The insight within

One size can fit all

[Each of the individual yellow dots represents an individual flight]

It's quite clear that we are living in an ever more interconnected world. The above video helps to illustrate this, and also the global importance of each of the continents. With economic doom and gloom rife, Britian is still undergoing latent physical adjustments that are showing in both the high streets and job market. Behind the scenes of the consumer, clients and businesss are logically driving down costs by consolidating pan-european and global ad accounts. Although this looks good on balance sheets, lets not forget the importance of culture and how a uniform agency culture does not necessarily suit all countries in which they operate. It was Samuel Huntington, in the Clash of Civilizations, who once identified the importance of culture in global affairs, and it is this same ideology which trancends in to all aspects of business, particularly advertising.
Take HSBC as an excellent example of a group that communicates their understanding of this very well.

Harnessing a bad thing

Apologies for the lack of blogging lately, I've been a little laptop-less of late. Of all the components in my laptop, the motherboard decided to explode, would you believe it?! Well done to PC world for sorting it out for a relatively decent price. Not so well done to the manufacture (I'm not one to name names) who wanted to charge me an astronomical repair fee. Anyway, I'm back in the game.
Lately, I've seen some brands trying to harness bad things, like the economy, and leverage it for their betterment. I want to draw your attention to Honda and Volkswagen, both of which are car brands and struggling in a difficult market.
After the announcement to close it's Swindon plant, Honda was perceived to be in deep deep trouble. However, they have reversed this negative PR that followed through an intelligent campaign that remains close to their ethos, "the Honda effect".

Good work.
Volkswagen on the other hand had a big idea, executed it poorly and were perhaps thinking too big in the first place. Not only is the ad really irritating but personally, I believe that car brands alone should not be trying to drive economic confidence. It's just a stretch too far, too big and something that was destined to fail. See for yourself.

Books to get cracking on with

I have a huge list of books that I need to buy and read. Currently these are the ones that I'm dipping in and out of.

Rigorous Magic - Absolutely brilliant. It's taking up most of my reading time. Nearly finished.
Behind the scenes in advertising - Fantastic, but not something to pick up and read cover to cover.
Black Swan - Yet to start, but I already know the premise of the argument.
The Beautiful and Damned - Great novel about decadance and morality in the 1920s Jazz age.
Truth, Lies & Advertising - Classic. I'm prelonging the end of this as its so enjoyable.
The Art of War - Timeless book that all Wall St traders in the 80s were reading.

You've changed...

Now I wouldn't go as far as to say that media is dead, but it is certainly changing.

It's definitely refreshing to see a humourous expression of media fragmentation and although it seems daunting, I believe its these sorts of challenges that keeps us all in the industry. Media and advertising is always  changing, whether it was the begining of web 2.0 or the introduction of the printing press. The difference today is speed and scale. The stakes are just now higher, which makes working in the industry even more exciting.

Competence

In any team dynamic, a mix of people is vital to obtain the most effective operation. When learning a trade, whether it be painting a picture or generating a great communication idea, people go through 4 stages. Each of these have their individual benefits, although the best are at stage 4.

1. Unconscious competence - "I don't know that I don't know what I'm doing"
2. Conscious incompetence - "I know that I don't know what I'm doing"
3. Conscious competence - "I know I know what I'm doing"
4. Unconscious competence - "I just do it"

Great Nostalgic Pitch

Now this is a great pitch! I hate to sound like a broken record but it just goes to show the power of nostalgia. Although lets not forget, nostalgia is just one of many powerful emotions that can be harnessed.

 

[Funny how its the media guy who scampers out the room in tears.]

1000% Authentic

Last night’s episode of Britain’s Got Talent epitomised the importance of authenticity in the world today. The winner of the second semi final and with the most amount of votes, was a father and son act who literally wobbled their way in to the final. They clearly were not the most talented act on show.

 

 

 

Now, although it may be the shear amount of support, and voting money, from an incredibly galvanised Greek community that sent them through, I believe it was the translucency of love between father and son that really generated support. Stone cold competitiveness was distinctly lacking, but it was plain to see that the simple experience of a co-performance was enough for them. The bond between father and son has rarely been so genuinely displayed for millions to see. It clearly won over the judges and the hearts of millions of people. It goes to show the power of authenticity.
We’ve seen a lot of brand authenticating of late. From Green & Blacks’ reference to techniques used by the great Mayan culture, to Happy Eggs including photos of their farmers with their healthy chickens in their cartons. It’s something we yearn. When we go abroad, we all want to experience the natural, authentic culture and women’s make-under shows are extremely popular. One thing is for sure, authenticity is certainly here to stay.

 

 

There is no doubt there is also a link between Britishness, the economic downturn and authenticity. Union jacks are appearing on more and more products and chefs are preaching the importance of buying local. By buying British, the consumer is not only buying perceived better quality, but saving the environment, saving the local economy, saving their fellow country men and celebrating heritage and culture, all at the same time. All of which is incredibly important in these tough times. The British trend is just another face of authenticity.

Authenticity is a chameleon. It shows it’s face in many forms. The consumer intrinsically wants it and brands that deliver it well hold commanding influence.

Acceptable in the eighties, and noughties

Richard Sennett once wrote that the human body was a reflection of both the city in which we live in and society itself. If this holds any truth, from simple ethnological observation, we can certainly draw parallels today with the 1980s. Not only are Tom Cruise, Risky Business style wayfarers back in mode, but we are also seeing the return of wacky power socks and rolled up jackets. In fashion, at least, the 80’s are most certainly in full swing.

However, we are also seeing seismic economic adjustment, similar to that of the late 80s. Prior to the 80s crash, Affluenza took hold. Analogously, this also happened in the current recession. In laymen’s terms, we were basically spending way above our means and resultantly, had to counter balance all our over excitement with a bit of a lull. This is something that I expect to continue for a few more years to come, particularly as businesses try to adapt to the freemium model.

In a previous blog, I wrote about the brilliance of nostalgia in targeting consumers at an emotional level. With the 80s trend in full swing, I honestly believe there is no better time to bring back a hand full of those advertisements. Admittedly, consumer confidence is low, but lets not forget those who still do have jobs. They still have disposable money to spend, and in real terms, much more of it. They just need a reason to spend it. By marrying current popular culture with iconic ads from the decade in which that popular culture refers to, a powerful psuedo reality is created.

Virgin Atlantic was way ahead of the game with their airlines ad last year.

And who can forget this? Arguably, the world’s most iconic TV ad.

Baby, Baby, Baby

This is a fantastic music video by the French electro duo Make The Girl Dance. It's creating a whirlwind in the viral arena and you can certainly see why.



[Great idea and exceptional execution!]

A 101 to behavioural targeting

Behavioural targeting. Everyone is banging on about it. Not only does it drive effectiveness and efficiency, but it is also beneficial to the consumer. Obama's presidential campaign was credited for exceptional use of this form of targeting and everyone else now seems to be doing it.

First of all, it makes sense. Reducing wastage and increasing relevance can only be a good thing. Secondly, it is most certainly the future. This is particularly true when intertwined with the wealth of data becoming available.

The current recession clearly illustrates that the neo-classical economics model is flawed, and now even economists themselves are preaching about the importance of behaviour. The human brain is phenomenally complicated.It just can not be simplified by a basic cost and benefit ratio. For starters, when looking to buy a new car, our decision is not merely based on price and practicality. Design plays arguably the most pivotal role in the decision process, yet it is also the most difficult factor to quantify. This is because it hits us at an emotional level. All rational thoughts on cost and benefit go out the window when we are effected on this emotional level.

This is where behavioural targeting comes to play. The process understands that humans are irrational and basically plays on our "individual" emotional thoughts combined with our rational behaviour to deliver communications accordingly. Hence, the increase in relevancy during both our times of need and different mood states makes us more likely to purchase the product that is served. Brilliant!

One day, with the advancement of neuroscience, advertisements will be a part of our dreams!Think about Fry and his Lightspeed briefs in Futurama.