I once though it would be fun to start an ad agency and name it “Foster, Bias and Sales.” Foster attention and interest, create Bias toward client’s products, and generate Sales like a dookie. Can’t you just hear the receptionist answering the phone Foster, Bias and Sales?
I learned the word bias from an old boss Eric Keshin. As a descriptor of what we did in the ad agency business, it was brilliant. Bias in the brand planning business, however, is def not a good word. I was rebuked once at Rollins College in anthropology class for bring an opinion with me, rather than being an open book in a discussion about a cultural subject. And that’s what good planners must do — they must know when to free up the senses and just take things in.
A mind that rejects diversity is a mind made up.
There will be a time during the planning process when you will have to organize the patterns of thought and the inputs, but hold that until the end. And the longer you hold out, the better. By removing bias from the planning equation you are more apt to hit an idea with ballast. Peace… that one together!