storytelling at the heart of what we do

The Stories We Construct

View more presentations from Stephen Anderson

Great presentation. A nice reminder of the power of storytelling and understanding how these stories are translated and the value they bring when experienced.

my shamanic encounter

In January this year I went to a Thai yoga retreat where essentially you fast, do yoga and meditate for 10 days. Now I do have my 'alternative' tendencies, and while ever keen to keep feet securely on the ground, I also recognise the amazing rewards you can get out of a bit of health, exercise and peace of mind. Namely, in my case 6 kilos, toe-touching and the ability to be surprisingly zen in the company of mi Venezuelan madre (who came with me) for a whole month.

While I was there I met some pretty interesting folk. Documentary producers, chefs, teachers, events folk, advertising peeps and peace-n-loving hippies. It was such a mix bag. One minute you're talking about the weather in the UK, the next you're taking a deep dive in to the world of Quantum Physics.

On day 7 of my fast, some 4 kilos down and reaching that point where the head rushes were intensifying and my yoga was at a stage where I could nearly kiss my knee without bending it  - I decided to investigate some of the other abstract "healings" that were taking place at The Sanctuary.

That is when I met Vinod, a Shaman from the UK, who owned a gorgeous wooden hut in the mountains overlooking the ocean. My consultation was to begin with a conversation about me. Why am I hear? Well I guess I'm just curious. What are you looking to achieve? Insight perhaps (although secretly I may have wanted to experience one of those far-out Shamanic rituals which included vomiting and hallucinations that Bruce Parry had in his BBC series, Tribes). What do you know about Shamans? They worship the earth. And so on... Until it was my turn...

What do Shaman's believe? There's no such thing as right or wrong. No polarised opposites like heaven and hell. What rules do they follow? The "natural laws" of the universe. That there are "layers" of other-worlds that they can connect with in their minds, like new dimensions... This is interesting I thought, so what can I do? You can find you're power animal, he said. Cool...

And so Vinod proceeded to begin the ritual. My job was easy. Lie down, breathe, relax and follow his lead while he played drums, chanted, burnt woody incense and asked me to "let go". The process was simple, in a state of relaxation I would go in to "other dimension" by visualising a beautiful place, falling down a hole and then coming out the other end where, potentially, I'd hang out with some animals until I found my "power" one... OK I'm losing you aren't I?

While ceremonious (and arguably sacred), the experience was more an exercise in imagination. Which is precisely the point. Vinod later explained that the Shamans believe you connect using the right-side of your brains to these "other dimensions". That these imaginings and visualisations are where you can attain insight. And he's right. Like how, apparently, Nobel prize winner Francis Crick discovered the structure for DNA while high on LSD. Not that I would advocate trying it yourself. I never have. But then again I've never discovered double helix molecular structures either...

Now I'm ever skeptical although equally open to new experiences and ancient rituals, they fascinate me, but regardless of whether Shamanism is a farce or not - the creative exercise is what keeps human-beings alive and progressing; finding solutions to problems and propelling us forwards through the manifestation of ideas.

And as for my Shamanic ritual, perhaps I did attain a bit of insight, I discovered that you should not have one in the jungle without wearing insect repellent and that my Shamanic Power animal is an Elephant...

and a Monkey....

Hey, no one said you can't have more than one ;)

why we choose?

Dan Ariely the author of Predictably Irrational uses interesting optical illusions to demonstrate our thought process (and decision making). Our intuition fools us in to thinking things in a certain way. Like an optical illusion even when we know what the right answer is we still don’t see it.

Which is longer?
(They're both the same)

The idea of illusions is that our senses feed us information however it is not a true reflection of reality. Information is provided to us courtesy of our brain, which has a set of rules for dealing with situations so that what we see is actually very different from reality in specific, repeatable, predictable ways.

The same thing applies to consumer behavior. For example, when something costs more and people expect it to be better, they actually end up seeing and experiencing it as being better. One of my favourite (and equally frustrating) product examples of this is Tiffany. Oh the weakness. But why? Well a brand is considered premium when we believe it is worth the price. And to feel that good with a shining Tiffany bracelet on is oh so worth it. Remember 'perceived quality' is one of the key brand associations that has proven to drive financial performance.

It’s like an illusion, the way that we process the information is not a function of what is out there, it’s a function of what is happening in our brain. Most of our understanding of the world comes from our brain not from our senses. We think we see with our eyes but much of what we see is happening within our brain even the way we feel about it.

Ariely uses a great example; when you lie on your back and look at the sky, you believe you’re seeing blue however the reality is that only a small part of your eye can detect that colour. If you extend your arm out in front of your face and hold your hand in a fist, that’s the only portion of your eye that can detect blue. The rest of your eye isn’t supposed to see blue. We don’t see blue because of our eyes, we see it in spite of our eyes. It’s our brain that is doing all the work to help us detect blue. The same thing happens when we process other information: Price, quality, etc. In all those cases, it is our brain that drives our expectations and determines much of our final experience.

Ariely believe that we have two types of rules for our behavior. One type concerns market norms which involve how much you pay for things, how much people charge you and so on (a banking rate for example). The other type is social exchanges that have to do with fairness and warm fuzzy feelings (the 'why', the connectiveness we feel, the empowerment etc). Both of these relationships are perfectly reasonable and have advantages and disadvantages. Marketers need to understand the particular advantages and disadvantages that come with both of these relationships and perhaps more importantly the failure that can occur when the relationship is in the middle and not compelling enough in either direction.

Poor rich people

This is a "communications idea" that came about recently which I felt compelled to research a little further.

I look to address the different perceptions and behaviour associated with giving and spending. It interests me because both consequentially have a similar emotional response and yet are communicated and perceived so differently.

I think its important to exercise a fresh perspective, to have a lateral approach and so whilst a part of me thinks this may just be one of those exercises to help me hone this - quite selfishly - it'd be great if it could spark some inspiration elsewhere.

I’m hoping an awesome agency/charity will be interested in bringing it to life, but I could be dreaming. I would obviously be happy for someone to take it and make it their own so long as it were true to the objective (actually, I'd be incredibly flattered!)

I'm not precious about it whatsoever; so please look for holes in it and bring it to my attention - its all part of the process.

I recommend looking at it big screen.

Poor Rich People - Changing the perceptions of giving

View more presentations from jectaspecta.