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What Gladwell's 'Outliers' Can TeachYou About Marketing
If Culture Is Key to Flying a Plane, It Probably Mattersin Advertising
Posted by Rochelle Newman-carrasco on
03.02.09 @ 11:29 AM 
Rochelle Newman-Carrasco
In his latest book, Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell asks, "Why are weso squeamish? Why is the fact that each of us comes from a culture with its owndistinctive mixture of strengths and weaknesses, tendencies and predispositions can be sodifficult to acknowledge? Who we are cannot be separated from where we're from -- andwhen we ignore that fact, planes crash." The plane-crash reference is tied in to a chapter titled "The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes," in which Gladwell analyzes how theculturally influenced communication styles of pilots have contributed to tragic in-flightmissteps and fatal outcomes.In an interview on his own blog, Gladwell states, "I was actually stunned by how strongthe connection is between culture and crashes, and it's something that I would never havedreamed was true, in a million years."While "Outliers" is positioned as a book about success, it is worth recommending in thecontext of the multicultural marketing dialogue. By including insights into Hofstede'sDimensions and cultural legacies, Gladwell manages to reinforce the premise that culturallegacy is part and parcel of consumer behavior and should be embraced as such bymarketers and their respective agencies.So why are people in marketing circles so "squeamish" about culture -- or, to paraphraseAttorney General Eric Holder's controversial remarks, in things racial and cultural whyare we an industry of cowards? Here are just a few thoughts on the subject.
1. We have trouble distinguishing legitimate cultural influences from stereotypes.
 Fear of stereotyping often leads to the decision to avoid any mining of cultural referencesin advertising. Hofstede's work revealed four dimensions of culture: symbols, heroes,rituals and values. It is the overuse of these dimensions or the uninformed use that leadsto stereotyping. There is nothing inherently wrong with the Latino respect for elders as
 
2 portrayed by the
abuela
figure, for example, or the strength of soccer or the focus onfamily. It is when these symbols and heroes and values are used ad nauseam or used attheir most superficial level that they lose value and may ultimately come to be deemedoffensive. Not to mention that the depth and breadth of the totality of the Hispanicexperience, both in the U.S. and abroad, demands a deeper appreciation and respect thanis reflected in the superficial overuse of a few limited cultural cues.
2. We think cultural legacies are part of our past and not our present or future.
 Again, to quote Gladwell, "Cultural legacies are powerful forces. They have deep rootsand long lives. They persist, generation after generation, virtually intact, even as theeconomic and social and demographic conditions that spawned them have vanished, andthey play such a role in directing attitudes and behavior that we cannot make sense of our world without them."
3. People gravitate toward what they can see, or at least to what they can hear. Thecolor of people's skin and the sound of languages are more tangible than culturallyinfluenced value systems.
It's hard to see or hear a value system, but as Hofstede'sDimensions illustrates, values are the deepest articulation of culture. Symbols are themost superficial. "What's Hispanic about it?" is often asked by clients when Hispanicagencies have presented creative work without overt symbols or rituals. The answer isusually in the use of a core value that isn't readily seen but can easily be understood whenthe right cultural filter is applied.
4. We think it is progressive to "see beyond" race and culture vs. to be at ease withacknowledging their existence.
Finally, there are those who criticize the use of culture,ethnicity, race or other related variables as being inappropriate, racist, insensitive or segregationist, to name a few perceived drawbacks. In-school and at-work politenesstechniques, sometimes taught in the guise of diversity training, encourage us to think of  people "as one" vs. "as many." Along these lines, there are those who assert that there isno race, just the human race. It's simply not the case. Nor, in my opinion, is it forwardthinking to believe it is. What is important for our collective futures is to acknowledgerace, ethnicity and culture and to stop judging it. What gets in the way of unity is the needto classify cultures or languages or skin colors or rituals as
better than or worse than
--first world or third world, for example. As marketers, there is great value in targetingconsumers from a cultural perspective rooted in ethnicity, heritage, race-relatedinfluences and the like. Don't "see beyond" these things. See them. See them as integralto the total consumer picture. And don't use the word "integrated" if what you reallymean is "no longer distinguishable.""Outliers" uses stories about Jewish lawyers, Asian math students, Colombian pilots andGladwell's own Jamaican mother to drive home points about the relationship betweensuccess and cultural legacies. Since Gladwell is held in high regard by the marketingcommunity, I'm hoping that the culture-based part of the success message is taken in byreaders and that it has some affect on the way culture is viewed in the development of tailored marketing programs directed to the various segments of the U.S. Hispanic population and others.
10 Comments
 
3By Now | New York, NY March 2, 2009 05:13:08 pm:Riveting column.I was born and raised middle-class in two really rich suburbs wherethere were virtually NO ethnic groups(Grosse Pointe and Birmingham Michigan).Thiswas the 50's and 60's and the only "ethnic" person I knew of was Ricky Ricardo on the ILove Lucy show who was Cuban.Moving to Manhattan at 18,I was astonished in my firstcouple of years at how Otherwise Normal people would occassionally jump out of character with some derogatory comment about various ethnic.Must be a way of showingthat you were Really a Genuine Manhattanite,I figured,not having recieved the PrejudiceInstruction Manual so many Otherwise Normal people knew by heart.Can't wait seeOutliers,I'm a big Gladwell fan--Tipping Point and Blink are among my favoriteInstruction Manuals.Larry Brown,Adsimple,East Hampton
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 By apedrosodfd | MIAMI, FL March 3, 2009 09:33:10 am:While I have been exasperated with the "what's Hispanic about that" chestnut it must be pointed out that in our industry we are too often inarticulate about what values areembedded in the message.And even more frequently we have a "cola de paja" when faced with creative that reliesonly on language and other overt symbols reflective of the culture. We -- and the clients -- need only recall that there is a reason for segments. If you believe in segments then youneed only worry if your message is on strategy, not whether is is overtly Hispanic or not.
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 By awhtifield | Fayetteville, NC March 3, 2009 10:59:46 am:Excellent article. Just as there is a big difference between legitimate cultural influencesand stereotyping , there is a big difference between affirming your cultural heritage and pride. As an African American marketing executive at a technology company combatingstereotypes about my community and whether or not "black folks" will buy our ITservices is a daily internal education and propaganda campaign, that usually ends with therevelation "why have we not done this before"!!! Again good article.
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 By partywedo | McMinnville, OR March 3, 2009 11:47:55 am:I was raised in a culture of tight family and generational connections. I married into asimilar culture and so we raised our children to value the strength of a family unit. Thiscultural focus has prepared me to embrace social media, even though I am really atechnical "Outlier". The many celebrations of life-events within my family hasdemonstrated a need to stay connected through fun activities.Gladwell suggests that my culture has positioned me for the future hyper-connectivity of the web. The success of my cultural advantage is up to me.
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 By VGraves | NEW YORK, NY March 3, 2009 11:54:30 am:This is a deeply insightful article that makes a clear case for valuing diversity in the adindustry. As a creative executive who has spent more than half of a long career inmulticultural advertising, I have been an advocate for recognition of the importance andlegitimacy of culture-based creativity for many years. When confronted with the old,"Aren't people just people?" argument, my response has been, "People are just people, but culture is culture." It's been surprisingly difficult to sell the position that our diversecultural backgrounds are an integral part of how we perceive and respond to messages,
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