I was recently invited to a lavish holiday brunch and in my mind, I had decided not to eat much, just enjoy my favorite bubbly, with some crab legs and beef. However, once I arrived at the restaurant and was confronted by the range of starters, main courses, and amazing desserts, somehow, I forgot my focus and my initial intentions. I ate and drank for hours, indulging in the endless delicatessen of the lavishly open buffet.
The next day, when I opened my laptop and mobile, I noticed the shocking number of messages, emails, newsreels, and texts that I recently received, and then I realized something.
My food consumption at the brunch was a metaphor for the amount of information I am consuming every day. Many attractive headlines, tweets, emails, DMs, social media posts, and unwanted messages, some completely irrelevant to my life, but somehow this information is eating aggressively into my 24-hour day, and yes impacting my feelings and emotions, thoughts, focus, time, and attention.
Jesta Freak has been reflecting and has come up with a straightforward and clear diet revelation for both food and information consumption.
Understanding Fast Food Packaging
Simon Kucher & Partners, a Strategic and Marketing Consultancy, outlines how McDonald’s, Burger King and many other companies provide value to a client using menus and packages.
In simple terms, there are three products:
1) Leader products.
2) Filler products.
3) Add-on products.
So, when you order a “menu” (package) at McDonald’s or Burger King for example, the Leader menu product, in this case, is the Big Mac or the Whopper, the filler product is the fries, and the add-on is the carbonated drink. The menu is attractively priced and offers “value” through lower pricing versus ordering these items separately. Please note that the actual cost of fries and carbonated drinks is marginal.
Successful Packaging Consists Of
..select "Leader" product(s)
High value products/ features that most customers want to or “must” buy.
..some "Filler" product(s)
Medium value products/features that most customers consider “nice to have.”
.. NO "Killer" product(s)
Products which either have “Own” willingness-to-pay or no bundle fit
Source: Simon Kucher & Partners
Information Management – The Leader and Filler Approach
In terms of information, we undertake the same approach as the fast food companies – The Leader and Filler Approach. The package of daily information consists of:
1) Leaders – information relevant to me, properly sourced, accurate, factually based, the information I want and love to receive.
2) Fillers – information that makes me feel happy, satisfied, and nice to know but might not be relevant to me.
3) Add-ons – I did not know that, confirms my bias, hmmm never thought about that, quite overwhelming, irrelevant distractive, and time-consuming.
I will let each of you decide which source you consider your “leader”, “filler” or “add-on” that feeds your information obesity.
However, I have started to realize that it is not only my waistline that is increasing over time but also my head is dangerously close to “information obesity” level i.e. my brain is consuming the wrong stuff that makes me less fit, more polarized, less factual, more opinionated, less critical, more biased, and less empathetic.
This makes me cognizant that perhaps, I should become more aware and conscious of what type of information I am consuming every day.
So, for a start, I should increasingly stick to the information sources I love and personally trust, but even then, be aware of the fillers and add-ons. Secondly, perhaps I need to try ignoring, canceling, or unsubscribing to information sources that are unrelated to me. Yes, the trash bin works but does not stop the source from continuously sending me information.
Nevertheless, as with brunch, we are all likely to continue consuming a lot of information wanted and unwanted, relevant, and irrelevant. So, I will commit to my leader’s products, avoid fillers and add-ons, and perhaps finish with separately priced coffee instead!
At Jesta Freak, we connect consumers with the brands they love and are loyal to. This allows you as a consumer to signal a new type of (information) relationship with brands and similar like-minded people. Instead of receiving random information from any company, you will start to obtain information and knowledge that is important and relevant to you.
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