The Toll of Information Overload on People and Society

Some interesting work just came across my desk while researching the topic of information overload for a client project.

I think this is good context to consider in the challenge of communicating or offering any product or service (new or old).

In his paper submitted to the journal, "The Information Society", Belgian Research Professor Francis Heylighen says:

"Individuals are forced to consider more information and opportunities than they can effectively process. This information overload is made worse by 'data smog', the proliferation of low quality information because of easy publication. It leads to anxiety, stress, alienation, and potentially dangerous errors of judgment. Moreover, it holds back overall economic productivity."

This relates to my branding work at the Harvard Business School Executive Program, where I studied with professors of anthropology for the first time [ok, so I'd never seen any practical application before!]

Since brands live in the mind of the human being, whose neural networks are sophisticated and mostly unconscious, we must make a connection with their existing frame of reference, i.e. "pluck chords they hear and feel".

Synthesizing these ideas, the challenge for you today is...

Can you speak to a specific class of customer in a way that it resonates crisply and strongly? If not, it is just another droplet of data smog, getting lost, causing unrest, and hindering the economy.

(If that isn't a call for powerful positioning and messaging, I don't know what is!)