Humans observed: Trainlife

The time is 06:14.

I dance up the stairs of Templemeads to my smugly reserved seat on an overpriced journey to London Paddington.

It’s been almost two years of doing this trip for advertising agencies in London where my role is to simplify problems for brands, and often requires an insight into human behaviour. 

A carriage size is typically around 90 people, just about meeting minimal viable sample size, and is a wonderful way to observe my fellow homo sapiens that you won’t find on a survey.

06:43 - Work-before-work champions

I relax into my chair, take a sip of coffee, 3,2,1 right on cue, my work-before-work champions open their laptops, and an orchestra of anxiety fuelled typing fills the carriage. 

Let me repeat that, at 06:43, people are opening their laptops and starting work.

A full 2+ hours before the traditional working day begins here in the UK. The optimist in me hopes the hours are accounted for by the employer, but the cynic in me suspects not.

Isn’t it interesting how modern day work pressures have created this widespread human behaviour, this need to do more, with less recorded time. 

It’s a conservative estimate of 30% of the carriage or put another way, 1 in 3 white collar workers are on-laptops and trying to keep their dreams of a promotion alive.

07:37 - Email constipation

A confession: I’m a professional screen peeper.

Not in a way that could ever meaningfully be deemed an invasion of privacy, but more as an uncontrollable tick that I must indulge, a simple ruffling of one’s fringe will give you a glimpse into the corporate conundrums.

One of the things I’ve noticed we do as human beings is obsess over emails.

I’ve witnessed emails being typed, retyped, binned all together, with the record being 48 minutes for my fellow seat buddy to hit send. 

But why is this? Well context is key of course, these are largely work emails judging from the plethora of over-designed and garish email footers, so one could fairly assume colleagues. 

My hunch is that when it comes to email, we flip between emotional & rational thought, as emails cannot be undone - stay with me…

“Fuck you, David”  - The emotional, dangerous response.

*Hmmm, what if this is forwarded?* 

Rationale transforms into…

“Thanks David, I really value your input, let’s discuss this further offline” - The rationale, safe response. 

The bottom line is we all wear corporate cloaks when it comes to email.

There’s a great section on this in Nudge by Thaler & Sustein for those interested. 

07:55 - News is scary
A BBC news notification goes off and there’s a visible grimace on peoples face as they scramble for their phones.

This for me really highlights the power of sonic branding, but also the fact that the tone of that sonic branding can invoke an emotive behavioural response.

Open your preferred newsapp now, 80% will death, murder, rape, war and general nasties which has been negatively fed to the population over decades in a similar way to Pavlovs dog, except instead of getting a treat, we’re served with a dose of disaster.

Now, there’s two things at work here which I think is interesting, and aptly showcases the difference between brand and branding. 

Brand

BBC news as a brand along with many news organisations, presents more negative than positive pieces which evokes a feeling of fear. 

Branding 

BBC news push notification sound triggers the brand to top of mind and evokes a feeling of panic, hurried rustling into pockets and a visible changing of one's body language. 

08:19 - We arrive at Paddington

*Interlude*
As we spent the day clarifying the complex for brands, I wanted to take a moment to give a special thank you to the following good eggs:

Lori Cridland - My P.I.C and very talented media weapon.

Rob Estreitinho - Author of Salmon Theory and the nudge I needed for this piece.

Mark Pollard - The Pirlo of strategy and author of ‘Strategy is your words’

Ricky Plows - Creative under big dog.

17:39 - Another day done

The presentation for a famous Wheat Biscuit brand has been well received, huzzah. 

With the working day done, I barrage past the creative talent in a mist of less-than-fresh swagger, to Farringdon station and my beloved Elizabeth line where our story resumes. 

18:01 - The rat race clambers onboard

A resounding and very British ‘Tut’ cuts through the carriage as a delay of a mere 12 minutes is announced , which is apparently akin to having limbs removed by blunt force trauma.

This I believe is a very London-centric observation, but this concept of urgency, that time is money and that we are ‘busy’ people, and therefore, very important.

I once worked at a London agency that surveyed staff to assess how closely aligned their talent was to the agency values.

The value:
“We always run towards the fire”

Me: 
What fire? We sell booze. We do not save lives.

Maybe that’s it, the need to feel important, and how do we do that?

By looking busy. #Jesusiscoming

18:33 - A moment of social connection

The train pulls out of Paddington, and something special happens.

This isn’t exclusive to trains, but is scarce in modern day society,

Wait for it…

Perfect strangers speak to each other.

It’s often an awkwardness that acts as the catalyst for breaking the ice. An accidental foot nudge, an excessive exhale in the heat of summer, before an undetermined feature length dialogue kicks off.

From relationship breakdowns, to working woes and proposals in principle, when people are sat next to one another on the same journey, they open up.

So is what is it that causes this? A simple shared seat arrangement, or something else that causes people to share their innermost secrets with a stranger?

You decide. 

P.s. A great piece of advice for aspiring strategists, it’s OK to not know. 

20:03 - The best part of going away

I’m going to end with objectively the best part of any train journey, or any trip away for that matter.

Something that’s been revered in stories for as far as I can remember.
The reunion.

Whether it’s a day, a week, a month, or more, the feeling of reuniting with the ones you love instantly re-writes the weekday woes, a powerful moment, when we’re truly in the moment, living.

So there you have it, from work before work champions to meaningful moments of connection, Trainlife can offer a wide variety of insight for those willing to look and listen.