No. 2: The power of eccentric choices
This newsletter is for creatives in African tech with a flair for thinking differently.
Last week, I read this NYT story about a ballet school in Lagos.
You probably caught it too. A clip of one of their young dancers went viral and grabbed the attention of all the major media outlets.
CNN, TIME, Vogue, Washington Post, they all covered the Leap of Dance Academy.
It’s a beautiful story about finding art in the most unlikely of places.
But, I was fascinated by this nugget:
The power of eccentric choices
Ajala’s remark reminded me of the fascinating book I’m reading: Alchemy by Rory Sutherland.
Sutherland, an advertising exec who worked at Ogilvy for 20+ years, says we operate under a delusion: we think we’re rational, logic-driven individuals.
But, we’re not.
Human behavior is messy, unpredictable, and emotion-prone.
According to Sutherland, eccentric choices -- eg that don’t follow the conventional wisdom (logic) of the crowd -- lead often to better outcomes. Fewer people, less competition, increased chances of standing out.
Let’s get back to Ajala.
At face value, his pursuit of ballet was irrational. Families in the neighborhood weren’t just indifferent to this strange dance with its painful, pointy shoes; they were suspicious of it. Ajala had to wage a campaign to get families on board. But, once he did, his eccentric choice paid off.
Can you imagine if he had decided to open the school based on market research? On a focus group? I’m being flippant, but you get the idea.
People don’t know what they want until it’s presented to them.
To all the creatives
Creatives get the limitations of logic. Because creatives follow their gut in their work, they’re often the odd (wo)man out in African tech.
[*I define creatives loosely: marketers, communication specialists, publicists, and designers.]
Left-brained engineers dominate tech startups. Or, they’re run by MBA types or ex-investment bankers. They think in spreadsheet. To run startups, they have to be highly highly logical folks. But, as Sutherland points out in Alchemy, they over attribute the power of data and metrics in valuing work.
This creates a problem for creatives. When your work can’t be neatly measured by data, it is often not valued.
But, as startups mature into companies, they must tackle problems that go beyond data and financial models. Brand strategy, company reputation, wooing strategic investors, and attracting the best talent -- those are the challenges that creatives with a flair for thinking differently are best able to solve.
With that in mind, I’m writing this newsletter for all the creatives in African tech out there.
Each week, I’ll send you:
1 original insight on strategic comms/PR
2-3 news articles
What I’m reading
1 valuable resource
With that preamble out of the way, let’s get to it.
Insight 🤓
Strategic communications & PR problems are like a canary in the coal mine.
In the 20th century, coal miners used to bring a canary into the mines to detect carbon monoxide levels. If the bird died, they knew oxygen was running out and they’d get the hell outta there.
Communication problems are the canary. Very often, they signal deeper, systemic, problems in a startup.
Over the last month, I’ve talked to founders who asked for help with issues on the left which are only a symptom of the deeper problem on the right:
Messy messaging ⇒ overly complex business model that should be simplified
Weak positioning ⇒ shallow competitive landscape analysis
Crisis communications ⇒ bad governance
Be honest with yourself. Are you looking to paper over deeper issues with a communications campaign? It won’t work. Go deeper and fix the real problem.
The news 📰
She Helped Wreck the News Business. Here's Her Plan to Fix It (Wired) - a fascinating deep dive into the murky world of digital advertising. Many startups sink marketing budgets into online ads, like Google Adwords. Not only is it a potential waste of money, ROI is low, but your ads might sit on a white supremacy website. Yikes. [Note: Once you understand how this world works, you can’t unsee the oddball placement of ads. I saw ads for a Spanish-speaking lawyer in Texas and a Chicago roofing business on TechCabal’s website. 👀]
Covid-19 is changing lift etiquette (Economist 1843) - Nothing to do with SSA but you should expect to see this type of story - how Covid is a paradigm shift in our cultural norms & practices- for a while. How is the pandemic transforming key cultural practices in Africa? How is tech responding to it? That’s how I’d brainstorm pitch ideas. This July NYT story on Tabaski (Eid el Fitr) in Senegal is another example of this type of narrative.
Things I’m reading 📗
How to Gain Influence as a Marketer at a Tech Company - Even in Silicon Valley, marketers struggle to fit into tech startups. Marketers in SSA - and other creatives - can probably relate. This gives good advice on how to deal with a skeptical CEO.
Why is LinkedIn Such a Cringefest? - Amusing read on the crappy content that took over LinkedIn long ago. Takeaway: don't write drivel to chase likes.
Resources ✏️
The Futur - I stumbled upon a public speaking video and found the Futur’s suite of videos. Really helpful resources on creative & business skills and personal development - and not just for creative entrepreneurs.
That's it for this week folks.
Say hi on Twitter — I'd love to hear from you.
Until next time,
Victoria
Victoria Crandall | African Startups | Comms & PR Strategist | Proud Dog-Mom of Gus | Lagos 🇳🇬