The first main video introduces all the key ideas and parts of object:desire, [watch here](https://www.pleasedontpush.com/p/objectdesire) ## Video 1 - Key points - There are products for which people don’t even compare alternatives, these products “skip consideration”, they are the “default solution” - Our goal is to be able to compete with them and eventually become one. - The “Cumulative Advantage Process” gives us the coordinates of the solution: - We need an “initial advantage” - and then reinforce a dynamic called “Preferential Attachment” (the popular gets more popular). - The traditional growth lore says that this “initial advantage” is building a much better product, from a functional point of view, than any of the competitors. (10x product) - But once you research the story of companies that became wildly successful, you find out that, at the time of launch, there were several other products functionally equivalent or even functionally identical (Slack vs Hipchat, Liquid Death vs other water brands,…) - Do you believe that Lovable, at the time of launch, was 10x better than the alternatives? [Then read this.](https://claude.ai/share/1f6e3df4-6f03-47a4-802d-ce4308cc67ae) - To understand this, we need to look at a product as if it’s really 2 products - A Functional Product (made of features) - And a Symbolic Product (made of meaning) - Once it’s split in 2 we can solve the confusion between the functional and the symbolic - We choose a product category to do a functional task - We choose a specific product in that category because of its meaning - (more on this: [[Why people buy]]) - Once a product becomes succesful we rationalize the story as if it was because it’s functional - When product meaning fits the user fantasy frame, then the users Pulls the product - User Fantasy frame is made of: Identity, Myths, Grudges, Fantasy - Product Meaning addressing Grudges and User Fantasies creates Desire - Product Meaning addressing Identity and Myths creates Conviction - Desire + Conviction = Pull - We can engineer our initial meaning using semiotics (to know how to fix a meaning) and Psychoanalysis (to make sure that meaning connects with the Fantasy Frame) - Symbolic engineering is the branch of object:desire that makes that actionable - The first step of Symbolic engineering is to find a meaning gap and validate it - That initial meaning will evolve once 3rd parties talk about it - people (influencers, professionals, media) - algorithms (Google SERP, YouTube recommendations, ChatGPT suggestions) talk about us. - We can engineer who talks, in what order, and influence what they say using concepts from Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) and techniques from Propaganda. - Some of these techniques were already in use [since 1920](https://www.pleasedontpush.com/p/adam-curtis-the-century-of-the-self)but we eventually drifted into functional value and direct attribution and we lost track of how things really work. - Spread Engineering, also called DeMark (Decentralized Marketing) is the branch of object:desire that makes CAs and Propaganda actionable. - Meaning will go through structural transformations called Symbolic Stages - Each stage defines where we should focus / What to do - Having achieved a stage makes the next one easier as the sinergize with each other, creating a flywheel. (Meaning flywheel) - This flywheel, focused on achieving structural changes of meaning that lead to structural changes of spread clearly shows how the current growth techniques are not solving the root cause of lack of growth (Limited to no spread because of the wrong product meaning)