Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

The good news today regarding the Brexit situation is that the news hasn’t gotten worse. The markets were looking a bit more bullish this morning as early gains in Europe pushed the U.S. markets toward clawing back some of the value that evaporated like water on a hot dish over the last few days.

The damage, however, has been profound — and it is still uncertain whether the break in the plunge today is a sign of turnaround now that everyone has calmed down a bit, or a temporary breather before the next big plunge. The damage has also been uneven, with some segments in line to get hit particularly hard. Segments like eCommerce.

What does it look like by the numbers?...

For supporters of Britain staying in the EU, a simple question remains this morning: How did we fail to persuade voters of our position? Steve Martin, director at Influence at Work in London and best-selling author of several books on persuasion, spoke with HBR about the ways in which the Remain advocates’ message failed to get through, or even backfired. Martin was joined by Joseph Marks, a behavioral scientist on his team.

HBR: From a persuasion science point of view, how do you explain the vote for Britain’s exit from the EU?
Steve Martin: There seems to have been a focusing effect. The Leave side made sure that immigration became a focus. Not only a focus but the focus. And once that’s a focus it’s hard to get other messages through. What we see is all there is. Danny Kahneman said that clearly. We can only pay attention to a limited number of things and if we see that immigration story every day, that’s what affects us more than a rational argument that predicts what would happen if we left.

But they saw the economic arguments every day, too. Why couldn’t the Remain side focus the voters on that?
Joseph Marks: I think both campaigns were built around fear of loss. One was what we’re losing in terms of immigration coming in. And one was loss to the economy and your pocket. Normally that wins. That’s number one. But right now, you can see that immigration issue as happening now, in the present, whilst the economy is doing well. In the optimism literature, we’ve seen that people are generally optimistic about their own futures when the economy is good, so that’s maybe how the economic argument lost to something that feels more pressing to people. So ironically the very people who helped get our economy on track created an environment that makes it harder to communicate their message of potential negative impacts of leaving the EU. The health of the economy created a good economic environment that had a disproportionate influence over decision making at that moment....

On Thursday, Britain made its choice.

The vote to leave the European Union prevailed by a razor-thin margin, dividing and shocking the country. Markets responded negatively, with the pound tumbling to its lowest since 1985, and prime minister David Cameron announcing he will pass on the baton to someone from the leave campaign.

The only certain thing now is that there will be plenty of uncertainty to come, while the U.K. figures out what happens next. Here’s a rundown of what Brexit could mean for the U.K. media industry.

With there be any immediate changes?
Not really, no. Negotiating the terms with which the U.K. exits — like setting up alternative trade deals — will take at least two to three years. During that time the U.K. will remain under the E.U.’s jurisdiction.

The U.K. will be at the table, but it won’t participate in shaping future E.U.-wide laws or deals that could affect the country — like the GDPR, the new European data laws that Brits will still have to comply with....