Phenomena

Belonging is in crisis. While it is seemingly easier than ever to build connections with people - either online or IRL - we are lonelier and more fragmented than ever. When we talk about the mental health crisis, political polarisation, or how to build a meaningful workplace culture, what we're really talking about is belonging. In this episode, Eliot is joined by ReD partners Maria Cury and Mikkel Krenchel to unpack why our sense of belonging is in decline, how the sources from which we derive belonging are shifting, and what businesses need to know and consider about these changes. We are also joined by David Sikorjak, author of the recently published Fans Have More Friends, to unpack what we can learn from the sports industry about fandom and building community across the social divide. What are the priorities for businesses who want to cultivate a sense of belonging for their consumers? And how can focusing our efforts on cultural understanding help us build deeper bonds between individuals and communities?

The luxury industry excels at selling desire. But in recent years, it has also successfully weaved sustainability into its appeal to consumers, altering people's assumptions about what can be considered valuable, authentic or desirable. In this episode, Eliot speaks to fellow ReD partner Charlotte Vangsgaard and Dr. Stéphane Girod, a professor at the Swiss-based International Institute for Management Development, about what other sectors can learn from the luxury industry on making sustainability desirable. Where has the luxury industry got things right? How has a deeper understanding of communities helped brands connect more meaningfully with their consumers? And what strategic challenges are the world's biggest luxury brands still grappling with when it comes to sustainability?

Maria Cury and Brendan Muha, partners at ReD, along with Eleonora Maria Mazzoli, a research at LSE, discuss the accuracy of algorithms and the need to involve users in shaping their experience. They explore marketing algorithms, policy responses, and alternative models for improving user experience on media platforms. The chapter also delves into the responses of major tech players to user demands and the future of algorithms, emphasizing user empowerment and ethical frameworks.

Post-lockdown, there is renewed enthusiasm and excitement around cities. Urban development and innovation, however, often feel chaotic and atomised and miss the mark on how people actually experience the city. Eliot and his guests Ian Dull, a partner at ReD, and Jeff Risom, chief innovation officer at Gehl Architects, discuss the high stakes for businesses to get the future of the city right. What are some common errors companies make as they try to innovate for the city? How can a more systemic perspective help businesses avoid these pitfalls and create cities that are more meaningful for their inhabitants? And finally, what does a discarded electric scooter in Copenhagen tell us about designing the urban spaces of tomorrow?

How are the algorithms in our lives holding us back? What are the new priorities of urban residents that businesses can help resolve? What can other sectors learn from how the luxury industry is getting sustainability right? These are some of the questions we unpack in season two of the Phenomena podcast by ReD Associates, which explores how a deep understanding of human behaviour can shape better business strategy. During each episode, ReD partner Eliot Salandy Brown interviews colleagues and industry experts on the biggest human and cultural topics of our time, to reveal how they are often misunderstood and how the social sciences can help businesses get them right.

The COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed a tidal wave of interest around best practices in remote collaboration. But the problems emerging from the crisis are testing team problem-solving on a whole new plane. The problems will require highly complex interdisciplinary collaboration. Scientists and technologists across fields are collaborating on urgently needed innovations in diagnostics and therapy. AI experts are gathering with biologists, demographers and policymakers to harness insights on pandemic contagion and its social impact.ReD Associates put together this episode of Phenomena to explore what kinds of problems require interdisciplinary collaboration and how teams get it right when experts are coming from radically different world views. Drawing from a recent project with Facebook Reality Labs, we reconvened our research team composed of an anthropologist, cognitive scientist and machine learning expert to share their experiences of learning together and collaborating.

How can we know we’re getting at the truth, when we inevitably come at the world with various biases? Eliot Salandy Brown and David Zax explore the phenomenon of “selection bias” by visiting with two people who hold very different views of the world: a conspiracy theory debunker, and a 9/11 conspiracy theorist. Can ReD help the debunker better understand the people whose minds he’s trying to change?

In the first episode of Phenomena, the team at ReD Associates asks: What is a generation, anyway? And how do companies successfully study and understand cultural signifiers in order to capture the spirit of a generation? Eliot Salandy Brown and Sandra Cariglio discuss what Greta Thunberg's followers teach us about Gen Z, why the Ford Mustang has staying power through generations, and how we go about interpreting differences in generational identity across cultures. www.ReDAssociates.com