You say persona, I say person-ah

Slides for talk at Forefront, Leeds, on Wednesday 26 November 2014 on considering the work of marketers in the 1930s to help us create more meaningful 'users' to create products round, by observing real people.

As it was a talk these slides might not join up without my commentary; but I hope you glean something from them.

I did a quick blog post on it here: http://www.ermlikeyeah.com/forefront-leeds-november-2014-reeves-rosser/

Transcript

1. You say persona. I say person-ah.
2. New York, 1930s
3. George Gallop Research Director, Young & Rubicam
4. Measured the readership of ads. Accumulated the scores. Analysed the scores.
5. Analysed the ads that performed well.
6. Certain techniques consistently out-performed others.
7. This is better to read… …than this.
8. People preferred headlines that spoke directly to them. And then lots of copy that told them a story. Not something like Once Upon a Time there was three bears: a daddy bear, a mummy bear, and a baby bear. A story that told them about a product and what the product could bring to their lives that they didn’t already have.
9. Understanding context.
10. Understanding context.
11. Understanding motivation.
12. Understanding motivation.
13. Functional reasoning. Reflect (the mores), but do not influence.
14. The relevance test.
15. Vaughn Flannery Art Director, Young & Rubicam
16. Within months, Young & Rubicam ads were being read by more people than any other agency’s.
17. This was the birth of
 direct response advertising.
18. Rosser Reeves Chairman, Ted Bates & Co
19. Unique selling point.
20. Value. The one reason why a product needed to be bought or was better than its competitors.
21. “You must make the product interesting, not just make the ad different.”
23. + Your product + - Price Quality - / + + - - - /+ - /+ + +
24. + + - Your product + - Price Quality - / + + - - /+ - /+ +
25. Now, 2014.
26. + + - Your product + - Price Quality - / + + - - /+ - /+ +
27. Personas.
28. Personas. User stories.
29. Gender. Age. Education. Social standing. Wealth. Some fucking snippet/habit. Personas.
31. User stories. As a _____,
 I want to _____
 so I can ______.
32. As a _____,
 I want to _____
 so I can ______. User stories. Persona. Action. Outcome.
33. User stories. As a _____,
 I want to _____
 so I can ______. Persona. Action. Outcome. Motivations? Context? Environment? Anxieties?
34. Motivations? Context? Environment? Anxieties?
35. When _____,
 I want to _____
 so I can ______. Characters.
36. When _____,
 I want to _____
 so I can ______. Characters. Situation. Motivation. Outcome.
37. Observe people, how they solve problems. Understand the context of their environment. Understand anxieties and motivations.
38. “You must make the product interesting, not just make
 the ad different.”
39. FIN.
40. Learn more about: George Gallop Vaughn Flannery Rosser Reeves
41. Thanks! (c)2014 Studio of Things www.studioofthings.com