The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Fallacy
By Matthew RoweTo misquote Paula Cole (great tune that) – where have all the hitchhikers gone?
Though you still see the odd incongruously well-dressed middle aged man (with a mysterious red number-plate) standing on the hard shoulder of the M3, the hitchhiker is largely an anachronism on the British roads. My dear mother recently told me her University (Lancaster) had an official ‘hitching point’ where students congregated to cadge lifts into town. Clearly, times have changed. Imagine a University today encouraging single female students to get lifts with strangers! Now, the idea of picking up a hitchhiker – or indeed hitching – is largely alien. Would you dream of picking up a scruffy oik from the roadside? Or of standing there with your arm outstretched, thumb to the sky? It used to be de rigueur.
Why is that? Is the world more dangerous? Or is it that we just know more about the dangers?
A few button presses and we can now find information on pretty much anything we like. And with information comes awareness – awareness of the good, the trustworthy, the safe, the cheapest, the most popular – but also the bad, the unreliable, the unpopular and – in the case of hitchhiking – the risky and the dangerous. Hitchhiking has not become any more hazardous – but we now know how hazardous it can be. Information has opened our eyes to the fallacy that hitchhiking is safe.
Where is this going? Is it just an excuse to use that headline? No - this translates into a hugely important concept for brands.
So much information now comes from conversation. What you are producing or offering as a brand may be excellent, but if there is no conversation there is no information, and with no information there is no awareness, and with no awareness you have no customers. Stimulating conversation - ensuring there is information - should be at the heart of every brand’s strategy, driving the business forward.
Your next customer or client is yesterday’s enlightened hitchhiker.
