(Un)Common Sense
By Gary Stibel, Scott Liell and Thomas Paine
Whenever the Fourth of July rolls around, many of us pause to reflect upon the people, events and ideas that we commemorate with all those backyard BBQs and fireworks displays. This year, as many an American family or business faces greater challenges and uncertainty than we’ve seen in generations, it is especially fitting for us to spend a few moments recalling a time centuries ago when this country was used to thinking of itself as an underdog. (And even if you’re not an underdog, it doesn’t hurt to think like one from time to time.)
One story in particular has special relevance for those who do what we do (i.e., use words and images to influence people and behavior) and that is the story of Thomas Paine and his great pamphlet Common Sense.
Many will be surprised to learn that only a year before July, 4th 1776, almost no one in the colonies had any idea, let alone intention of declaring independence from Great Britain. It wasn’t even on the table. Amazingly, in that Summer of ʼ75 the delegates of the 13 colonies gathered in Philadelphia (John Adams and cousin Sam included) were busy sending letters to George III expressing their desire to remain: “Attached to your Majesty's person, family, and government, with all devotion that principle and affection can inspire.” Not exactly the stuff that revolutions are made of.
Yet, 12 months later those very same delegates were affixing their names to the Declaration of Independence with huge majorities of popular support back home. How had such a sea change occurred?
The incredible short answer, of course, is Paineʼs Common Sense, which, from the day it appeared in January of 1776, swept up and down the eastern seaboard like a wild fire during dry season. In a country of less than three million people, it sold as many as 500,000 copies. That’s pre-NY Times Book Review, pre-Amazon, and pre-Oprah's Book Club. By the time it had run its course, those 13 colonies were one nation and that one nation had a single idea: an independent United States of America.
How did Paine accomplish what even the assembled Franklins, Adamses and Jeffersons of the Continental Congress could not? It turns out he had an instinctual command of several bedrock principles, that, in different guises, remains at the heart of successful marketing and PR campaigns to this day:
- Why instruct when you can inspire? Don't assume that having a better/cheaper product is enough to close the deal, you have to make an emotional connection. Present somebody with cold hard facts and you may gain a sale. Inspire them with an idea and you create a movement. Facts make the case but passion is contagious. Which leads us to...
- Viral/Social is the New Big Thing (and it has been for over 200 years)! What we now call “viral” and “social” marketing was not ginned up in some lab in silicon valley in the '90s. Nor in a Harvard dorm room in the '00s. Over the last couple years, brands have lurched from one technology to another, telling their agencies “Quick! Get me a blog, a viral video, a Facebook page, 100k followers on twitter.” But picking the “right” channel is not an instant marketing cure-all. Instead, focus on creating that sense of ah-ha and enthusiasm that people feel they simply have to share with others —that’s the what and the why —and they'll sort out the question of how for themselves. Remember, Paineʼs weapons of choice were hand-sewn pamphlets carried from one place to another by horse-drawn wagon, and it worked out pretty well.
- Don't fight by their rules. Always question common assumptions. If you've built a better mousetrap and you're still having trouble making inroads against the established market leaders, maybe it's because they have skewed the terms of the debate in their favor. Rather than choose between different opinions about how to secure the colonists their rights as British citizens, Paine asked the far more radical question of whether they should remain British citizens at all. Don’t let the other guys frame the argument!
- Don't be afraid to go rogue. When Paine arrived in the colonies in 1774, he might easily have used his pen to defend his native England, joining the majority of Americans at that time who felt the benefits of remaining British outweighed the downside. Instead he joined the small but growing voice of discontent and, using his more intimate knowledge of the flaws and foibles of the British system, added a harder, sharper edge to the argument. Take-away: don't waste resources propping up the status quo when you can position yourself to benefit from its demise. AND Don’t waste time defending unpopular practices when you can gain more traction by siding with your customers against them.
- Keep it simple. The greatest strength of Common Sense is that, while its appeal was broad and its audience diverse, no one reading it could walk away without a crystal clear sense of what he was telling them to. The eloquently turned metaphors, biblical references and Enlightenment Age rhetoric all laddered neatly up to one ruthlessly simple call-to-action: American Independence.
So, keep Thomas Paine and those game changing months of 1776 in mind as you set out to change behavior and history.
Gary Stibel is founder and CEO of the Westport, CT based New England Consulting Group (the Organic Growth Company) where Scott Liell is a principal and a member of its War Gaming and Digital Marketing practices.
The New England Consulting Group is the world’s premier marketing management consultancy, each of whose partners possess 25+ years of line management and management consulting experience. For a list of New England’s partners and clients, visit www.necg.net or, for more information, contact Diana Sharkey at 203-226-9200 or by email at dms@necg.net or contact the New England Consulting Group’s proprietary Q&A “Convenience Store” 7-11 at 203-226-9200 x711 – questions submitted by 7pm EST will be answered by 11am EST the next morning.
Tags:
