The morning started like any other at Cajam Marketing: project updates, upcoming meetings and Philly sports team bragging or bashing (more bragging than bashing lately). We have all worked together for a while – some of us for over two decades, but who is counting – and we are comfortable with speaking our minds and sharing our unique perspectives. So when the question “Yanny or Laurel?” came up, the office erupted in a discussion full of different tones and pitches, followed by Google searches to prove which side, the Yanny team or Laurel team, was correct.
Apparently the Laurel team is correct, based on the report that this audio experiment was generated by a high school student using the audio clip of the word “laurel” from vocabulary.com. While the Yanny team is not convinced – we are all in awe of the 14.8 million plus views this clip has gained so far.
What do you hear?! Yanny or Laurel pic.twitter.com/jvHhCbMc8I
— Cloe Feldman (@CloeCouture) May 15, 2018
How A Well-Synched Team Sees Things Differently
Throughout the day, linguistics professors, scientists, and audio specialists have weighed in on social media and television about acoustic patterns, frequencies and other theories to explain the phenomenon. At Cajam, we marveled on how our well-synched team can hear different things – or see different things. Our graphic design team still hasn’t fully recovered from the white/gold vs. blue/black dress debate. As marketers, this is a valuable reminder that even a targeted audience, grouped together because of a common interest, sees, hears, and processes information differently.
Yanny or Laurel – Who Hears What?
Our unscientific, internal Yanny or Laurel results seem to show the more artistic staffers hear “Yanny” and the analytical leaners hear “Laurel.” Keep in mind, this blog post is being written by someone who took Calculus as a pass/fail class – and the analytics team members would argue our sampling won’t yield significant results…but I think our Yanny or Laurel results could also match with the team’s divide between cream or no cream coffee drinkers or Philadelphia or New York sports team fans.
Strength in Our Differences
The one thing the entire Cajam Marketing staff agrees on is how our company is stronger because of our different perspectives. With every project, we all contribute our unique skills and input. As an analytics marketing partner, Cajam Marketing offers the best blend of creativity, intuition, facts and figures. Yanny or Laurel, we work together to bring fresh ideas and solid numbers to your marketing. Learn more about the Cajam Marketing process.
