Pearls Before Breakfast
Interesting! A perfect pick-me-up bit of intrigue to fight the traditional Tuesday doldrums.
How does presentation affect consumer perception of quality? In 2007, Washington Post writer Gene Weingarten set out to enliven the many marketing surveys done with a simple social experiment (see Pearls Before Breakfast, the article which won a Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing). Weingarten enlisted renowned violinist Joshua Bell, winner of the Avery achievement in classical music to play incognito at the Washington DC Metro station during a morning rush hour. Bell used his $3.5 million dollar violin six classical songs, to the tune of $32 in tips over 45 minutes. While thousands must have passed by, only a handful stopped to listen more attentively – even just briefly.
Possible conclusions to ponder (as articulated here):
In a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?
So what’s going on around you?
