Debunking the God Complex

More TED goodness from Edinburgh, this time from economist Tim Harford.

Great story-telling (Archie Cochrane was some guy) and a great case for evidence-based decision making. In a world which is as complex as ours now is it's impossible for any one individual to have "the answer". Tim claims that every complex system that actually works has been produced through trial and error not by some genius having a eureka moment.

Anyone working in marketing could do themselves a favour by listening to what he has to say. With the exception of the IPA Datamine work and that of the Ehrenberg Bass Institute there's far too little science and far too much faith in marketing "Gods". Time we were less certain of what we "know" to be right and more open to the idea that we're wrong. Then go about finding out why.

"It is very difficult to make good mistakes"

Freedom and Censorship on the Web

From TED Global in Edinburgh. Interesting stuff , especially in light of the News International hacking scandal here in the UK. What role do corporations, especially those who own media or platforms, have in censoring the content we have access to online?

She raises some interesting questions around the differences between attempts to control within national as opposed to personal boundaries. i.e. media was once largely a national issue but the internet effectively dismantles national boundaries (except when it is barred/hacked/censored by national governments).

More Cannes Shenanigans - 100 bullet points by @jessedee

http://www.slideshare.net/jessedee/100-bullet-points-from-canneslions-2011

View more presentations from @JESSEDEE

Some more great finds from Cannes. This time from consultant Jesse Desjardins @jessedee.

I particularly like the parallels drawn between religion and brands re. symbolism and storytelling. If brands are all about creating and refreshing strong memories (see Byron Sharp's work on this) then the better your stories and the more distinctive your brand icons the better - "the best brands weren't created or born to be the most profitable, but to make life better".

There's also some good, solid thinking from BBDO on how not all screens are equal i.e. why you need to tailor content depending on which screen you intend it for and what effect you intend it to have. Not rocket science but worth stating nonetheless as many brands try and save on production by using the same stuff everywhere. Mind you, "we need a more fluid approach to content, a lot more stuff for a lot less dollars".

I also like Leo Burnett's call to "speak human". The brands that are winning are those that can present a human face to people (note people, not 'consumers'). Similarly, the big winers online are those brands (Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Google) that create platforms for others to build on rather than selling a one shot solution. I really like the thoughts here about "selfless" provision of things that help people's lives become better/easier. Allowing or, even better, encouraging experimentation within business or with your brand has huge benefits in terms of engagement and innovation.

Scottish is...

Well done Radio 1. Not many brands, not even Scottish brands, get this right.

Right stirring stuff. Makes me proud to be Scottish.

Do Creative Agencies Really Suck?

Why Creative Agencies Suck

View more presentations from Graham Brown (mobileYouth)

For the record, I'm not at all sure he's right but this is some great provocation from Graham at mobileYouth. The most creative of the creative (and media) agencies out there really understand Graham's point and are helping their clients understand it too.

Persuading a client to change the way they think is rarely as straightforward as merely putting plain facts in front of them. There's a lot of inertia (and fear of the unkown) to overcome before many brand managers will contemplate taking those facts on board. It's incumbent on agencies to provide not just plain facts but solid rationales for a change in tactics and meaningful measurement of any activity that is tested.

Bravo for challenging the status quo though. Big fan of that round here.

Trends from Cannes Cyber Lions

12 Trends from Cannes 2011

View more presentations from The Social Practice

Some great inspiration from The Social Practice for those of us who weren't at Cannes. Mor on each of the themes highlighted in the presentation on their website.

How Brands Grow - Byron Sharp

So, I finally got round to reading Byron Sharps provocative book 'How Brands Grow'. Based on decades of empirical data across multiple categories the book sets out a number of 'laws' of marketing, some of which may surprise you (and many of which won't). The laws proposed in the book lead to some perhaps quite surprising conclusions:

1. Market Share growth is driven mostly by increasing penetration amongst all types of buyers, most of whom are light consumers who only buy your brand occasionally. The book suggests that the way segmentation is often used in combination with loyalty schemes is based on false assumptions about the importance of heavy buyers.

2. Brands compete as if they were near enough identical. Most people, even 'loyal' buyers of a brand don't view it as significantly different from other brands in the cateogry. It is their popularity which defines their market share, not how well they are differentiated from their competitive set. The book suggests that it is more important for marketers to concentrate on avoinding giving potential reasons not to buy than to spend too much time worrying about how to differentiate.

3. Building market based assets - physical and mental availability - should be the key focus for any marketer. Brands that are more memorable, and in greater physical distribution, have more market share. This means marketers should concentrate on making their brand stand out (branding) and ensuring that their advertising refreshes positive memories about the brand amongst large audiences of light buyers.

The book then concludes by giving some simple guidelines:

• You need to reach all (or as many as you can afford to) of the potential buyers of your category, both through distribution and by how you communicate (Pareto is nearer 60:40 than 80:20)
• Make your brand easy to buy. i.e. understand what is important to the category consumer and clearly communicate that your brand delivers this.
• Make sure your communication is noticed. People are really good at screening out advertisements. The IPA Databank work suggests that clever, likable ads with an emotional focus work better than rational, product feature driven ads (most brands in the category are seen as near identical).
• Refresh and build memmories. Consistency and clear branding in your advertisements are key to this. The key challenge for brand managers and their agencies is how to say the same thing, repeatedly, in different and engagine ways.
• Make sure your brand assets are distinctive (as opposed to differentiating). Most ads aren't processed deeply, if at all, so you need to make sure people know whose ad they are seeing if you don't want to waste a lot of money.

A lot of these won't come as any big surprise to anyone who's been working in marketing for a long time. What lends them some weight is that, for the first time, they are backed up by some solid empirical evidence.

Recommended read.

Everything is a Remix

I really like this series of videos by NYC filmmaker Kirby Ferguson (for transcripts and references etc.) Not only does it showcase some fantastic music and film but it also has an interesting take on the creative process i.e. that everything is a remix (yes, my previous blog post finishes with a full-on remix in advertising form). Particularly interesting in the age of the 'mashup' this is well worth a watch when you have some spare minutes.


Everything is a Remix Part 1 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.



Everything is a Remix Part 2 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.



Everything is a Remix Part 3 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.


You can donate to support the series here.

Ogilvy Day - Favourite Cinema Ads

Last week I was surprised to be asked to speak at the Marketing Society Scotland's Ogilvy Day event at the Filmhouse in Edinburgh. A distinguished panel from scottish agencies and clients (see why I was surprised?) was asked to show their three favourite cinema ads. There was a spread of great ads chosen by everyone but here are the three I chose:



I actually wanted the Paisley version of this with The Thistle Bar and Auntie Morag but couldn't find it anywhere. This is the first cinema ad I actively remember (other than those ones for the carpret shop and indian restaurant round the corner). It must;ve struck home because, at the time, I was living in Paisley and watching my movies at the Kelburne Cinema on Glasgow Road (now retirement flats apparently). I never did drink much Bacardi but I love the fact that they had regional version of the ad.



I love the cinematic feel to this ad. It tells a great story and the payoff is quite a brave idea for a mobile phone company even if the medium of cinema makes a lot of sense of it. Great soundtrack by Joanna Newsom too. The director Noam Murro did the recent Halo ads for Xbox which are some of my favourites of recent times with their strong storyline and epic feel.



Adidas Originals, Daft Punk, Star Wars. Three of my favourite things all in the one ad tied together with cutting edge tech and a sense of humour. What's not to like?

Don't Play Games With Me

Don't Play Games With Me! Promises and Pitfalls of Gameful Design

View more presentations from Sebastian Deterding

Comprehensive and entertaining presentation on the pros and cons of gamification by Sebastian Deterding. I've talked about gamification often on this blog but this is probably the most common sense I've seen spoken about it. Recommended.

via Coding Conduct