“Knowledge is bad for us. Give a bookie 10 pieces of information about a race and he’ll pick his horses. Give him 50 and his picks will be no better, but he will, fatally, be more confident”
Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Author of The Black Swan
Category Archives: Planning
Happiness as a campaign metric?
This is arguably one of the hardest metrics you could possibly sell to a client, mostly because it sounds so warm and fuzzy. But once you get over this minor factor it has a significant reflection of how people’s values are changing.
A recent Contagious article refers to the next virus to take hold of society after the Internet as the ‘awakening of the consumer’. Here’s an extract…
“Awakening Consumers are waking up to the fact that we are all living on this little rock suspended in space. That our natural resources are finite, and our system of production and consumption, as it stands, is not sustainable.
Awakening is a process, and no one gets it right all the time, It is like when you are brushing your teeth and let the water run, then looking at the mirror you say, I am letting the water run. And once you start, you can’t stop. The process itself is contagious. Just how contagious? Next time you go shopping, see if you find yourself thinking about the values of one brand over another. If so, welcome, you’re a carrier.”
Now I like this as a sentiment but I think it is in some ways a lot simpler than that. I don’t believe it’s just about consumers being more socially responsible and aware of how their behaviour affects the bigger picture. Whether it’s the general day to day stress of life or the financial crisis people increasingly value happiness over wealth and materialism.
And just to highlight this point Adrian White, analytical social scientist at England’s University of Leicester has created the world’s first ‘happiness map’ creating a list of the happiest countries.
“White’s study, to be published later this year, was developed in part as a response to the British media’s fascination with life satisfaction. A recent BBC survey concluded that 81% of Britain’s population would rather the government make them happier than richer. Despite its often bleak weather, England ranked relatively happy at 41. White says: “There is increasing political interest in using measures of happiness as a national indicator along with measures of wealth”.
You can read the full article here.
So if the British Government can do it in dreary old England why can’t brands? I would guess it’s because if many were honest with themselves they wouldn’t get very good results.
Japan is the user experience capital of the world
Japan undoubtedly thinks of everyone. Even those people who are travelling with dwarfs and would like them to watch you do your business. Is this post too wrong?
Posted in culture, Divergence, Planning, Random observations, travelling
Digital Lethargy
Does digital make us lazy? Have we lost the urge just to do stuff or stand up and speak out for what we believe in? Does digital give us the chance to dabble in something but not actually see it through?
Well there have been a few things lately that have made me think about digital lethargy. The point in which a person’s interest or involvement online isn’t mobilised into something that arguably has a greater influence and/or effect (it’s not a real post unless you have coined a term by the way). Perhaps it is political or merely something more fulfilling personally. Or maybe even a sale.
I criticise myself a lot for being too lazy. I have strong opinions about politics and the environment, but I don’t really do anything about it. I rarely read the paper properly anymore. I use Facebook instead of making an effort to go and visit friends and family. I go on many cool branded sites but rarely buy the product or even think differently about it, at least not consciously. And of course posting too much about things other people have said or done rather the things I have done or think.
Noah and the guys from Zeus Jones have written this and this respectively about how digital habits are manifesting themselves in traditional forms of media consumption/behaviour, which is an interesting concept in itself. Although not related to digital, John Mcure of Reverend and the Makers fame also wrote this in the Guardian that touches on people doing sod all politically. I particularly like this paragraph.
“Yet a deafening silence prevails, save for on soft issues that don’t require our leaders to remove the splinters of middle England’s fences from their derrieres. Bono talking hungry Africans is a safe issue. He’s a man they’re happy to do business with, borrow some cool from. Everyone agrees we should act. Comic Relief, Sport Aid? No brainers. A far cry from the counterculture radicals who so affected our broad thinking during the late 60s or even during the punk era.”
So praise be to god my dying belief in mankind was saved when I went to my first APG event in Sydney and Sam McLean from the not for profit Getup.org.au gave us a presentation on how they use digital to mobilise people around specific issues such as the environment or the price of fuel for example.
Now I think Getup is awesome and it is genuinely more than just an online petition site, which lets face it is the most lazy form of activism. It has 280,000 members. People create content for their campaigns for free and people donate money to pay for the media spend and launch it as a TV ad. They even organise ‘Getogethers’ across Australia that do influence policies at varying levels. Getup are a great example of how digital can be used cost effectively to create grassroots interests and participation, but more importantly how they turn that interest into something potent by using ‘old media’.
If you haven’t seen it yet, Getup is responsible for the following movie. And if you want to donate towards the media spend you can do it here.
Now I’m sort of going off course a bit but I will maintain the ramble. The rub for me on this is ‘what does this essentially mean for brands?’ I often hear it said, particularly in the alcohol market, that their respective audiences aren’t online. Which isn’t true, but what is true is why should someone bother to gather, ‘online or offline’, anywhere other than a pub for a bottle of lager? And that is where digital agencies are failing. Why would any self respecting lager drinker bother to jump through these hoops just win a fridge or hear about all of their exciting news via email? Do they really care enough to do what is being asked of them?
This to me is the part that clients want us to answer and is imperative if digital agencies are to play a greater role from a brand leadership perspective. Rather than throwing stats at them that say 21 – 35 year olds lager drinkers now consume x amount of Internet hours compared to TV, therefore we must do something in digital. We must be showing them how we can use digital in a way that is relevant for people’s relationship with that specific brand. How can we snap them out of this lethargy and create communications that are more than just forwarding an email on to a friend, entering a competition or signing up to a petition against global warming? How can we mobilise the masses and not just those who are motivated enough to play with the latest communication just because it’s cool and innovative? Perhaps there is a market for a digital, come experiential, come PR agency?
Marketing is just common sense?
This is a remark I hear quite a lot throughout the course of a year. Whilst I do believe that some people in the industry might lack common sense, to suggest that marketing is merely common sense winds me up. It is often used by people who produce mind numbing work that does the bare minimum. If this is common sense marketing then I don’t want to be anywhere near it thank you very much. So in the words of George Bernard Shaw:
“He’s a man of great common sense and good taste, meaning thereby a man without originality or moral courage”
Planning on the margins
In my opinion one of the best traits any planner can have is the ability to understand people from all walks of life and really see, sense and feel things from their point of view. And when I say understand I don’t just mean being able to describe their TGI definition. You need to have a real empathy and respect for them, irrespective of your preconceptions or what the data might tell you. It is always possible to find something endearing in any audience if you look hard and objectively enough.
Ironically our industry, despite employing interesting people, are generally from the same margin of society. And for people supposedly so open minded it’s surprising how easily judgments are made. I’m blogging about this because of a free project we are working on for a local drugs working group that highlighted a really interesting transition in people’s attitudes and behaviours towards an audience having spent time with them.
Under our guidance we have given this brief to all our junior members of the agency to answer. After giving them an outline brief there was the usual snap judgements about the lives and motivations of drug users and addicts. It was all very middle class and quite disappointing frankly. So in order to get them over this, open their minds and put them in a slightly uncomfortable position we set up a series of groups consisting of ex-addicts, drug workers and counsellors. It was up to the guys to ask some questions and get some real insight into the lives of drug users. After an uncomfortable start they began probing and developing some interesting relationships. I’d go as far as saying friendships. So good in fact they even went out for some drinks with them afterwards to probably ask more ‘informal’ questions.
By the end of the session there was a complete turnaround in how they viewed a group of people who are arguably in a completely different part of society, with vastly different life experiences. Not only did they have a real empathy for them, they developed a real enthusiasm for the cause. Well done guys, I can’t wait to see the work.
The Communications Room goes global
“Remember that happiness is a way of travel — not a destination”
Roy M Goodman
Some people may accuse me of having a habit of committing various forms of career suicide. I think it’s worked out pretty damn good to be honest. But first of all I was ‘uninteresting’ and did a marketing communications degree. Not only that, I did it at a ‘new’ University. Then I decided not to work in London’s ‘adland’, whilst pursuing my education at OU doing an MA in Social Science Research. To make matters worse, my research method of choice is the fluffy ethnography. Well here’s another good one to add to this list.
I’m giving up my role as a communications strategist after busting my balls for 8 years to get here. What am I doing? Backpacking around Central and South America for 6 months and then I’ll hopefully pursue said given up career in Australia. I’ve still got plans for this blog and I’m going to continue to post as much as I can whilst I’m away. Although with perhaps a more international flava!
Hopefully I can join some coffee mornings from Mexico City to Buenos Aires with a host of interesting people. So anyone out there who is up for meeting up during my fleeting visits to various Cities over the next 6 months, get in contact.
More importantly anyone in Sydney who fancies giving me a highly paid planning job around May next year then please feel free to do the same.
I don’t leave for a few weeks yet so hopefully I ‘ll have some time for a bit more blogging whilst I wind down. I’m very apprehensive to be leaving my job, but excited about the road ahead.
Plotting the Plannersphere
I’ve been meaning to have a go at this Political Compass Test since Charles posted it a while ago. As you can see, The Communications Room is only slightly more authoritarian and left than Punk Planning.
Go on, have a go and politically plot the Plannersphere
The door to The Communications Room is open
I’ve been toying with the idea of inviting people to share this blog for a while. I had the rather stupid idea of a name for an agency after watching The Good Shepherd where the opening sequence starts with the CIA’s communications room.
It’s not that I’m a massive fan of the CIA, anything but, I just liked the concept of a bunch of clever people with different skills sitting in a room observing stuff, solving conflicts and making the world a better place. So I bought the URL and thought perhaps one day? Well that day isn’t quite here yet, but I thought it might make a nice blog in the meantime.
I’m a bit on the nervous side opening up this blog after all the effort getting it up and running, but I think it could be very interesting if I can find the right people. There’s a lot of planning, creative and media blogs out there, but not many that have a range of perspectives in one place. Therefore I’m looking for 3 or 4 people to start with. It’s open to anyone, although I’m thinking a creative, an account person, a media person and a technologist initially.
If you’re interested in contributing drop me an email with a short biog.
Activists for the liberation from seagulls
I’m a bit of a sucker for anything related to group dynamics and problem solving, particularly when it comes to a good old fashioned agency ding dong about processes and politics. To the annoyance of my colleagues no doubt, I’m somewhat of an idealist. I believe there should be way more collaboration, more productive conversations with smaller groups than long, pointless meetings with all and sundry.
I also get angry with pessimists, idea killers and micro managers. They are the antithesis of the kind of people you need in an agency to get ideas off the ground. In my opinion these people should realise their skills might be better suited elsewhere, like perhaps a bank, or better still a factory.
I like to refer to these people as Seagulls. They fly in to meetings squawking away without any idea of what’s going on and then proceed to shit all over everything. Undoubtedly this will be repeated everyday up until there is nothing left in the team or the idea. They will then blame everybody apart from themselves and simply fly off and shit somewhere else. There’s at least one of these in your agency, admit it? You avoid inviting them to meetings at all costs, or you refrain from putting yourself forward to work on certain accounts. They sap the life and enjoyment out of everything and turn the process of creation into a stressful and frustrating job, that just needs doing. That’s why I find this idea of coliberation refreshing.
I try my best not to get caught up in all the politics, but occasionally it’s inevitable, particularly as a planner. It might just be me, but I think the ‘planning department’ is often treated a bit like Switzerland. You’re seen to be this kind of objective mediator between feuding nations. I believe we would all like to think of ourselves as liberators as opposed mediators and coliberation is a much more productive term than collaboration when it comes to agency group dynamics.
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