Half my family lives in Chennai. Their neighbors have a house on the corner of their street, right at the intersection of their quiet little cul-de-sac, and the very busy main road.
Being that they live at that loud, chaotic intersection — they have a wall separating their property from the main road.
Today, I want to share a story my dad told me many years ago about that wall.
When they first moved in, the neighbors had (what I would consider) a pretty nasty problem. This wall was a magnet for bad behaviors. Guys peed on the wall. Passersby threw trash against it, or spit their paan on it leaving red and brown marks dripping down. Which only attracted more of the same treatment. Needless to say it was a foul situation.
The neighbors tried to solve it in a number of ways.
They put up signs, asking people to stop soiling the wall.
They yelled at the offenders, and tried to scare them off.
They dug a ditch in front of the wall.
They even installed the highest tech surveillance cameras available at that time.
Still the stench of piss, trash, and other unmentionables persisted. It was a hopeless situation.
Being a Hindu family, the neighbors left for a holiday. As part of that vacation, they visited a number of temples. At each place of worship, priests and other caretakers carefully cleaned and swept the grounds. Worshippers removed their shoes, and carefully walked through the sacred spaces to make their offerings, give prayers, and do poojas.
It was, compared to the wall back home, perfectly pristine. And it sparked a new idea for the neighbors.
Upon their return home, they cleaned up the wall — like, REALLY cleaned it. You could eat a dosa off it if you wanted. And they bejeweled it with intricate, colorful, exquisite tiles. On each tile was a detailed image of a religious symbol or god — Hindu gods, Buddhist, Islamic, Christian and Jewish symbols. (Might as well cover your bases, right?)
Can you guess what happened next? It all stopped.
Yeah! No more piss. No more trash. No more paan spit.
The neighbors’ insight was simple, and not a new one: that people tend* to respect religious symbols and icons. Put even more simply: people don’t piss on gods.
Some might be thinking, “this insight is too negative.” I say it’s not negative. It’s real.
My dad loved this story because it’s an example of Indian ingenuity and problem-solving. And I love this story because it reminds me how quickly we – as marketers, as advertisers, as creatives – can fall out of touch with our audiences. How easily we can tune out from what people need, want, and care about…or not care about, in some cases.
This story isn’t about sacrilege. It’s about seeing people. Like, really, REALLY seeing people for who they are.
Here’s my point. Creativity demands that we meet people where THEY are, not where WE are. And especially not where we wish ‘them’ to be.
Which is why I love this talk Martin Weigel** gave to the Account Planning Group (APG) in London. In it, he explains why the truth of real people in the real world is the best way to create unconventional solutions.
Opening our eyes, our ears, and our hearts. Sometimes the most powerful insights are the simple, mundane ones. Not the fancy, complex, jargon-filled ones. And to discover them, you need to actually seek out the truths of your audience.
So, think about these things:
Do you have a tricky business problem that needs to be solved — and what are the ways you’re using research to crack it?
How are you and/or your team getting out of the ‘bubble’ and really hearing your customers?
Drop a comment below and let me know. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks,
Emelia “ should have been a Bollywood star" Rallapalli
*I don’t want to make this a political commentary, but I have to write “tend” based on disturbing current events in domestic and global news and politics as I write this missive.
** Martin just might be my new PPC (platonic planner crush)….Shhh. Don’t tell him. I’m shy.