Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, China, Chinese Culture, Creativity, Culture, Devious Strategy, Effectiveness, Imagination, Innovation, Perspective, Planning
I’ve written about something I call ‘devious strategy’ for a long time.
In essence, it’s the art of giving people what they want but in a way where they give you exactly what you need from them.
While I’ve covered a bunch of examples in the past – from how Daniel Radcliffe stopped the paparazzi photographing him each night after his theatre performance through to how singer Grace Slick, got Chick-fil-A to pay the LGBTQ+ community to lobby against themselves – the reality is the ultimate Champions of this strategic approach are without doubt, the Chinese Government.
Their ingenuity knows no bounds.
Sure, some of the reasons for this is not great … but let’s be honest, how they ensure people ask for receipts in restaurants so they can ensure they can get the correct amount of tax due to them, is sheer genius.
But I recently learned of a variant of this approach that is less about ‘achieving a favorable solution’ and more about ‘making the problem more difficult for people to ignore’ … and funnily enough, it also comes from the evil genius brains of government.
This time, from local government in Glasgow, Scotland.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls … allow me to introduce you to Leverage Pettiness Strategy™, and before anyone tells me that’s bullshit, just remember our industry once gave an ‘effectiveness’ award to a supermarket chain for sales growth DURING COVID.
By that reckoning, changing the name of a road should win a Nobel Peace Prize.