Bold

  • Bold TV
  • News
  • Voices
  • Tech
  • Business
  • Life
  • Bold TV
  • News
  • Voices
  • Tech
  • Business
  • Life

What’s Missing From Marketing and Campaign Strategies? Situational Identity!

  • by Bryan Bloom and Jim Sisco
  • March 4, 2016
  • in Business, Homepage

Marketing, advertising, media, and public relations firms have one thing in common; they all try to connect with people. They spend significant time and money to understand what motivates their target audience, develop effective narratives to shape perceptions, influence behavior, and track return on investment to avoid “spray and pray” campaigns. Yet, these organizations continually fail to optimize their interactions because they employ outdated techniques and rely on industry experts or consultants to connect with end users, customers, or target audiences.

Traditional Approach – Targets What

In-house marketing groups, advertising firms, and consultants conduct polls, host focus groups, and buy troves of consumer data to understand a target group. Micro-targeting efforts construct a profile or persona, (e.g., salary of $50,000-60,000, exercises 2-3 times a week, eats out 1-2 times a week, attends church regularly, uses social media at least once a day) of the typical person within a target demographic (e.g., 25-35 year old Hispanic women). Narratives are then designed around the persona, based on previous successful experiences, and tested with focus groups and/or polling. Media campaigns disseminate narratives across different platforms to penetrate the target demographic. Unfortunately, this approach sometimes fails because it: (1) focuses on what people do, not why they do it, and (2) assumes that what people have done will inform future decision-making.

Political campaigns face similar challenges. They hire political consultants—a recently successful campaign manager—to apply the latest ideas and execute the strategy. Moreover, they rely heavily on polling and marketing data to inform data analytics efforts, design communications strategies, drive their ground games, and support fundraising activities. These same techniques and strategies were employed by Jeb Bush supporters who raised $130 million, spending $84 million towards positive advertising and $10 million on consultants. With almost “unlimited” funding the campaign was unable to connect with voters and Jeb dropped out of the race. The Bush campaign epitomizes the failure of traditional approaches. 

Social Science – The Bridge

Social scientists have historically been unable to apply complex theory into real-world scenarios. Practical application of identity politics or identity conflict theory is the solution. Identity, the most fundamental and strongest human need explains why people act the way they do and provides insights into beliefs. Most importantly, identity is the key to creating narratives that trigger strong emotions and actions.

Individuals possess multiple identities across primary (e.g., family, religion, ethnicity, gender) and secondary (e.g., education, occupation, political affiliation) socializations, which requires specialized analysis to pinpoint. Ontology analysis dissects a target group’s world views, narratives, logics of appropriateness, and social structures to uncover identity. Ontology analysis also reveals competing identities, including the active or situational identity within the group.

Situational Identity – Targets Why

Situational identity is the most responsive identity—it drives decision-making and is influenced by the target’s location, environment, and people present. It is the mechanism that allows organizations to answer how and why people think and behave. Situational identity also explains why polls are inaccurate; because the target audience’s answer can be dramatically different depending on the active identity.

Example 1: Do you support access to abortion?

  • Environment A: At a church function with family
    • Situational Identity: Religion
    • Answer: No, because you don’t want to challenge religious beliefs
  • Environment B: At a bar with friends
    • Situational Identity: Social Group – Friend
    • Answer: Yes, because friends are more willing to accept abortion in certain circumstances
  • Traditional Approach: Polling would have logged two contradictory answers

Example 2: Do you believe smoking causes cancer?

  • Environment A: At a doctor’s appointment
    • Situational identity: Educated individual
    • Answer: Yes, because it is scientifically proven
  • Environment B: Wedding reception
    • Situational identity: Social Group – Celebration
    • Answer: No, not when done infrequently
  • Traditional Approach: Uncovers that the person occasionally smokes, but does not determine why they smoke

Theory to Reality: Multi-disciplinary Approach

ENODO Global created an operating platform that employs a multi-disciplinary approach and scientific methodology to pinpoint identity within any demographic. The operating platform blends social science theory—identity conflict—with the most advanced data analytics technologies to pinpoint the dominant identity across primary and secondary socializations. The platform filters, synthesizes, and funnels structured and unstructured data into a customized ontology analysis to produce findings based on the dominant and situational identity for a target demographic. By pinpointing identities, ENODO can design and measure narratives that resonate most positively or negatively with an organization’s target audience.

Marketing, advertising, media, and public relations firms can immediately enhance their business models by integrating ENODO’s operating platform into existing operations. Our technologies are scalable and deliver a repeatable, systematic process designed to seamlessly integrate into any environment. ENODO’s methodology removes the guess work, which enables companies to identify efficiencies, quantify and track results more effectively, and understand why their target audience makes certain decisions.

Comments

Bryan Bloom

Bryan Bloom is the Chief Financial Officer of ENODO Global Inc. He leads ENODO’s finance practice to pinpoint, forecast, and mitigate social risk for financial firms to take advantage of mis-priced investments. He earned a B.A. from Colgate University with a double major in Economics and Political Science and an MBA from The Wharton School with concentrations in Finance and Management.

Jim Sisco

James R. Sisco is the founder and President of ENODO Global, Inc. a risk advisory firm that conducts population-centric analysis to solve complex social problems in dynamic cultural environments. Jim draws upon a distinguished 23-year military career in Marine Corps Special Forces and Naval Intelligence to lead ENODO Global.

Related Posts

WATCH: Can Millennials and Baby Boomers Find Common Ground?

Continue reading...

Continue reading...

We’ve Seen an ‘Explosion’ of Female Sci-Fi Creators Says Author of ‘The 100’

Continue reading...

Continue reading...

Tax Expert Suggests Using AI Technology to Reform the IRS

Continue reading...

Continue reading...

Search

About Bold

Bold TV is a digital news network committed to bipartisan dialogue & innovation for people, business & communities.


Learn More

Most Popular

Sorry. No data so far.

boldtv

Bold is a bipartisan, digital news network building a more perfect union. #BoldTV
📧Booking: hello@bold.global

Instagram post 2195292197691865218_2294621085 The 2020 elections are right around the corner! Bold TV's @JustinCrawfordTV stepped onto another red carpet to chat with some of the industry's most influential comedians earlier this week to find out just how impactful political satire is to audiences. ——————————————————————— #BoldTV #instagood #Instamood #Photooftheday #PicOfTheDay #POTD #Instanews #News #PostOfTheDay #Lifestyle #Media  #2020Election #Congress #Politics #political #America #trump #republican #democrat #democraticparty #Dems #2020Dems #GOP #liberal #Freedom #government #USA
Instagram post 2192363443328068720_2294621085 On our last episode of Bold TV, we spoke to an amazing lineup of professionals about prioritizing work-life integration, holiday shopping, and more! Click the link in our bio to watch the full episode.

Stay tuned for our new episode which is airing live tomorrow at 12PM EST! ——————————————————————— #BoldTV #instagood #InstaMood #Photooftheday #PicOfTheDay #POTD #Instanews #News #PostOfTheDay #Lifestyle #Media #Rise #Inspiration #holidayseason #2020vision #instadaily #entrepreneur #success #motivation #millennials #money #branding #worklife #hustle #instadaily #branding #models #smallbusiness #businessowner
Instagram post 2191612124665422503_2294621085 Leonard Lauder, chairman of The @esteelauder Companies Inc., was recently honored with the Women’s Leadership Award at the Lincoln Center 7th Annual Corporate Fund Fashion Gala. @JustinCrawfordTV chatted w/ @TommyHilfiger, @HilaryRhoda & @ElizabethHurley1 to hear just how excited they are for Leonard!
Instagram post 2187344525865728584_2294621085 Happy thanksgiving from Bold TV! Bold corespondent @zaynathebrand hosted a special segment of Bold this week to talk with our Bold TV host @juliasun_onair and Bold TV producer @sharluhmanereid about all things thanksgiving!

Watch the full segment on our Facebook! Click the link in our bio!
Instagram post 2186501215093582931_2294621085 Bold TV had the privilege of joining this year’s Moves Magazine Power Women Gala 2019. Here, we were able to hear from the best of the best including Apple TV’s Executive Producer of The Morning Show and our United States Air Force’s very first female Fighter Pilot - among many others! 
Take a sneak peak (swipe right) at some of our exclusive behind the scenes coverage. For more on moves and all the great work they do, please visit MovesPowerWomen.com ———————————————————————
📸: @justincrawfordtv
Instagram post 2185870526962776010_2294621085 @marcmerrillofficial and @ashley__merrill share their journey balancing marriage and dual entrepreneurship. 
You can watch the full interview on our YouTube!
Instagram post 2185168031483527946_2294621085 Environmentalist and beauty enthusiast, Tina Hedges joined Bold TV to talk to us about her zero-waste beauty brand @loli.beauty!
Watch the full video now on our YouTube! Click the link in our bio!
Instagram post 2181541130034659091_2294621085 Wise words from Jack Acree, Executive Vice President of @saffronroadfood! He joined us on Bold TV last Friday! Make sure to watch the full episode on our Facebook! Click the link in our bio
Instagram post 2180104836154691683_2294621085 @spikedspin owner Brianna Owens joined us on Bold TV to discuss the opening of her new Hip Hop inspired spin class! You can watch the full interview on our YouTube! Click the link in our bio!
Load More... Follow on Instagram
  • About
  • —
  • Contact
©2019 Bold Media Enterprise, Inc.