B2BMX2018

A brand transformation perspective ZOMBIES/PHANTOMS/SHADOWS 3 Threats to Your Experience Innovation Initiatives 3 What you've just demonstrated to yourself is what cognitive scientists refer to as a "prototype effect," a property of cognition that exerts pressure upon our reasoning. Recall, we told you nothing about the occupational profile, age, gender or tendencies of the Viking towards acts of nurturing or violence. But, in the category we know as Vikings, there is what linguist George Lakoff calls an "idealized cognitive model" or a "prototype" that seems to best represent the category of Viking. And, while this category must logically have contained the full range of ages, genders and behavioral tendencies regarding both nurturing and violence, the Viking that came to mind— before you could think about it—was a prototype that influenced your judgment about the care of kittens. Categories are not inherently bad things; there's lots of experimental evidence to suggest that categories are foundational to our thinking. But, it's helpful to know that wherever we have categories, we are likely to find prototype effects. Some instances of a category strike us as more exemplary, more basic, more representative of the category than others. Because this happens, our reasoning (in this case, regarding the probability of the survival of some cute little kittens) is shaped before we know it is being shaped and by means of a mechanism we don't usually notice. Returning to our discussion of Drucker and GM, Drucker explained GM's stumble in the car market as follows: "Reality has changed, but the theory of the business has not changed with it." He clarified his observation by pointing to GM's long- standing consumer segmentation model, which was based on income—suggesting that income was no longer a strategically relevant way to categorize customers. Drucker proposed that psychographics and lifestyle patterns were the way GM might have anticipated the introduction of the minivan and the compact car—but didn't. There are several important questions that follow, of which two, in particular, seem critical to understand: First, how is it that a segmentation model could have slipped out of touch with reality? Second, could the same thing happen to any organization? We'll take a deeper look at GM's situation in a moment, but first, let's explore these questions by way of a thought experiment. Picture a Viking. Imagine a Viking living during the dark ages in Northern Europe, around 1000 AD. Now, we have a basket of precious little kittens—they're so small they don't even have their eyes open yet. We need someone to take care of them. Would you entrust our kittens to the care of your Viking? We're guessing you just gave an emphatic 'No!' Why is that? You likely imagined a rugged adult male with an apparent proclivity for violence. But, instead of an adult male, you could have just as reasonably pictured an elderly woman, a pre-teen or a young mother. Instead of a warrior, you might have pictured a dairy farmer, fisherman, weaver or merchant. Each of those would likely be more than suitable for taking care of our kittens. Yet, you probably didn't. …wherever we have categories, we are likely to find prototype effects. Some instances of a category strike us as more exemplary, more basic, more representative of the category than others.

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