( ESNUG 552 Item 4 ) -------------------------------------------- [10/08/15]
Subject: An impromptu psych study of CDNS employees using Minion dolls
RORSCHACH TEST: One aspect I love science is when accidental discoveries
come out of nowhere to show us something new. This happened when Cadence
Corporate Marketing did a surprise last minute DAC freebie of Minion dolls.
Your average CDNS employee had not heard about these Minion dolls until
48 hours right before DAC Monday -- when they were being loaded into the
CDNS DAC booth during booth set-up on Saturday and Sunday.
But, once known, my spies within Cadence tell me that word of the Minion
dolls like wildfire spread throughout CDNS with person-to-person texts.
The initial CDNS employee reaction to this particular bit of news typically
developed over the first few hours like so:
First Impression: "Oh, wow! We're giving away MINION DOLLS!
That's SOOOO neat!"
20 seconds later: "I want one!"
3 minutes later: "Hmmmm... I wonder if I can get [Name Deleted]
from Marketing to slip me one..."
2 hours later: "What do you mean that 'they're for customers
only'??? WTF?!!"
And although the bulk of Cadence employees failed to get a Minion doll, it
became a bragging point for those Cadence employees who did get one.
At first, how the "haves" bragged to the "have nots" was by a "have" sending
a pic text to a "have not" of a Minion doll followed by a typical taunt of:
"Ha! Ha! I got me one when they weren't looking! Ha! Ha!"
But that novelty wore off after a few hours once a bunch of the other CDNS
employees did the exact same thing.
Then (and here's where the psychological science happened) the "haves"
started playing with their Minion dolls by taking pictures of it in some
sort of humorous scenario; and then texting the pics to their coworkers.
That is, the status of the Minion doll had shifted to not in being just a
simple Minion doll "have" -- lots of people were "haves", yawn... -- but
into who could come up with the funniest Minion doll pic first!
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
By the time DAC Monday had hit, the Senior CDNS mgmt caught wind of the
trend and got in on the joke.
Lip-bu Tan and Nimish Modi on stage announcing the band Disco Inferno at
the Denali DAC Party. Notice how they're both in full Minion costumes.
And by the time DAC's over, everyone -- including both CDNS customers and
CDNS competitors -- associated Cadence with the fun of the Minions craze.
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
As experimental control, I showed these CDNS Minion pics to three unrelated
Synopsys contacts and asked their thoughts:
"Those are funny! I wish our marketing came up with ideas like that."
"Yea, that type of stuff isn't SNPS corporate culture. Aart doesn't
go for jokes. Maybe he fears jokes may not translate well between
cultures? Chi-Foon likes a good joke, though. I don't know."
"Sorry. Unvetted humor isn't part of Synopsys DNA."
These SNPS sources added that employees "can have fun at Synopsys", but it's
kept safely at the private local work group level within the company.
- John Cooley
DeepChip.com Holliston, MA
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