Starcom's Steve Bonner on the Serious Fun of "Play"

Live2Play deconstructs play a seemingly simple concept in a highly nuanced way leading us to compelling and evocative insights into not only consumer behavior but society itselfStarcom39s study used a hybrid methodology with a selfservice platform to conduct quantitative surveys and two focus groups one consisting of families with children the other of Gen X men onlyFor families the goal was to see how their children39s play evolved over time compared to their own play quotWe asked what play meant to themquot Bonner said quotHow do you define play for yourself and for your children Do you think your children play enough or too much compared to when you were a child How has play changed What do you think the implications of the way play has changed for your children will be as they get olderquotThe Gen X men group quotuncovered an interesting dynamic in their need for play and the way they playquot he explained quotWith men we asked How do guys think about playing How do they play in the context of friendships That was probably for me the most interesting thing that we learned in thisquotOverall what Bonner and his team realized was the essential benefits of play for a happier life Using an 85yearold longitudinal study about human happiness as a lodestar Bonner saw that quotone of the strongest most highly correlated things to happiness is longterm deep friendships Men tend to have a hard time fostering and maintaining longterm deep friendships with other menquotThis is underscored through their play which for men means competition and bragging rights These attributes add an adversarial component to the way they play quotThat diminishes the value of play because you39re making it a competition as opposed to exploring the world around youquot Bonner noted quotEinstein said that play is research Kids play to learn about the world around them Men want to have a winner and a loser most of the time when they play with each other and that can fray the friendships between them perpetuating this problemquotFor men this rocky dynamic involving play and happiness led to an insight explaining the rise in suicide rates among Gen X males and possibly lone wolf attacks quotThat was a surprisequot Bonner admitted quotBut we thought it was interesting because as a media agency as a marketing company we help inspire our clients to think about new brand behaviors for themselves We think there39s an enormous hero role for marketers to play in helping men play more helpfully and champion active play and curiositydriven playquotAnother insight included how the definition of play for adults has changed over time quotWe had people saying that as an adult playing is like watching a show on Netflix or browsing the Internet or scrolling TikTokquot Bonner said quotWhat that does is stretch the definition of play to include the passive consumption of content There are a lot of organizations that are happy about that because they say yes play is important Human beings need to play and if we can say that play equals consuming content passively then we all sleep better at night because we fundamentally sell the passive consumption of contentquotBut our position was that we want to resist that creeping definition of play because it39s becoming something passivequot he continued quotPlay has to have an active element of decisionmaking or of exploring different scenarios If you remove curiosity and selfdetermination from play you lose a bit of the benefit of playquotThe study also found that people define themselves by how they play quotThey will say 39I39m a gamer39 or 39I like to dance39 or 39I39m a singer I like to make music with my friends collect things build with Legos39quot Bonner revealed indicating a changing definition of play as one ages and a different concept of play for their children quotWhen you talk to people in their late 20s to 40s they will say 39When I was a kid playing was going outside We39d run around play with the neighbors and have fun39 Now it has become a digital thing which creates dissonance in parents who say that their kids spend most of their play time on screens 39It makes life easier for me but I don39t know if it39s good39 they sayquotI think brands can take action against thisquot he added quotHow do you make screen time feel healthier when parents feel they39re outsourcing babysitting to a screenquotUnderstanding the role of play in individuals and in society through this type of quantitative ethnography is a much more expansive way to better define the true essence of brands Bonner39s role in this effort is clear quotI am fundamentally concerned with looking at the world through people39s eyes as opposed to looking at the world through a brandquot he said quotIt39s very easy in our business to look at things through the lens of a category But what we really care about is what people really care about We are incessantly curious about what it is that drives people and makes them unique and special That fundamentally takes you to a place of playquotThis approach is also vital for brands seeking cultural relevancy quotYou have to understand what people care about outside of your brandquot Bonner said in closing quotThat39s at the root of everything we do Job No 1 should always be to make the experience something a consumer is going to care about and then figure out how to make sure that it provides the biggest or best returnquotClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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Starcom's Steve Bonner on the Serious Fun of "Play"

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