Using a word without fully grasping its meaning is a linguistic crime. If you were to ask Maggie Gross, she would tell you that “average” is a word which has fallen victim to this practice. Her research project, “Understanding Average,” is an act of rehabilitation.

Gross’ industry is advertising. She works for Havas Worldwide in New York City. Her role and environment have opened her ears to frequent mischaracterizations of those who live in less populous areas and are thought to comprise the category of average.

“I hear a lot of people that have become accustomed to city life say things about average people that aren’t necessarily true,” she said. Given her field, she naturally hears talk about average people; it’s an industry whose products are often designed to appeal precisely to the average person.

People living outside of major metropolitan areas are not the only ones subject to mischaracterization. Living in Arkansas, Kansas, Florida and Tennessee before working in the Big City has provided Gross with firsthand insight to both worlds’ characterizations of each other. “When I go home, I hear a lot of my family say things about big city people that just aren’t true,” she said.

Gross’ observations sparked a question in her. “I started wondering if there was a better way to tell people about our respective similarities and differences,” she said. “Understanding Average” makes her answer clear: yes.

The project began in December 2014 when Gross asked a colleague at Havas if she could use some extra survey questions left over on an existing project to explore the issue. She got approval and the answers led to more questions and a more extensive research project.

With “Understanding Average” Gross sought to discover who the term average applied to and what variable drew the sharpest divide between people discussed as such. “The biggest divide was between people that lived in the top 10 cities (by population) and people who lived outside of them,” she said.

Through her research Gross asks an important question for her industry: “How can we help creative teams do better creative?”

Her goal is to produce information that strategists and their teams will find helpful. She described the audience for her research as “anybody whose job is to talk to people.” “Understanding Average” provides what she referred to as “empathetic data” for people in exactly these positions. One of Gross’ contentions is that, when it comes to producing this brand of data, researchers need to move beyond simply listening and learn to ask the questions whose answers need to be heard.

While “Understanding Average” certainly holds the potential to reap financial dividends for content creators, Gross said that the benefits of her research are “bigger than financial.” The real goal is “to inject some empathy in the way that people in marketing understand and interact with the people we’re being paid to understand and interact with,” she said. The ideal outcome is content that is meaningful and appeals to the people it’s being made for.

One particularly refreshing aspect Gross’ project is that she makes the research highly available; her insights can be accessed free of charge. “I don’t think that the ideas belong to me… I don’t think I should charge,” she said.

To hear what you can expect to see during Gross’ session in her own words be sure to check out the video below:

When and Where:

Sunday, March 13
5-6 p.m.
Hilton Austin Downtown – Salon H/ 500 E. Fourth St.

Find out more: Understanding Average: The Inertia of Culture