Posted by: John Newtson
May 12, 2007
Issue #123

The Stuff Americans Are Made Of

The Seven Cultural Forces
Defining American behavior

• What Lego toys learned about lifetime customer value in America …
  
• 7 cultural forces driving your prospect’s behavior and how to leverage them into increased sales …
  
• How to get an American to do just about anything …
  
• And much, much more!

Dear Business Builder,

It’s the classic American success story …

The young entrepreneur faces impossible odds. Armed with little more than a dream, an idea and the fire in his gut he puts his head down, works his butt off and achieves impossible success.

He’s the Rocky Balboa of business.

You can picture him now – working late at night in his garage, spending his days banging on doors that are being slammed in his face while he fights for his dream. His theme song, Eye of the Tiger, plays in the background as he plugs along.

He’s the American image of the road to success – and is the embodiment of forces that resonate with Americans far more than with people from other cultures.

Because while human nature doesn’t change – the framework people use to relate to the world changes from culture to culture. And it affects how they shop, buy and respond to your marketing, advertising and products.

The Story of the American Lego Kid
and what it says about the nature of your prospect

The Danish toy company Lego realized American kids buy far fewer sets of their toys than their German counterparts.

And that means the lifetime customer value of their American customers was drastically lower than the lifetime value of their German customers.

So Lego decided to chase down this mystery and figure out what the fundamental difference was between these customer groups. To do that they hired a big hoo-yah market researcher firm to figure out what the heck is going on over here in the Land of the Free.

And to their surprise they found there is a fundamental difference in the way American and German kids play with Lego’s – and that difference was at the heart of their marketing problem.

First they put the kids in interrogation rooms ….

OK, maybe not interrogation rooms but behind one-way glass so they could watch them play with Legos undisturbed. And here’s what happened:

The German kid opens the box of Legos and the first thing he does is look at the instructions. Then he very methodically, with constant reference to the drawings, builds the first project in the instructions.

Then he takes it apart and builds the second project. And so on until he’s finished building each design in the instructions. Then he does something an American kid would never do – he puts it away because he’s done with it.

Now the American kid tears into his box of Legos and the first thing he does is toss the instructions over his shoulder. And jumps immediately into building something of his own creation. And almost NEVER actually builds a single design from the instructions.

And the toy-maker realizes German children buy more because once they’ve built each of the designs in the instructions – they are done with the toy and ready for a new set.

While the American child constantly reinvents the toy – so the toy is only limited by his creativity – instead of the designs given in the instructions.

Americans and Germans, it turns out, behave fundamentally different …

The 7 forces driving American behavior

In their book The Stuff Americans Are made Of: The Seven Cultural Forces That Define Americans – A New Framework for Quality, Productivity & Profitability Josh Hammond and James Morrison identify seven cultural forces unique to Americans.

They define a cultural force as:

"The 'locked-in' energy and structure of behavior that, in the aggregate, defines, drives, and sustains … a country in it’s growth and development."

"Unlike opinions, generational fads, and management trends, these cultural forces are permanent – they have been with us since Plymouth Rock and they will carry us well into the next millennium."

This classic book is a marketer’s dream of insights into the fundamental, unchanging core of what moves Americans to action.

These are the conversations
Americans have about everything –
– including your product

These forces are a master key to unlocking the conversations your American prospects are having inside their heads.

Because these are the lenses they interpret the world through. And your product, sales message and presentation are going to be subconsciously and automatically evaluated by how they relate to these forces.

So by framing your sales message keeping these cultural drivers in mind you can make your message resonate deeply within an American’s core values.

Here’s a rundown of what Americans are made of:

FORCE #1:
Americans Insist on Choice

This is the dominant force in American culture and can be summed up in one word – FREEDOM. We demand the freedom to make our own choices.

And we want to have as many choices as possible.

If you listen to our national conversations on politics, policy or nearly anything else – they revolve around the framework of choice.

• Pro-Choice vs. Choose life the abortion debate is a subject sure to get people riled up but notice both sides frame their arguments around Choice …
• The Democratic Ideal is founded on the idea that people have the right to CHOOSE who governs them, and how …
• Alternative health newsletters offer consumers an alternative choice to standard medical care. And quite often position standard medicine and drug companies as the enemies of choice with classic headlines like “Hands off my vitamins!’ and 'Not with my life you don’t!'

This force is at the heart of the maxim ‘People don’t like to be sold.’ Because being ‘sold’ means the salesman is making the buying choice – not the customer.

And we refuse to let our choices be taken out of our hands.

And it’s also why positioning your product as the only logical choice and putting the ball squarely in your prospect’s corner is such a powerful sales technique.

FORCE #2:
We rally behind impossible dreams

Americans see no limits on what they can do.

The French philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville recognized this back in the 1830’s during his travels:

‘The American lives in a land of wonders. Nowhere does he see any limit placed by nature on human endeavor; in his eyes something which does not exist is just something that has not been tried yet.’

We’re conditioned from childhood to believe in our own unlimited potential.

American children hear one constant refrain during their formative years: ‘You can grow up to be President of the United States one day, or be an Astronaut – or anything else you want.’

And our belief in our own potential is why we cheer so mightily for the underdog. We want Rocky to win because he’s fighting the impossible odds we face in the pursuit of our own dreams.

We all go through life with a Gordian knot of frustrated dreams – about our financial success, lifestyle, the quality of our relationships, how we want the world to see us, how we want to see ourselves and more.

And a sure fire way to get your prospect excited about your offer is to offer to cut through that knot. And give him a vehicle to achieve his dreams.

The power of the "impossible" dream is why the surest way to get an American to do anything is to just tell him someone says he CAN’t do it.

FORCE #3
Americans are obsessed with ‘Big and More’

Americans are ‘uber-consumers,’ we want big things and we want more of them. We are obsessed with being #1 in everything we do.

Because in the U.S. ‘second place is the first loser.’

• We’ve got the Big Apple, Big-Sky Montana, Big Foot and Big Box Stores – like Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Costco, Barnes & Noble …
• Americans don’t have ‘future plans’ we have ‘Big Plans,’ we aren’t ‘successful’ we’ve ‘made it big’ or ‘hit-the-big-time’ we don’t get a lot of ‘value’ we a get ‘a big bang for our buck’ …
• Women go through surgery to get bigger breasts …

A popular bumper sticker encapsulates the American consumer culture: ‘Whoever dies with the most toys wins.’

We even see the enemies in life in terms of ‘big and more’ … Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Government, Big Conspiracies …

And in business and direct marketing there is no more powerful concept than ‘The Big Idea’ – the single unifying concept that will make your promotions work like gangbusters.

Boardroom Books uses the power of ‘Big and More’ with great success. They offer as many as 100 FREE Reports to get people to respond. More, more, more!

FORCE #4:
American Time – The NOW-FORCE

Moe: You can flash-fry a buffalo in thirty seconds with one of those things.

Homer Simpson: But I want it now!

-The Simpsons

Yup, Americans are impatient people – probably the most impatient in the world. Time is money, after-all.

And speed is something we’re willing to pay for. Domino’s Pizza and Federal Express built their empires by making things FASTER for their customers.

Our obsession with getting what we want right now is one reason we’re always looking for that ‘magic pill.’ We don’t want to take 6 months to lose weight, we want to take a pill and be thin tomorrow.

Boardroom Books capitalized on the 'now force' beautifully with their book ‘Speed Cures.’

And with headlines like:

Proven! He’s healing the world’s most “incurable conditions”
IN AS LITTLE AS TWO MINUTES!

The 'now-force' is fundamental to why American entrepreneurs love the concept of ‘Ready-Fire-Aim!’ And why the idea of ‘just get moving in the direction of your dreams’ resonates so powerfully in the U.S.

Because Americans can’t stand to sit around and wait for anything – even if it’s just to plan and make sure what they’re about to do is done right.

But we recognize the danger that sometimes fast isn’t better. So when everyone else is offering faster benefits you can be the savvy marketer who asks, ‘What’s wrong with getting rich slower?’

FORCE #5:
OOPS, IT’s JUST A MISTAKE

We have no problem with people making mistakes. In fact, we consider making mistakes a necessary part of the learning and development process.

In the U.S. no school – not Harvard, Yale or Princeton – can hold a candle to the ‘School of Hard Knocks.’

There’s even a museum in Ithaca, NY dedicated to product failures. And an estimated 8 out of 10 products launched in the U.S. fail – just an acceptable consequence to the ‘ready-fire-aim’ approach to business.

Mistakes are central in the classic American script for success that Hammond and Morrison so concisely layout in their book:

• We take on an impossible task
• We are unprepared to attain our goal immediately (like we want)
• We discover we are underdogs
• We are goaded on by the odds against us
• We fail the first time but try again
• We get caught up in the process (no pain, no gain!)
• We triumph in the end and celebrate
• We move on to the next impossible task and repeat the whole process

If you’re a Rocky fan (and if you’re American chances are you are) you’ll recognize this is the basic plot line of the movie.

And this acceptance of mistakes is why American customers are more loyal to companies who make mistakes and then fix them then they are to companies who never make mistakes.

FORCE #6:
Who needs rules when we can improvise!

Jazz, the quintessential American art form, is the art of improvisation. Improvisation is how we create, innovate and fix the mistakes we so readily make.

We see our creativity and our genius through the lens of how new and different we think. Creative problem solvers and quick thinkers are revered for their ability to ‘think outside the box.’

Our willingness to make mistakes helps drive this force because every mistake needs a solution. And with so many NEW mistakes we require lots of new solutions.

The ability to improvise solutions in direct marketing was perfectly illustrated by Gary Bencivenga in his guest article last week, with his ‘Story of Uncle Jim’s Mountain Grown Apples.’

In the U.S. we ardently believe ‘necessity is the mother of all invention.’

Force #7:
Americans are obsessed with ‘What’s New’

Americans are restless. And more than any other country have an ‘adolescent’ outlook on life – we’re constantly trying to redefine ourselves and our identities.

Look at copywriters: Most of the writers I know started off in some other line of work. And when they grew dissatisfied with what they were doing they searched out a new career path and identity and found copywriting.

The same is true of many other entrepreneurs – and many folks will pass through their phase of wanting to be a copywriter or business owner and soon want to be something else.

Because Americans have a love affair with the next new thing – new personal identities, new ideas, new strategies, new products.

NEW things mean we have more CHOICES – and that’s what we’re always after.

And that’s why as marketers we’re constantly working to provide customers with new products to fulfill their desires. And why the very word ‘New’ itself is so potent in sales copy.

Can you see which two forces Lego is fighting in America?

Recall the image of the American kid tearing into a box of Legos … throwing the instructions away … and making a product of his own creation. What two forces are at work?

Improvisation for one. While the German child sticks to the rules the little Yank makes up his own design. And invariably his parents will reinforce his approach by praising him for being so ‘creative.’

And why didn’t he read the instructions?
Right, the now-force. The American kid doesn’t have time to read the instructions – he’s got a toy to play with!

So if you were Lego, what would you do?

Probably leverage two other forces – say ‘Bigger and More’ by offering huge Lego sets. Or use the power of ‘what’s new’ to create totally new TYPES of Legos.

Leverage these 7 forces in your business

Each one of these forces has a positive and a negative impact on the way Americas see the world. These seven forces define American behaviors and the nature of our conversations – but they’re not one-sided conversations.

So you don’t have to just talk about the positive side of each force. Americans aren’t stupid …

• We bear the cultural scars from when we limited the choices of certain groups in our society …
• We know that not all dreams will come true…
• We see that bigger is not always better …
• That speed can kill …
• Mistakes can hurt …
• Rules can be useful …
• And new isn’t always better.

But these forces form the STRUCTURE of our conversations. And recognizing this gives you a rich texture of marketing approaches you can build around each force.

• You can offer prospects more choices … show them why your competition is limiting their choices … show them why the choices they have made are terrible choices …
• Show them how to fulfill their dreams … or why their dreams aren’t coming true … or share your dreams with them …
• Position yourself as bigger and better … or as smaller and better … offer your prospect more … or show him why ‘less is more’ … Are you #1 or do you try harder because you’re #2 …
• Give your prospects their benefits faster … get your products in their hands faster … or show them why slower is better … or why speed kills their dreams …
• Show how your mistakes made your product better … or how you don’t make mistakes … or have a customer satisfaction process in place for when you do make a mistake …
• Discuss how rules imposed by others are hurting your prospect … show how your product is the unique results of your improvisation … let your customer improvise solutions and product ideas for you by surveying them …
• Create new products … re-vamp and re-launch products … stand in opposition to what’s new by positioning your self as the classic, tried-and-true product …

Get the book, because you’ll have a series of ‘A-ha!’ moments about strengthening your marketing…

In this short article I can barely begin to cover the cultural insights from Hammond and Morrison’s book. I can’t recommend it highly enough to anyone who wants to understand the underlying forces that drive American behavior.

And as all sharp marketers know, choosing to understand and study MARKETS is something every super-successful entrepreneur, marketer and copywriter does.

And will deeply improve your understanding of customer behavior because you’ll see how the ebb and flow of these forces drives Americans to action.

Here’s to you quickly hitting it big in whatever endeavor you choose, in ways no-one ever dreamed possible.

To your faster success,

John Newtson
Editor, Life in the Fast Lane
THE TOTAL PACKAGE

Looking for resources related to this article? Try some of these.

Looking for more of John’s articles? Check these out.

Looking for past issues of The Total Package? Click here for our archives.

Want to share or reprint this article? Feel free. Just give us full attribution and a link to our Home Page when you do.

Attribution Statement: This article was first published in The Total Package. To sign-up to receive your own FREE subscription to The Total Package and claim four FREE money making e-books go to www.makepeacetotalpackage.com.

Related posts

• An “Eye-Opening” Experience
• For Hardcore Persuaders Only …
• Psst … Can You Keep a Secret?
• Could this be your biggest copywriting challenge?
• The Real Marketing Secrets Behind the Movie, "The Secret"

---

7 Comments »

1. Comment by Sarah — May 12, 2007 @ 2:26 am

   As always John, you\’ve written yet another entertaining and insightful article.

   Keep it up!

   Sarah

2. Comment by Steve Nickse — May 12, 2007 @ 4:28 am

   Thanks for the great lesson.The lights went on when I read that Americans affix their loyalties to a company that has a problem and addresses it promptly.In my experience, this is true.From now on I will create more \’problems\’just so I can get credit for fixing them.Thanks for the insight.
   Steve

3. Comment by Ken Calhoun — May 12, 2007 @ 6:16 am

   Super article, I liked the Lego example: it reflects very much also what I\’ve found in what works best for American vs German stock traders…

   While it\’s not safe to always generalize, there are of course certain cultural (and demographic) values that define the majority of the feelings and attitudes/behaviors, of groups, that we can leverage in our copy.

   Well written article, thanks for sharing the tips. Very value add, Clayton\’s whole operation and content. Thanks!

   copywriting padawan,

   Ken Calhoun

4. Comment by Deanna Blanchard — May 12, 2007 @ 9:02 am

   I\’m the American kid who never even looked for instructions in a set of Legos. Your article was very insightful, John. The Lego example was a brilliant way to illustrate what makes us Americans so different - and how that applies to marketing to them. Very well done and enjoyable!

   Deanna

5. Comment by Barry A. Densa — May 12, 2007 @ 10:20 am

   John, that was one of the most informative, incisive and useful articles I\\\’ve read in far-too-long. And I gotta get my hands on that book!

   Thanks,
   –Barry

   P.S. How\\\’s the temp in Asheville these days?

6. Comment by John — May 13, 2007 @ 7:36 am

   Glad you guys and gals found it useful. When I came across this info lots of light bulbs came on so I had to share it.

   Ken: I\’d love to hear more about the cultural differences you\’ve found in your biz.

   I used to work for one of the companies that conducted some of this research and have a great little booklet that shows different cultural Archetypes of Quality:

   Germany equates quality with Standards…

   Japan equates quality with perfection…

   France equates quality with luxury…

   And the good \’ole U.S of A equates quality with \’It Works!\’

   I love these kinds of sociological insights into what moves people. Especially as part of the ongoing study of markets.

   And Barry, the temp here in Asheville is perfect for me! It may be no SoCal but the wife and I love it here

   John

7. Comment by Gabor Wolf — May 13, 2007 @ 11:03 am

   What happens when US companies begin marketing in foreign countries, say in Lego\’s homeland, Belgium?

   There have been spectacular failures when American businesses went abroad, rolled out their marketing strategies and copies brought from home and fell flat on their faces.

   As a student of direct marketing I had to go throught the Lego process while applying the teachings of direct marketing big guys like Clayton, Kennedy, Carlton, etc, and weed out what doesn\’t work - simply because cultures differ.

   The easy answer is test, the hard one is … test more!