“Humanisation” is the keyword for 2019. The call to reflection and to action is global and touches all sectors, all professions and all generations.
Brands and companies today must have a consumer-centric vision of business and of the market. Strategies are consumer-focused. Consumers, prosumers, consum-actors or consum-authors have become increasingly protagonists, more aware of their role. Today individuals treat themselves as if they were products and brands. The media used to communicate is indeed an integral part of the message, as already theorised by Marshall McLuhan some 70 years ago. We are all our own designers, authors, producers, product managers, brand managers and marketing managers.
Alongside with B2B and B2C we now have H2H(Human to Human), which transcends the pure market logic and confirms the direction in which many companies and institutions are now heading, towards an increasingly explicit humanisationof marketing, businesses, of the production processes themselves…. and of the future
Innovating for humans
The future and innovation cannot disregard technological progress. But neither can they disregard the more purely “human” components of the human being. In fact, they need them:
- The more digitalised and automated the world becomes, the stronger the need for organisations and brands to become more human.
- Technology needs humans in order to develop and keep making sense and having a point in this world.
- Humans need technology to manage and interact with life and society. And I don’t mean only the trivial use of technologies using what we regard as essential devices that are by now part of our daily lives. Or the freedom to access or share data, information, emotions or the ability to choose from seemingly unlimited options. But also science and technology which work for the advancement of humankind, for the protection of the environment, for sustainability, to guarantee, improve and maintain a quality of life for all.
What have we forgotten?
There is much talk of the digital divide, when in fact technology has not divided: it has united. Technology has helped develop a culture which rewards immediacy and reactivity. However, we should rethink what we do – and don’t do – when it comes to listening to others. Today, listening is a forgotten skill. We must learn to listen, teach how to listen and how to elaborate and think… and think creatively allowing more time to elaborate ideas, feelings, impressions, than it takes to… click.
Young and talented
They are the new credo in the industry and are perceived as the key to the future. Young is enough for many. Even when combined, however, the two cannot always guarantee human and professional skills that only real life and first-hand experience help to develop.
The concepts of experience and competence sound old today. They are not evocative of instantaneousness and immediacy and both fail to coincide with youth. The very meaning of “experience” has changed. The word now seems to describe other dimensions (such as emotional impact and self relevance), which have nothing to do with the process of creative elaboration, which is a combination of hands on experience, lessons learned, and the search for meaning and inspiration. Plus the ability to interpret data, to offer recommendations and sense which insights are truly relevant.
Building a new awareness
If only the new generations of clients realised that Experience + Expertise not only generate enthusiasm, energy, curiosity, initiative, and a desire to innovate but also guarantee the ability to work in partnership with the client, take up challenges, deliver on time and on budget. And at the same time deliver “The Experience”.
Today we have accurate profiles of entire market segments or niches. These data are predominantly quantitative.
And yet psychology in its various branches, anthropology, sociology, neurosciences, or sensory analysis, and countless approaches, have provided effective instruments. A smart mix of qualitative approaches handled by experienced and talented researchers can achieve goals, unlock potentials, innovate and build the future faster and more effectively.
The ability to design research ad hoc, to mix and hybridise approaches, will become a researcher’s distinctive feature. Research users should be made aware of, and in some cases almost trained to, appreciate its transformative and innovative power.
Big and small data
Speaking of innovation and the future, qualitative research has had to redefine itself in an almost defensive manner against the crushing invasiveness of big data.
Small data, a term coined by the brand futurologist Martin Lindstrom, refers to the very essence of qualitative research which has developed around the concept of humanity and human to human. Small data help us to understand life, human beings, specific cultures or subcultures, and society, they are human and they are crucial for Innovation.
The risk in being exclusively driven by big data is the loss of depth, relevance, and understanding of evolutional logic; the loss of culture, of humanity and of life, which truly qualitative approaches know how to capture, analyse, understand, and redeliver vibrantly and in a true-to-life way. That’s quite impressive and by no means small!
Thinking of our profession: have we gone smaller, and become shyer and more complacent to survive? Is there a lack of assertiveness? Or just fatigue in facing the muscular nature of big data and competing with technology-based “products? Has awareness of the value of qualitative research dampened and where the exact difference lies in the human element.
The hands-on know-how, the intuition and creativity of the researcher greatly transcend the use of more-or-less-qualitative techniques. Budget shrinking is a given but it is also true that not all research buyers have had a chance to develop a real qualitative culture. And as to the debate around small vs big data, we should stop thinking “either …or” and adopt an “and …and” perspective.
Data are available and we all have a personal and collective responsibility to become more discerning about their source, authenticity, value and relevance and more than ever before, to think about the how, what, and for what purpose which is why experience, competence and specialism are crucial in our profession.
