Even infants can be bemused by the impossibility of Escher’s drawings, recent research indicates. 

The unusual and impossible draw our attention. In fact, this is how we pay attention. Numerous studies show that, in fact, we just scan our environment looking for exceptions. We don’t perceive all of it. We look at what’s different. (That’s part of why our firm is named after noticing those hidden dimensions of performance that may not be drawing your attention, but are still affecting you.)

Babies are the same way, and researchers note attention by babies based on how long they look at an object. I enjoyed reading Dave Munger’s blog account of how this experiment was structured, and how the researchers were able to use gaze-length to determine that the 4-month old babies could tell that Escher-like cubes were an impossibility. 

I’ve always enjoyed Escher, but to think that my daughter could have enjoyed it with me years ago…  

Note: Check out more on Necker Cubes, Escher-style blocks and more about cube-based optical illusions on Wikipedia.

My friend and colleague Alison Bliss has nicely summarized some key tips from Marketing Sherpa on ways to continue successfully marketing in a downturn. From negotiating with your vendors and keeping track of your data to see what’s working, to providing your customers with easier ways to buy, this quick read may stimulate your thinking.

Early last June we noted Harvard Business School’s Working Knowledge discussion about whether corporate managers think deeply any more, and if not, why not. Inspired by GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt’s public declaration that he was protecting deep thinking at GE, and the Zaltman’s latest book, Marketing Metaphoria, Baker Foundation Professor, Emeritus James Heskett posed the question of whether deep thinking is disappearing in corporate America. And if so, why?

We’re pleased to note that Jim Heskett chose to quote Lorre Zuppan in his summing up. If deep thinking were truly valued at GE, would Mr. Immelt need to declare to his devout protection of it to his managers or the world at large? We declare our priorities more loudly by our actions than by our words. If Mr. Immelt has effectively communicated the importance of deep thinking to GE’s future, why must he also announce his intent to fiercely protect it from his own managers?  

That most of the world’s acknoledged best-run companies have this weakness provides hope for us all. No company gets everything right, and you don’t need to either. In business as in life, it’s the art of conciously focusing on what matters most that creates our success. As management guru Peter Drucker noted, it is typically at most about 10% of our activities that drive 90% of our results.

Our best wishes to Mr. Immelt in his effort to restore the respect and value for deep thinking that once existed. We hope that in this aspect he will also be leading the next hot trend. We’ll all be better for it. 

Remember that game at Halloween where you stuck your hand into a bag of brains that turned out to be spaghetti or eyeballs that were actually grapes? Well some researchers from Australia, Nashville and France have been playing similar games with adults.

They found that those believing that meat-eating is a status symbol found vegeterian burgers much better-tasting than the real meat burgers if, before tasting, they were told that the vegeterian burger was actually a meat burger, and conversely that the meat burger was vegeterian. The powers of belief altered perceptions so thoroughly that Woolworth cola tasted better than Pepsi even to Pepsi-devotees.  

This is similar to the study we cited in a February post noting that the same wine tasted far better when said to originate from California than from North Dakota.

This power of belief is what brand marketers strive for. But can beliefs persist despite reality?

Marketers from Bank of America seem to believe that they can continually lower the bar for service if they simply exaggerate their virtues. In the meantime Wells Fargo, known more for being at the forefront of new fees than customer care, has been making steady efforts to improve their customer service. These changes have become so noticeable that now I hear clients talking about the decline of B of A and the rise of Wells Fargo.

This change in brand perception will produce results similar to the studies above. If we think we’re going to receive good service, we’ll look for the facts that support the presumption, and tend to ignore those that do not. Once our beliefs have changed, it is much harder to convince us otherwise. B of A, beware.