How Two Blocks Changed Everything
Written on January 28th, 2010 by John Long
Written on January 28th, 2010 by John Long
Our new location
After a memorable decade at the Omni building at 7th and Brazos in downtown Austin, SicolaMartin just moved to the Capitol Tower, on 9th and San Jacinto. Google Maps tells me the distance between these buildings is roughly 0.2 miles, or just around 1,000 feet.
But looking out the window from our new digs, it actually feels much closer. You sort of get the idea that, with a vigorous enough windup and decent wind at your back, you just might be able to hit the other building with a tennis ball.
So in light of this proximity, the last thing I expected after the move was to feel as though I’d just relocated to some previously unexplored exotic corner of the city.
It happened right away. Thanks to my new bus stop, I was walking by completely unfamiliar and interesting buildings. “What’s the Austin Club?” I wondered. “Why does that tower have a gigantic 1980s satellite dish?” I thought. Shortly after the move, with the help of an industrious co-worker (and again, Google Maps), I discovered a truly fantastic greasy spoon in the basement of a nearby government building ($2.00 bacon cheeseburgers!). Even on the days I drove to work, the one-way streets downtown forced me out of my automatic pilot and onto unfamiliar avenues.
I wasn’t alone. Other co-workers began reporting a similar response to the move. A fellow writer and native Austinite was amazed that she hadn’t walked by the governor’s mansion in years. An art director had swapped Subway for Quizno’s—apparently on a permanent basis. An interactive guy found a great dive bar (interactive guys are particularly adept at this—draw your own conclusions).
Where was all this great stuff hiding when we were just two blocks south at the Omni?
As a marketer, this experience reminded me that people are creatures of habit. Most of us are genetically hardwired to seek the comfort of the familiar. This is undoubtedly effective survival behavior—who knows what predators are lurking in that dark thicket? Much safer to stick to the path you always take back to the cave—or those really good nachos you always order. Changing behaviors is hard. Marketers have to think deeply about how to get people out of their comfort zones and to look at the world in a slightly different way—then create something that moves them to do so.
Another lesson I took away from our move: routine, though comforting, can be creatively stifling. It’s important to change things up, take some risks, get off the well-beaten path and experience new things. It’s not only good for your work—it’s good for you. And it’s not hard. It’s only two blocks away.
Nada Saidi Smith wrote: And pleasantly, many have traded Starbucks for our home grown Little City...and it has been right there all along.
Monday, February 1st 2010 at 2:53 pm |Ryan Johnson wrote: Congrats on the move, and it's always good to come out of something like that with a fresh outlook. I appreciated the read, cheers.
Tuesday, February 2nd 2010 at 3:56 pm |Amy Sundermann wrote: Glad to hear the move was a great thing and that you are all doing well! I am curious - who was it that found the dive bar? ;)
Tuesday, February 2nd 2010 at 5:19 pm |John Long wrote: I'll never tell.
Tuesday, February 2nd 2010 at 6:03 pm |Nancy George wrote: More importantly, where is the great little dive bar?
Monday, February 8th 2010 at 5:43 pm |