Are you "Quick-Tripping" Your Parking Lot?

I was talking to a friend of mine (Mike Wagner w/ the White Rabbit Group) at Bandit Burrito and in our discussion Mike mentioned Quick Trip and their obsession with a clean parking lot. He also went into detail on how your conscious might not notice but your sub-conscious certainly does. He was right because after he mentioned this I could distinctly recall many times I have pulled into QT to see an associate pressure-washing the concrete. I also recalled how clean every QT experience was.

Being a busy person, chances are you have never noticed this fact. You most likely filled up your tank and never thought about it.... right?

In reality, there is a good chance you DID notice this; you were just too busy to notice. (Read that sentence again, go ahead) Without getting too scientific, our brains are trained to "file away" certain information, while other information is brought "top of mind." Over time we train ourselves this way because some things are just not important enough to devote our full attention too. The sound of traffic, the boring music at the company you work at, and the funky noises your car make, go unnoticed, but your brain has filed them away. These memories can be pulled back up as specific events, or as negative / positive emotions.

What does this mean for you and your company? This means that your customers are responding on a greater level to your branding, ads, design, and website. If you are careful in the execution of your company's design/branding you can be more clear and effective. The copy on the page may communicate a message, but what is the design saying? Could you be more sympathetic to your customer's brain? Are there images being used that your prospects are negatively reacting too? Could your company be top of mind more often in your target audiences head? A great designer is going to take all these factors into account when working on your next project. Are you "Quick-Tripping" your parking lot?

Thanks Mike, for your inspiration on this post.

Why Your Design Should Stink Like Seinfeld

No one would disagree that Seinfeld was one of the most loved TV shows of all time. Who could forget George, Jerry, Elaine, and especially Kramer? The truth is, Seinfeld should have never aired.

As I was reading a book lately, (How We Decide, John Lehrer) the author mentioned the TV Focus Group process. In the late 1930's Feedback Dials were invented by CBS as a "program analyzer." A modern day feedback dial is very simple, you rotate the dial clockwise or counter clockwise to reflect your favorable or unfavorable feelings as you watch the show. Researchers soon realized that the data collected by the dials alone was not substantial, the dials would record feedback with no real explanation as to why people responded a certain way.

Seinfeld is one of many favorable examples of the flawed process. After testing the show with a focus group it was one of the worst ranked shows of all time. In 1989 Seinfeld aired only as a mid-season replacement but it went on to be a raging success. On the flip-side after Friends became a success, other networks rushed to put their own versions through. The imitator shows scored very well, but didn't make it past the first season. Researchers discovered people were ranking shows by familiarity. Researchers had to learn how to ask the data the right questions.

As a marketer, or designer we need to remember that people tend to rank by familiarity not necessarily effectiveness. Is your marketing department's innovative work hitting a road block when it comes time for approval? This might not mean that it is a bad proposal or idea, it just may stink like Seinfeld.