Graphic Novels, the 1980's & the Science behind XM
Shannon Assion - February 6 2011

Last week, my daughter Taylor was doing a report for University on the 1980's and their correlation to the social themes in the graphic novel "The Watchmen."  Since I was a teenager in the 1980's she asked me to read the book and watch the movie and to act as a resource on the culture and mindset of the time.  With me as a primary resource, my notes and insights were nothing short of "KPOW & BOF" (to use comic terms) and with some additional research she easily received an A on her presentation.  Her Prof was stunned silent and very impressed.

I'm not a psychologist or a sociologist; I'm an Experiential Marketer why should my insight into those arenas be so valuable?  Because… I'm a behavior and theme expert, I use daily those skills, abilities and research those topics relentlessly, devouring them for some future use in an XM campaign.

That's right, I read volumes of scientific research to be better able to have my product or message connect with the consumer.  I'm a geek, a research-a-holic, it's totally true.  This may not fit with some people's views of what a marketer is. They think:  fast talking huckster or someone who was born with the gift of saleability or someone that crunches demographic numbers; not someone who researches neurology, behavior, cognitive/neuro- linguistics and kinetics. 

Using the knowledge I gain from this research is the real difference between an ordinary run of the mill field marketing event to an actually real NOT "so- called," XM event.

We've all seen the arguments about "what IS XM really?" Well, to me what XM really IS, is Science!

I've just read a piece about how we cognitively associate the past as back and future as forward, and how this saw participants in a study when prompted,  to think past or future - they unconsciously leaned slightly back on their heels or forward on the toes to a measurable degree.  In this article was another anecdote from another study that showed due to our left-to-right oriented written western languages we also associate left is past and right as future.  So, how can this help me with the design of an XM campaign? 

If in a campaign we want to get  the consumer to think:  future +me+happiness= new product purchase,  then if we're in a real or even virtual space,  we will have the consumer physically move from past /left, to the right and future -  towards a promising connection with the product.

Oribit's:  DIRTY MOUTH campaign came to mind when I read a study that suggested:  after doing or saying something considered bad,  like lying or swearing there is an immediate need for cleanliness.  Think about Lady Macbeth trying to scrub out that damn spot.  Feel guilty or bad? Well, Orbit gum is the best solution for that.  Pretty sly concept and completely backed by scientific research.

Or,  in another example: I saw how envisioning the reckless decisions of delinquent youth makes an older person feel more self esteem.  This can easily be used in marketing to have people identify with being slightly older as making better decisions, think:  Not your kids Car. "That's the kind of car I want to buy because I'm mature and make sound and responsible buying decisions, " maybe using a graphic of a punk kid in ripped,  skinny jeans and 3 green foot Mohawk to send the image home. It's a good base for a campaign that addresses a very specific age demographic.

Reading studies on how movement or simulation increases learning and synaptic connections exponentially, helps us to think of using body movement in XM to help communicate and enable better learning of new messages to the consumer.

I'm in there, I'm on PubMed, SciCentral, etc…I'm not about to give you a list of all my best research sites, not about to give up my edge. There is so much information out there shared freely to make a research-a-holic like me endlessly blissful and on the leading edge of XM innovation.

And if it's not out there, that specific gem you're looking to bolster your next campaign,  there is now a whole other area of marketing emerging to get the answers:  Neuromarketing!  Yup, more Geeky stuff, really effing cool geeky stuff! 

If you want to know how Coke's red label makes different centers of a consumers brain light up or how the average consumer's eyes will track through a space under different lighting, then these are the new marketing geeks to go to. It's basically the same things I find in already published research but this research specifically designed for your product or company not someone else's unrelated study.

So go forth XMers and embrace your geeky genius!  And make sure you explain this to your clients when they want to know what XM is;  HOW it differs from basic knocked-off in-field marketing or sampling, and WHY it's so worth any added expense to get the very BEST science backed results.