Written by Fernando Maciá
David del Amo, head of strategy and founder of El viaje de Walker tells us how to generate strategically relevant proposals by understanding humans.
We do anthropology. And we ask ourselves questions like:
How is the meaning of work changing? What is the significance of the presence of a cell phone in a familiar environment?
We are not so much interested in the what, as in the why. Why do we do what we do? Behind every piece of data that is measured there is a reality in people’s lives.
This has to do with the symbolic universe. To understand this is to understand, for example, why we go and pay our respects to the deceased in a cemetery. Human life is complex and full of symbols.
Foundation stones
It is something so solid that it can determine a business or a change in a company. At all stages in the lives of individuals and societies, it is important to understand why certain ideas crystallize. Projects that are founded on a foundation stone expand their strategic possibilities.
Businesses that connect
The task of marketing is to show the relationship of your product with one of those few things that really matter to people: subsistence, protection, impact, understanding, participation, leisure, creation, identity, freedom…
These are the nine things people need. It is an important part of strategic marketing to interpret or know the extent to which a business connects to any of these nine things.
Wanting to understand something hidden: the art of research questions. This relates to asking the questions that are really important.
When we succeed in finding the hidden pattern that guides people’s behavior and connects it to one of these needs, the possibilities expand.
State a concrete objective: the factual and the emotional. What is behind the car buying experience? The car itself is very poorly connected. The human experience of buying a car is all about bonding with a salesperson to help you with the purchase and the paperwork. The relationship with the seller is usually bad.
Buying a car is all about protection.
Search for the hidden, forget recipes, navigate deep, connect the relevant and declare the concrete. This is the fundamental. What for?
To help set the strategy, to link you with something unique, something real that makes you a partner.
