empowerment)

·         Common clothing, commonly understood banter, nerves, posturing  etc are shared (Behavioural cues)

·         A prevailing sense your relation to the team e.g. D0isappointment, Excitement, Pride (Emotion)

I think this is interesting.

When we plan campaigns that encourage people to influence each other, or indeed when we plan a campaign that needs a bit of added oompf, we often look for a hook to build them round… something people do naturally.

Summer holidays, pre-Christmas, the football, the great British Sunday roast, Big brother…

Which is interesting.

I think we can learn lots by considering the common factors that prime for Schelling events.

·         How can we recreate the sense of anticipation at a football match?

·         How do we allow the audience to take control of a communication (rather than try to talk at them)? (authority point)

·         How do we use no bought channels to get them to share the communication (verbal and non-verbal) with each other (think about iPod earphones)?

As an aside, sponsorships aren’t normally sold on the basis that they allow people to communicate and act around common ground, but maybe they should be.

This weekend I will be attending Norwich City vs Stoke. The first game we have played in the top flight for 6 years. I am looking forward to the football so much that I can hardly think properly (which may account for the rambling nature of the above), but I am also looking forward to the Schelling point where after the countdown 27,000 fans (minus the away support), as one voice sing out our anthem.

On the ball city! (or OTBC as web savvy canaries like to say).

Love walls

I like those post-it walls.

For those of you who’ve not come across them yet, post-it or ‘Love’ walls are a response to the riots that hit London recently.

Areas affected by the riots now play host to walls on which locals have spontaneously stuck post-its, with simple heart-felt messages relating to the events.

As the BBC point out, there is generally nothing poetic or complex about these messages, just a simple ‘1 heart Croydon’ or ‘don’t burn my town’.

Some commentators have seen these walls as an analogue response to the way smart phones were used by the rioters – I think this is nonsense. To relate smart phones to rioting is like relating pagers to football hooligans. Sure these people used these channels, but they’re not somehow tools of evil. Smart phones were used in organising the clean up that followed the riots as well.

What is interesting, I think, is that people seem to be using post-its as a public way of communication. As a way of saying ‘I am a part of this community and I care’.

Over the years successive governments have legislated (explicitly an implicitly) to rip the hearts out of communities. As a result today, people feel alienated from public spaces and unempowered to connect with each other. Post-it walls are a way of reconnecting with community.

I gather that some libraries and museums are talking about preserving the love walls for the future. I think this is both lovely and amusing – there’s a part of me that finds the concept of putting short term outpourings on permanent display somehow artistic.