Jarviked

Stephanie Saul, of the New York Times, explains why Pfizer is being questioned by U.S. lawmakers for its use of Dr. Jarvik, self-proclaimed "inventor of the human heart," as a spokesperson for the world's best-selling drug, Lipitor (2007 worldwide sales of $12.7 billion).

"Pfizer has spent more than $258 million advertising Lipitor since January 2006, most of it on the Jarvik campaign, as the company sought to protect Lipitor, the world’s best-selling drug, from competition by cheaper generics."

In mid-2006, when the ads for Lipitor featuring Dr. Jarvik began appearing, Katie Watson, medical ethicist and commentator for NPR, said that the timing of the ad -- and Dr. Jarvik's endorsement -- are both significant. According to Watson, it was the first time that a doctor has been paid to endorse a prescription drug in an ad.

Now, a congressional committee is listening to ex-colleagues of Dr. Jarvik, many of whom assert that it is Dr. Jarvik's mentors at the University of Utah who rightly deserve credit for inventing the human heart, not Dr. Jarvik. Lawmakers are also addressing complaints that since Dr. Jarvik is not a cardiologist and is not licensed to practice medicine, he is not qualified to recommend Lipitor, a heart disease drug.

It's worth noting one concept from the science of persuasion. Credibility comes from only 2 sources: Expertise and Trustworthiness. The use of an expert spokesperson to bolster your case depends just as much on the former as it does the latter.

With ex-colleagues and congressional investigators now calling Pfizer's use of Jarvik into question, Ian Read, Pfizer’s president of worldwide pharmaceutical operations, has announced that:

“We regret this. Going forward, we commit to ensuring there is greater clarity in our advertising regarding the presentation of spokespeople.”

Full article here.

Why FREE Is The Future of Business

Chris Anderson, editor in chief of Wired and best-selling author of The Long Tail, has just released a preview of his next book FREE! in the current issue of Wired.

Near the end, Anderson beautifully sums up the paradigm shift towards free:

The word is externalities, a concept that holds that money is not the only scarcity in the world. Chief among the others are your time and respect, two factors that we've always known about but have only recently been able to measure properly. The "attention economy" and "reputation economy" are too fuzzy to merit an academic department, but there's something real at the heart of both. Thanks to Google, we now have a handy way to convert from reputation (PageRank) to attention (traffic) to money (ads). Anything you can consistently convert to cash is a form of currency itself, and Google plays the role of central banker for these new economies.

There is, presumably, a limited supply of reputation and attention in the world at any point in time. These are the new scarcities — and the world of free exists mostly to acquire these valuable assets for the sake of a business model to be identified later. Free shifts the economy from a focus on only that which can be quantified in dollars and cents to a more realistic accounting of all the things we truly value today.

Read the full article here.

Measuring and Describing Liking

Hat tip to Benedict Carey at the New York Times for writing this great article on mimicry, a form of the principle of Liking, which affirms that similarity, physical appreance, compliments, contact, and cooperation all are useful elements in the art of being liked, and consequently, persuasive.

An excerpt:

“They [psychologists] have found that immediate social bonding between strangers is highly dependent on mimicry, a synchronized and usually unconscious give and take of words and gestures that creates a current of good will between two people…One reason subtle mimicry is so instantly beguiling may be that it draws on and, perhaps, activates brain circuits involved in feelings of empathy.”

Fascinating. Read the full article here.

Charting Authority in the US Election campaigns

Suzanne Taylor, at Macleans.ca, wrote an interesting piece on the complicated art of persuasion as it relates to the current wide-open presidential nomination races in the United States.

What's significant here is how Taylor discusses the extent to which the principle of Authority in celebrity and editorial endorsements, in popular media, and in new media influences the American voting public.

Taylor cites studies showing that celebrity (e.g. Oprah), editorial (e.g. New York Times), and popular media (e.g. Fox News) endorsements generally do not have a major impact on voting patterns, while research on the power of new media (e.g. YouTube) still remains inconclusive.

Whatever ends up being the most influential medium, Taylor clearly illustrates how Authority is deeply engaged in the leadership race south of the border.



Read the article here.

A Great Start to 2008!

Just wanted to thank everyone for expressing their recent support for Major Persuasion. It's been a great start to 2008, from appearing on CBC's Test The Nation to finishing third in the Best Canadian Business/Finance Blog category at the 2007 Canadian Blog Awards.

My thanks to all!

Sticky Commitments and stickK.com

From the extensive psychological research into goal-setting and commitments, we know for a fact that if you make a commitment that is public, active, and voluntary, you are statistically more likely to follow through.

One of the main questions that people then ask me is, "So, what makes a commitment public, active, and voluntary?" Great question. Now, we have a website that provides the answer. It's called stickK.com.

Based on years of scientific research and development by Yale University researcher Dean Karlan (with co-founders Ian Ayres and Jordan Goldberg), stickK's mission is to "promote healthier and happier living by helping people achieve their personal goals through the signing of Commitment Contracts. Happier people = happier world!"

Not only does stickK integrate the Consistency principle, it takes the science one step further. When you actively, publicly, and voluntarily create a commitment contract, you also choose the stakes that you’re willing to wager on your impending success or failure, such as your valuable reputation PLUS the valuable contents of your wallet (the best part: the site encourages you to give your monetary stakes to charity!). In other words, the Scarcity principle, which proves that we are as motivated by potential loss as we are by potential gain, plays a significant role here as well.

Our own research shows that people are about 7 times more likely to follow through on an active, public, and voluntary goal versus one that is kept private.

stickK.com is a wonderful tool that will transform how individuals set and achieve their goals. It's free. Stakes go to charity. It's a classic win-win-win.

Go ahead... Put a contract out on yourself.