How to get more ‘soft power’ to your elbow

Attraction and seduction, rather than domination and coercion, are the keys to persuasion, says Melanie Howard

I’m devotIng this piece to what we call an nVitro trend – newly hatched from our own trends laboratory – which is a crossover from the political sphere but perfectly tuned to the consumer environment. We call it The Rise of Soft Power, a term coined by Harvard academic Joseph Nye in his 2004 book Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics.

Nye argues that the means of achieving what you want in the modern world is not through the historical means of command, domination and coercion, but by the powers of attraction and thus ultimately subtle persuasion and seduction. He writes: ‘In individuals, soft power rests on the skills of emotional intelligence, vision and communication. In nations it rests upon culture, values and policies.’

Like many influential ideas it has taken time to gain serious adherents although it was seen as being a key component of the Obama victory in 2008. What is particularly interesting is that it plays strongly in the emerging nations, which lack the heritage of military strength to get what they want.

Brazil’s foreign minister, Celso Amorin, claims that Brazil’s greatest skill ‘is to be friends with everyone’. China and India are similarly working hard to woo rather than demand – although you might argue that the economic cards are so clearly stacked in their favour that it gives them a launchpad from which to practise niceness.

What are its commercial applications?

For the multinational corporation there are many examples of how a soft-power approach is proving more effective than a rigid, defensive stance when things go wrong. Contrast the abject apology of Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda when in mid-2010, the company was forced to recall a staggering 8.5 million cars – ‘I myself, as well as Toyota, am not perfect ... quite frankly I fear the pace at which we have grown may have been too quick’ – with the ill-fated CEO of BP, Tony Hayward, whose handling of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was so ill-judged. A failure to use soft-power techniques meant he lost all power and was inevitably replaced.

As big brands attempt to spread throughout the globe, there have been many examples where brash neocolonialism has been rebuffed and a more considerate and inclusive approach, often under the aegis of corporate social responsibility programmes, has paid dividends. Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Starbucks and Unilever are shining examples of engaging with local development programmes.

For individual brands and more niche businesses the value of soft power is clear too. Think innocent drinks – possibly the best embodiment of soft power in a single brand. The company’s determinedly nice approach has been lauded over the years. For example, in November 2009 it sponsored the ‘big knit’ – paying 35p to Help the Aged for every woolly hat knitted for its smoothies in Sainsbury’s.

The coverage praised the participation and the hats and did well for Sainsbury’s ‘niceness’ quotient as well. Incidentally, the craze for hand-knitted items which is manifesting itself in many forms in early 2011 is a perfect pointer to the strength of the current sentiment. Whether it is the guerrilla knitters in London or on the US West Coast, or fashionable household items from cushion covers to lampshades, it seems that the continued uncertainties post recession are ensuring that the desire for comfort and help from brands and businesses will remain strong.

Tesco’s continued trading on its highly successful ‘Every little helps’ strap line and Kit Kat’s ‘Have a break’ also play effectively to this sentiment. Not new perhaps, but newly relevant. Brands cannot be nice enough to their customers at the moment – not just in terms of discounts and offers for customers but in tone, manner and openness.

As well as the communication of underlying values and relevant helpfulness, maximising all forms of customer and stakeholder engagement will remain paramount, particularly in the context of the Big Society in which businesses will be expected to help fill the gaps. For example, the Co-operative’s ‘renaissance’ – now in its third year – continues to make capital from its long-term commitment to mutualism and ethics as well as community involvement. This demonstrates how such steadfastness can pay off when core values are strongly held.

Why this trend will continue to gather strength is because getting it wrong will be so swiftly and publicly punished. Social networking and media, as well the rapid mobilising power of mobiles (smart or otherwise) have resulted in, for example, previously popular Boots bearing the brunt of demonstrations for allegedly evading UK tax. Vodafone and Top Shop have been attacked for similar reasons.

We believe that this phenomenon will be playing out in many forms over the coming decade – time for every brand to question how it too can exert the soft powers of attraction in 2011 and beyond.

Melanie Howard is chair of the Future Foundation.

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