Engagement, Decoded

The Science of Engagement: Implications for Communicators

Author: Adam Mack, Chief Strategy Ofcer EMEA Weber Shandwick

...the path to total engagement is no longer a simple journey, but one which requires us to consider and lter through a multitude of scientic elds, theories, dimensions, layers and touch-points hitherto largely ignored by marketers...

Introduction
Decoding engagement for brands, businesses, marketers and communicators
Weber Shandwicks work on The Science of Engagement has shed new light on the fresh challenges and opportunities facing communicators and marketers in the digital era and suggests that a new approach must be found in the increasingly competitive quest for audience engagement. Most critically, it tells us that engagement is far more complex than it has ever been. As Adam Mack, Weber Shandwicks Chief Strategy Ofcer EMEA, points out, the path to total engagement is no longer a simple journey, but one which requires us to consider and lter through a multitude of scientic elds, theories, dimensions, layers and touch-points hitherto largely ignored by marketers. This project has essentially allowed us to dissect this complexity and decode engagement into our 10 Principles, 19 Elements and 38 Ultimately, though, we see The Science of Engagement as a strategic tool that those with more ambition and vision will be able to use to revolutionise the way they approach brand development, marketing communications, issues management and corporate reputation. By understanding how these Principles, Elements and Drivers apply to their own categories, with Weber Shandwicks expert guidance and the tools outlined in this paper (our Map and Diagnostic Model), brands and businesses will be able to at the very least improve their understanding of how their audiences engage. measurable Drivers in a way that allows marketers and communicators to better navigate the complex engagement landscape.

The six imperatives for communicators

Even before this report was commissioned, it was clear that the arrival of the new, digital era had signicantly changed the rules of engagement for communicators, marketers and brand developers. What the report (built on a range of scientic views) has unearthed are the specics governing these rules the theories to consider, the domains to take into account, the triggers to pull and the touch-points to hit. In short, it has provided the coordinates for effective engagement. Using these coordinates, Weber Shandwick has built a Total Engagement Map to better visualise the theories and insights that will help clients navigate the new terrain this map is based on 6 imperatives:

1. Understand the drivers of engagement

Building on the reports 19 different dimensions of engagement, Weber Shandwicks Strategic Engagement Unit (SEU) has identied 38 drivers that are critical to making engagement happen. Brands and businesses need to know these drivers, understand which of them will most effectively drive engagement in their own sectors and be clear on which of them are lacking in their own communications.

2. Know how to capture and build engagement

Doctor Zoga Ramsy talked of the need to target and harmonise the two systems of the brain System 1 (the wanting, caveman brain) and System 2 (the liking, thinking mans brain). In order to achieve this, communicators need to build campaigns that dont just seek to capture engagement (through aesthetics, intrigue and immediacy) but also build it (through reciprocity and narrative).

3. Recognise the 4 states

In an era of attention volatility and engagement hyper-tasking, Weber Shandwick believes that peoples behaviour is guided by 4 inter-related and evershifting states: Me (relating to the fullment of basic needs), Myself (relating to the shaping of identity), Me in Myself (related to the changing of moods) and Me in my World (related to the enhancement of status). Understanding these four states in the context of a specic category will allow brands and businesses to more effectively target the most appropriate engagement opportunities.

5. Think 6D
Traditionally, marketers and communicators have tended to treat the battle for engagement in a 1D manner basing their approach to engagement on a denition of the brain as single-minded and the mind as one-track. Our report shows that they need to think in 6D studying drivers, systems and states and the need to capture and build, as well as understanding the various brain and ground layers critical to the creation of effective campaigns.

6. Create belonging
Four of the 19 dimensions of engagement identied by Canvas 8 relate directly to the social dynamic belonging, herd behaviour, shared values and social totems. Add to this the importance of reciprocity as an engagement mechanism and the need to create campaigns that go beyond simple dialogue becomes critical at every point, brands, businesses and issues-led organisations must seek to reect the values, hopes and aspirations of their target audiences and build a sense of be-longing (desire to belong).

4. Know the battlegrounds

As marketers, communicators and PRs, the study of The Science of Engagement teaches us that, in a world in which competition for attention is only going to get more intense, a new engagement battleground exists, fought on two fronts: the battle for brain-space (that will be won by a deeper understanding of the brains 2 systems, creating multiple associations and reciprocity) and that for ground-space (that will be won by seamless 360-degree storytelling and a better grasp of engagement hyper-tasking).

The Total Engagement Map

Whether a business seeking to maintain reputation, a brand seeking to sell product or an organisation seeking to engage audiences around a particular cause or issue, it is clear, from the insights gleaned and the imperatives already outlined, that such a complex new landscape and such a multi-dimensional challenge require a fresh approach. To this end, Weber Shandwicks Strategic Engagement Unit (SEU) have developed a Total Engagement Map, designed to ensure that marketers take into account all the various domains necessary to build a modern engagement campaign. Alongside the 6 imperatives, this map will underpin the way in which Weber Shandwick plans, creates and activates campaigns for its clients, putting the 38 engagement drivers (see footprint model overleaf for the detail) at the heart of everything the agency does, including building tools, workshops and models, to help brands and businesses win the battle for brain- and ground-space.

UNDERSTAND
BY DRIVER

SYSTEM 1 CAVEMAN

BY SYSTEM

SYSTEM 2 THINKING MAN

ME

BY STATE

ME IN MY WORLD

MYSELF

ME IN MYSELF

IMPLEMENT
CAPTURE

PHASES

BUILD

ASSOCIATIONS

BRAIN LAYERS

SENSES

BEHAVIOUR

OWNED GROUND

GROUND LAYERS

SHARED GROUND

USER GROUND

The Engagement Footprint Model

The rst tool to be developed as part of this map is a simple Engagement Footprint Model aimed at helping clients better understand the priority engagement drivers in their own category and marketplace and, ultimately, diagnose and track the performance of their own brand. Not only this, but it will enable clients, with the help of measurement insight from Doctors Zoga Ramsy, Ouillier and McCracken (and more specic category insight from sector experts), dene comparable engagement footprints for different categories, contributing to a database of footprints and expertise on engagement.

FIG 1: 38 Drivers

This model will enable a broad understanding of category and brand drivers, and also show how a category, brand or business fares in the context of the brains two systems and the four states. It is essentially a multi-dimensional engagement footprint and a denitive indication of brand, reputation and issue performance.
FIG 2: Two Brain Systems

ld/thinking man Bui

ture/caveman Cap

M ys
f el

M ei nt h

f el ys m

FIG 3: Four States

rld wo

M ei n

Further application of The Science of Engagement

As well as applying this thinking, map and model broadly across our client base, the Weber Shandwick SEU will also be available to apply The Science of Engagement insight in a number of other different ways: Inspiration presentation outlining key ndings as food for thought for client marketing and communications teams; Client-tailored workshops using insight and scientists to explore categories and brands in more detail; Cross-category insight and application to brand or campaign development; Specic expert perspectives and/or facilitated panel discussions providing further brand/ business insight; Measurement metrics designed to measure intensity of engagement and its impact on the path to purchase. For further information, please visit www.webershandwick.co.uk/scienceofengagement

Footnotes
This white paper builds on the insight derived from the The Science of Engagement, commissioned by Weber Shandwick from Canvas8. The report sought insight about engagement from three scientists in the elds of anthropology, psychology and neuroscience, respectively: Dr. Grant McCracken member of MITs Convergence Culture Consortium, previously director of the Institute of Contemporary Culture and a senior lecturer at the Harvard Business School. Dr. Olivier Oullier Professor of Behavioural and Brain Sciences at the AixMarseille University. Advisor on behavioural economics and public policy for governments and corporations worldwide. Dr. Thomas Zoga Ramsy currently Head of Research at the Decision Neuroscience Research Group at the Copenhagen Business School.

The full report, interview transcripts and video content can be found at www.webershandwick.co.uk/scienceofengagement

As an industry, a discipline and an agency, the study of The Science of Engagement shows that, in a world in which competition for attention is only going to get more intense, a new engagement battleground exists, fought on two fronts: the battle for brain-space, and the battle for ground-space...
Adam Mack, Chief Strategy Ofcer EMEA Weber Shandwick

For further information please contact: Adam Mack Chief Strategy Ofcer, EMEA
T M E W

+44 20 7067 0739 +44 7795 812 667 amack@webershandwick.com www.webershandwick.co.uk

www.twitter.com/WS_London www.facebook.com/WeberShandwick # scienceofengagement