I have just completed a study of voters who recently participated in elections across six states in India. ... How do people make their decisions? Unknown names lose. Known names win. The more a name has figured in every medium that is consumed today, both physical and digital, the more it helps. This mention can be positive, negative and even inane. One photograph is equal to 18 name mentions on TV or radio, or 31 mentions in print.
Are you really as rational as you seem to be? Are you really as rational as you portray yourself to be?
I don’t think you are, and I don’t think I am as well. And that’s a categorical and sweeping statement to make. Something that I usually don’t do. But this time around, I am saying it with some degree of data that helps justify this—two diverse pieces of market research from disparate categories.
I have just completed a study of voters who recently participated in elections across six states in India. The sample size of the study was 18,450. We just dipped into the process of decision-making in any one voter deciding to pick from a plethora of candidates, each shouting from the rooftops. No candidate represents his, her or their faults. Ever. Everyone showcases their abilities, their past work and their future promises as best as they want to be seen and appreciated. How does one decide from this honourable and veritable list of the best of the best?
The data is telling. Unknown names lose. Known names win. The more a name has figured in every medium that is consumed today, both physical and digital, the more it helps. It is really about mentions. This mention can be positive, negative and even inane. The more a photograph of a political leader has been seen, the more it is appreciated to be an ubiquity. One photograph is equal to 18 name mentions on television or radio, or 31 mentions in print. The more you are seen, the more you are recognised. That we knew before.
More. Names that figure along with national leaders tend to get those many positive cues of being more famous and relevant to the politics of the day. When the name of a local leader rubs copy with that of, say, Nitin Gadkari or a Shashi Tharoor for that matter (party affiliations apart), the more sanctity the name gets. In terms of multiples, if you have figured in a print item that has you rubbing shoulders with the popular and the famous, expect a multiplier of 42 positive strokes as opposed to just one solitary mention in the same medium. And if you have figured in a photograph with that very leader, you have hit the jackpot with a multiplier of 207. No wonder we see fledgling members of every party edging their way into pictures with leaders of every type, all the while. There’s lots more telling data in that research. But let it be. Let’s cut to the chase and come to the final output question. How rational are you when you vote for a candidate in an election? The number is a telling one. The sample size of 18,450 says that they are 31% rational and 69% irrational in their choices. Ouch.
Let me jump into another piece of research. This time around, it is to check how a woman picks a saree in a shop. How does she finalise what to buy? The sample size is small with only 108 women shadowed across a total of 14 saree shops in New Delhi. The prospective buyer walks into a shop and looks around first. She sits down comfortably as the shop boys scurry around bringing in the soft drinks for madam. This is a long process. One might as well get and stay comfortable. The shop boys seated on those white-topped ‘gaddis’ pull out sarees and start opening them out. Possibly 18 sarees are seamlessly thrown open, all six yards. The lady points to another, and out it comes. There is just no impatience to be seen anywhere around. The lady has a shortlist then. That list is seen again. And then, as it does often happen, after this seemingly rational quest for the best saree to be bought, the 20th saree on a mannequin is pointed at. That is then brought out. And maybe bought. Or not. The process is endless; fraught with the “irrational” fighting a losing battle with the “rational”. If a lady were to buy a saree rationally, would it be the strongest saree, the longest-lasting one, the most beautiful (now how do you define that rationally?) or the cheapest? Or for that matter the most expensive saree?
We put together a metric on saree-buying and the rationality index it entails. Out here, the rational process is all of 6% and the irrational 94%. Very simply put, all decision-making is therefore a mix of the rational and the irrational. Depending on what you are buying, or what process you are participating in (as in a poll), the mix of the irrational and the rational will vary. But then, the fact remains, no decision is purely and really rational.
How do we buy a car? Does the colour option swing decisions? If a Maruti Swift does not come in black, will you move to a Mahindra? And is that a rational move really, after having gone into the BHP, fuel efficiency, comfort, price and all those ostensibly rational parameters your decision-making journey took you through? Back to the original question then. Are we really rational? Happily, the answer is a quick and categorical no. Wouldn’t it be really boring if we were? And if we are really not rational, is the entire world around us putting together a completely clever and calculated process of marketing, communication, advertising, PR and event management that guide what we do? The answer seems to be a big yes.
To an extent, everything today is certainly orchestrated. And no one, not the politician, the party, businesses, start-ups, religious or social organisations, banks or financial institutions, traditional or social media, brand managers or literally every influencer (overt and covert), who helps us make decisions, is out of the ambit of this “guided” decision-making process all of us depend upon. Never mind whether it is a vote, a referendum, the purchase of a car or a saree for that matter, everything is influenced by everything else. We do live in a “guided” economy if not an “influenced” one. There are far and few decisions that are outside the ambit of this subliminally guided process that drives our society and economy. Therefore, the next time, when I say “I took the decision”, I will think twice, and maybe credit some of the witting and unwitting players who helped me decide. Both overt and covert.
What you don’t see is more important than what you see. It’s a guided life.
Harish Bijoor
Brand Guru & Founder, Harish Bijoor Consults
(harishbijoor@hotmail.com)