The Growth Distillery, in collaboration with Ogilvy and Kantar, released The Influence Codes, a ground-breaking research and insights program into ‘influence’, one of the world’s most powerful, least understood and rapidly changing human forces.
The deep dive explores the seismic shifts in technology, society, and globalisation that are reshaping the landscape of influence, revealing how Australian consumers and brands are navigating this new terrain.
The research found 71 per cent of Australians feel the world around them is more complex and less trustworthy. The insights offer a blueprint for businesses to recalibrate their strategies, ensuring they harness influence effectively to foster genuine connections and drive growth across various industries.
The research also revealed affinity, a combination of character, proximity and relatability, is the new foundation for influence. To make decisions quicker and more easily, affinity has become the leading factor in choosing which sources consumers seek out or permit for influence. This formula is key to influencing Australians across all generations, genders and geographies.
“There are three key takeaways we want to share with brands. Firstly, we unpack how the traditional codes of influence have been disrupted, with the decline of traditional authority and the rise of affinity as the new cornerstone of influence,” said James Taylor, head of research at The Growth Distillery.
“Secondly, we explore what’s caused this disruption through a deep dive into four seismic shifts: information overload, codeless culture, declining institutional trust and choice fatigue,” added Taylor.
“And finally, we provide guidance on how to apply the new rules of influence including how to use the ‘goldilocks zone’ of affinity marketing, showing up in high cognitive load environments, how tone of voice creates affinity and applying the six archetypes of influence,” said Taylor.
“While most of us would feel we know what influence is, very few of us actually understand how influence works in the modern world. What we have discovered is that a large portion of what the marketing industry believes is effective, is categorically wrong,” said Toby Harrison, consulting, growth and innovation lead at Ogilvy Network ANZ.
“We now have a genuine and comprehensive understanding of what creates influence and how that power can be leveraged by marketers to deliver effective growth,” added Harrison.
The Influence Codes is based on six months of extensive research. A global panel of experts were consulted from media, social media, gaming, consumer psychology, the legal world, corporate leaders and political strategists. Over 9,000 Australians were interviewed across more than 20 unique decision-making scenarios.
The Influence Codes will explore four key categories in 2024 including Travel, Food, Health and Retail with findings released over the coming months.
