WHAT I’VE BEEN READING: A Brand New Narrative: Social Attitudes Toward Conflict Resolution and Inefficiency in Marketing and Branding by Emily Skinner

I don’t usually review PhD theses, but this one caught my attention and has some really interesting ideas. 

In her thesis, Emily comes up with some persuasive arguments to explain the conundrum that there is a high social need for conflict resolution services, but low market demand. She identifies practitioners’ assumptions, expectations and knowledge about conflict and conflict resolution and how they influence the way practitioners market their services.  She also interviews millennials (the fastest growing target market in the next ten to fifteen years) and notes the very different way they think about conflict and conflict resolution.  She highlights the mismatch between the way practitioners attempt to communicate with their market and what is likely to attract millennials’ attention.

Her thesis explores how the different groups define conflict and conflict resolution, and the language, imagery and colours that they associate with each concept.  There are some fascinating differences and interesting insights to be gained from the results. One immediate takeaway for me was the fact that people are not searching for a “mediator” when they are in conflict, and we need to be much more user-focused when we are thinking about Search Engine Optimisation and Google Ad Words.