Two stories, both similar in terms of trying to use non standard methodologies and knowledge frameworks to help the US military. The first comes from trying to use Social Sciences to help draw up interactions and I quote, "Here's how it works: Basically you collect a database of what everyone in the world believes (down to tribes and social groups), then you create mathematical models to determine how those beliefs translate into actions. Sound hard? It is. In defense of such work, those involved say they are talking about rigorous testing of the models, and likely everyone would agree that having more data about social groups in Iraq would benefit the military. Critics of this work, however, say that human interactions are way too complicated to predict and relying on models is delusional."
I was at a lecture at Kings College London few months back where I heard Lieutenant Colonel Isaiah Wilson, US Army talking about this model which they had implemented in a district north of Baghdad when part of the 101st Airborne Division under General Peter Schoomaker. Well, he was saying that they found it very successful indeed and were able to determine who to bribe, who to contact, who to manage, etc. etc. Well, the nice graphs and statistics which he was throwing up on the screen seemed to prove his hypothesis.
The other report comes from RAND, where a report has been released about utilising marketing techniques from Madison Avenue (the home of American advertising) to help gain hearts and minds. Here's the abstract
Virtually every action, message, and decision of a military force shapes the opinions of an indigenous population: strategic communication, treatment of civilians at vehicle checkpoints, and the accuracy or inaccuracy of aerial bombardment. Themes of U.S. goodwill mean little if its actions convey otherwise. Consequently, a unified message in both word and deed is fundamental to success. Business marketing practices provide a useful framework for improving U.S. military efforts to shape the attitudes and behaviors of local populations in a theater of operations as well as those of a broader, international audience. Enlisting Madison Avenue extracts lessons from these business practices and adapts them to U.S. military efforts, developing a unique approach to shaping that has the potential to improve military-civilian relations, the accuracy of media coverage of operations, communication of U.S. and coalition objectives, and the reputation of U.S. forces in theater and internationally. Foremost among these lessons are the concepts of branding, customer satisfaction, and segmentation of the target audience, all of which serve to maximize the impact and improve the outcome of U.S. shaping efforts.
I am very doubtful about this. Do you remember Al Hurra? It was supposed to be the answer to Al Jazerra,
and now it is the biggest joke in the world. It was again a brain child of Madison Avenue and it failed and is failing miserably. Such a stupid attempt to change public opinion and I am afraid the above idea of using marketing will also fail. Winning hearts and minds by using the same techniques as that of selling soap or mutual funds or viagra will not work I am afraid.
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