Frank Luntz, the “Nostradamus of pollsters,” is keynoting next month’s Affiliate Summit in New York, so I thought I’d grab his books to see what he’s all about. The first one, Words That Work, just came in from the library so that will be up next. His most recent work, What Americans Really Want…Really offers up “the truth about our hopes, dreams, and fears,” with special consideration given to the 2008-2009 election cycle, market collapse, and economic recession.
Using thousands of focus groups and polls as his data baselines, Luntz draws conclusions about what we really want. It’s an impossible task given the size and diversity of the country, but still makes for an interesting read. Among the topics given lengthy discussion are what Americans want from their jobs, their government, their religion, and the products and services they buy. More money, more time, accountability, and peace of mind were recurring themes.
Luntz is a right-leaning author (I understand the GOP has been one of his biggest customers over the years), and it’s fairly evident in the book. Yet he writes with admiration about how Barack Obama was the right candidate at the right time, and executed his campaign almost flawlessly. Obama correctly summed up Americans’ sentiment toward Washington in one word during his nomination acceptance speech at the Democratic convention: “Enough!” The collective anger toward the incumbent administration and his message of hope and change was the perfect recipe for a landslide victory, although Luntz does take one swipe, calling Obama “perhaps the least qualified presidential candidate in a century.”
Another interesting section was on the importance of religion in America. Although “non-religious” is the fasting growing segment of the population, the data unequivocally shows that religious people live longer and happier lives, make healthier choices, raise closer families, and have stronger relationships. Some of the data was really surprising to me, and I have to disagree with Luntz’s portrayal of atheists as lonely, depressed, and immoral. But there’s still something to be said about the uplifting power in believing in something bigger than yourself, even if it is all placebo.
There are some takeaways for marketers, primarily in word choice (and I expect more in Words That Work), but also in how to structure offers to appeal to Americans key wants. He profiles a couple age-demographics — retirees and my generation, called Generation 2020 in the book — discussing what each thinks is important and what they want most out of life.
In a way, a lot of the data presented is pretty pessimistic. We’re drowning in debt, unsatisfied at work, have no retirement savings, are fatter than ever, think tomorrow will be worse than today, and mistrust our large companies and our government. Thankfully Luntz borrows from the Rolling Stones (“You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you just might find, you get what you need.”) and closes with what Americans really need. And I have to love any section that prescribes a “swift kick in the ass.”
It reads a little like Brad Pitt’s speech in Fight Club:
I see all this potential, and I see it squandered. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables – slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need. We’re the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives. We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars, but we won’t. We’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off.
Although What Americans Really Want comes to different conclusion on what to do about it, it’ll make you think about what you really want and then perhaps how that differs from what you really need.
FTC Disclosure: If you buy What Americans Really Want… Really through the above link, Amazon will pay me 4% of the purchase price.
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[...] It was a somewhat interesting read, but I wasn’t in love with it. Luntz is best-known for his work as a Republican pollster, so much of the book reads like GOP propaganda. That, and a lot of the content is similar to his other book I just read, What Americans Really Want… Really. [...]