Filed under: Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, China, Context, Culture, Perspective, Planners, Planners Making A Complete Tit Of Themselves And Bless, Planning, Relevance, Resonance
Maybe this is an American thing, but what the fuck is a Fluffer Nutter Pie?
More than that … why is something with that name associated with childhood?
That seems the least appropriate audience it should be connected to.
And finally, why is a ‘pie’ a sandwich?
A sandwich you apparently ‘scoop’.
I am so utterly confused … but I also acknowledge, this may reveal I am a sicko with zero culinary appreciation.
But it does highlight a valuable strategy lesson …
Because far too brands/agencies/planners evaluate other cultures/communities/categories by their own contexts and definitions … never having the ability to appreciate what is normal for them may not be normal for others … meaning they end up building barriers to audiences rather than removing them. Which is literally their fucking job.
These people and companies make a mockery of strategy, curiosity, exploration, humanity and understanding … choosing the convenience of self-comfort over the richness of new perspectives.
It’s an attitude I see everywhere …
A general attitude of blinkered arrogance.
A way for them to remain in the comfort of their own self-delusion rather than accept the need to question, challenge and relearn their own perspectives.
Professional fragility, so to speak.
I used to see this in China ALL THE TIME.
And while some may claim this attitude could equally be levelled at people and companies across Asia, in my experience they know far more about people in the West than the other way around.
But the reality is this situation is not limited to people engaging with other cultures … but people who engage with anything or anyone outside of their circle of life.
People who have a starting point they’re right and everyone else is wrong.
Which – as bizarre as it may be given where this post started – is my way of saying that everything you say reveals more about who you are than the people you’re talking about.
So make sure you embrace the outsiders, not just the echo chambers.