[/caption]As I walked through snow to Union Station yesterday, counting the number of beaches I used to live near that I’m not currently spending time on, it occurred to me that marketing is so often just a matter of perspective. We say and do things in order to alter someone else’s perspective. To manipulate, maybe, but there’s a point of view people attempt to get across; the more successfully you alter someone’s perspective, the more compelling your message is going to be.
My friend Michael has a fun twist on this, he calls it CVS2BVS – Current View of the Situation to a Better View of the Situation. CVSBVS (everybody now…), CVS2BVS. Once you move to from the current view of the situation to the better view of the situation, the improved position becomes the current one, and you’re free to figure out what the even better vantage point to be in is.
Oliver Wendell Holmes once wrote “Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions. Once he has achieved the BVS, he can never go back to the previous CVS. Once perspective is altered, it is permanent.
I was thinking about all of this as I walked through the snow, aware of how warm I actually found it. And I smiled as I realised that less than a month ago I could not conceive of hearing it was -5 degrees, and be glad it had actually warmed up.
It is, after all, simply a matter of perspective.
David, this is so called "The Snow white" effect.
ReplyDeleteThe peculiar white from snow hits your right side of the brain, specifically your analytical side and makes you think about thi stuff.
It happened to me :-*
About Perceptions, messages and brands, even if yours are not great, sometimes it is not worthwhile making a change. Changes are hard, they cause confusion, they are time consuming and they are expensive.
The deciding factor on whether or not to make a change is this: What would you change if you could without money/time considerations?
What I like most about this article is that the acronym (CVS2BVS) applies to so many areas of our life. For many of us it's a simple yet effective method that will help us see past the drudgery of the day-job, see beyond the failed project and around the small obstacles stopping us from doing what we want.
ReplyDeleteThe acronym plus the OWH-quote remind me that it is only I that can change the current view, fix the perspective and refocus on the goal.
Thanks for that.
It's funny you mention that David, as an online marketer, my mates perceive me as someone whose sole purpose is to change the people's perception of a want into a need. In someways yes, we toy with the public's emotions and rationality but ultimately at the end of the day, it's the consumer who decides on the power of our influence.
ReplyDeleteBut in today's day and age, given the rise of social media and people power, don't you think it's more a case of the public changing their own perception through their interaction with one another rather than the wicked marketer weaving their string puppets?
love this blog. It is true. Once the mind stretches it can't unstrech.
ReplyDelete@stephen no sweat, thanks for stopping by!
ReplyDelete@ryan I think for marketers (and I'm obviously not the first by a long shot to say this) we need to step back from tactics and just take a good look at the story we're trying to tell. Tactics removed from narrative are just doomed to be only a fraction as impactful as tactics within a greater context.
@owlminerva Amen!