An Expensive Shave

NASA spent $25 billion to get to the moon.

So are a few minutes shaved from my train journey to our Manchester office worth £32bn?

That seems to be the rather high price to pay for the proposed High Speed 2 project that is now in its official consultation phase.

Rory Sutherland wrote about HS2 in his Spectator column recently. Firmly in the ‘no’ camp, he argued that time on a train is actually rather pleasant and a better use of public finances would be to focus the bit between his house and Euston.

The ‘for’ camp argue that we should see the £32bn as an investment that will deliver a fantastic return in terms of jobs, economic growth and progress.

Rory is of course correct that time on a train can be pleasant (especially in first and not on the last off-peak train before rush hour on a Friday). That time is also valuable and productive for business people who by the miracles of modern technology can make and receive calls, catch-up on emails and even think about stuff. Which causes somewhat of a hole in the economic growth argument you would think?

The story about economic connections and growth also falls down by the fact that it about a few minutes less on journeys between London and Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds.

The latest GDP figures show the Birmingham area ranked 14th in a European league table. London is in the top 2 and looking a little further south the Randstad area in the Netherlands along with the Cologne, Dusseldorf and Hamburg area in northern Germany are both in the top 5.

So wouldn’t it be better to pool our resources with our European cousins and figure out how to bring London closer to these areas?

That and get a decent taxi lane between Euston and Rory Sutherland’s house.

Everything you say or do ...

Sofa.com present themselves as the Innocent of sofa brands.

I've never met them but after 12 minutes on their website I have an insatiable desire to hang out at their HQ and consume 'lashings of ginger ale'.

So attracted by the promise of a stylish sofa bargain and a free barbecue, we headed off yesterday morning to the sofa.com warehouse sale.

Ouch!

We arrived at a rather functional warehouse near Heathrow which contained 30-40 sofas and around three times that number of confused AB1s.

The root of that confusion was the fact that 90% of those sofas on display had large 'sold' stickers on them.

The obvious next step was to question one of the sofa.com staff to check what the 'process' was.

Unfortunately they were all busy. Customer confusion can be a time consuming business you see.

The obvious next step was to eves-drop.

And from this tactic we discovered there was a bit more stock and a 'master list' of sale items in the office.

So off we went to the office. Excited again.

But unfortunately the queue to investigate the list was put at 2 hours and news quickly filtered through that all the popular styles had gone.

The barbecue (what else to do) was perfectly pleasant if a little off brand (sainsbury's basics range and coke not ginger ale).

But the toilets were taped off presumably so those pesky customers couldn't monopolise them.

So all in all a pretty average brand experience.

A painful reminder that EVERYTHING you say or do effects your brand.

And an example of when it's not a good idea to let your customers see behind the brand (image) veneer.

Advice?

Use your very good website next time.

W+K To The Power 3

It’s a long time since TBWA first presented that idea to 3. Eight years in fact.

In that time the business has been on a hell of a rollercoaster. From initial excitement about the possibilities … to realization that the technology and handset manufacturers hadn’t yet got out of bed … to the wonderful world of Korean cowboys, singing cherry charts, Agent Provocateur parties and record contract sales … to the recent malaise of an opportunity seemingly lost.

As an ex-3er I still retain a certain emotional attachment to the brand so I was pleased to see W+K pick up the business. It feels like the brand needs to be in new, hopefully strong hands.

I don’t know why the business went from Glue. I can only assume the work didn’t work. Getting a brief to tell people you are working hard to improve your network is understandable but fundamentally flawed. People don’t need to hear it, they simply need to experience it.

So I hope W+K get to take the brand back to its true opportunity, away from an existence as a channel for handsets + cheap tariffs. It can play in a youthful, positive, uber-innovative space. Doing things differently, living on the edges of the mass-marketing mobile norms, understanding what the people who care, care about and building its image around that.

That of course is much more than just a communications task.

And that is something I hope everyone involved both realises and is up for.

Otherwise another agency will simply end up being judged as having failed to deliver the dream.

Friendly Little Coppers

Now there’s an ignition point….

It didn’t quite soften the blow of my first £1.35 a litre diesel experience but I thought my local Esso’s ‘Penny Pot’ was a nice touch when I filled up last week.

A simple idea – admittedly only relevant when not paying by card – where I can leave a few coppers to brighten my fellow man’s day or equally benefit from his or her thoughtfulness before me.

We rightly search for the big ideas and platforms we believe can transform and propel brands forward but it is sometimes worth remembering – especially in a category like fuels - that the little things can also have a positive effect.

Behaviour and Context

As advertising has changed, so have the roles of strategists and planners.

We must go ever deeper in pursuit of human understanding, past traditional approaches to customer research and segmentation, beyond understandings of demographics, lifestyles and attitudes. We have to understand why individuals and groups behave as they do in different circumstances and in different contexts. To gather real understanding and insight that can fuel ideas to truly ignite our clients’ businesses.

Luckily there are tools, frameworks and research which allow us to do just that. Some of them much in vogue at the moment.

Behavioural Economics for example, that tells us why social, cognitive and emotional factors mean people don’t behave as rational Economic models suggest they should.

Whilst, Identity Economics explains why people – facing the same economic circumstances – make different choices based on their own identities and the norms they encounter in the contexts of their social, family and working lives.

Academic research in both areas throws up fascinating potential for marketers.

Take the example of consumers in the US and Italy who were asked to either scale up from a plain pizza base by adding toppings or scale down from a fully loaded pizza by removing toppings. In each country consumers ended up with more toppings and a more expensive pizza in the scale down scenario than in the scale up scenario. A result explained through the behavioural principle of ‘loss aversion’.

Or take the experiment that showed consumers who paid a discounted price for an energy drink positioned as increasing mental agility, derived less actual benefit from drinking it (measured in ability to solve puzzles) than consumers who purchased and consumed the exact same product but paid its regular price. Thus showing how the actual efficacy of products – not just the way they make us feel - can be changed by marketing actions such as discounting.

Just a little lateral thinking tells you that such behavioural insights have a plethora of exciting and profitable applications across sectors. From the car industry to retail, software and beyond.

And how, by understanding the role of behaviours and contexts more deeply, it becomes easier to identify where marketing and marketing communications can play a role, and have the biggest impact in today's world.

Behavioural Guilt

As I travel back from Paris on the Eurostar I find myself in reflective mood.

I have an American Express Red card. It’s a great product for a great cause. Trouble is I have yet to use it.

The problem is I have this fantastic Virgin Atlantic black card too. I spend £1, I get two Flying Club miles in return = my miles balance rockets = I get upgrades into Upper Class once a year.

You see my problem? It seems my good old Reflective System wants me to be charitable but my Automatic System (or own self interest) stops me doing it in the moment of payment. And the issue is now compounded as I have not set up a direct debit on the Red card and have forgotten my PIN. Thus making using it in the future even more unlikely as I have added a whole other hassle factor into the mix.

I suspect I am not alone in exhibiting such behaviour, which got me wondering how the Red proposition could be adapted to counter the problem and generate more revenue for the charity.

Personally, I think that when I signed up for the Red card I would have agreed to pay a small monthly ‘fee’ - maybe £2 a month, maybe £5 a month - designed to cover the costs associated with the card whilst guaranteeing a donation income for Red even if I didn’t spend on it. I wasn’t really buying into a credit card at the time so that feels eminently plausible. Hell, I might even have agreed to a ‘Save More Tomorrow’ type mechanic where the ‘fee’ could increase slightly year on year.

I also think that would have acted as a nice little ‘nudge’ to make me more likely to use the card today. The direct debit would have been set-up and a barrier removed.

But as it stands I am not spending on the card and despite the best intentions I am sure my holding the card is costing someone, somewhere some money. So what to do? Well, as I am now through the channel tunnel perhaps I should stop this self-reflection and switch back to a good old Anglo-Saxon mindset for starters. And when I get to St. Pancras I could always just bloody spend on it! Now what was that PIN again .....

A New Agency Model

As I posted a few weeks ago, we’ve been working on a piece of research (to lead into a book) investigating the views of top marketers on the make up of the ideal agency of the future.

The views and opinions we have now gathered been really interesting and we’re taking many of them onboard as we evolve and adapt as an agency network. And so it was good to hear Daryl Fielding, VP of Marketing at Kraft Foods in Europe speaking on the same subject at the recent Marketing Week Annual event.

From our research and the insights Daryl shared, it is clear that as we all strive towards great ideas the collective dynamics of channel proliferation, digital consumption, globalisation, recession and etc etc etc throw up a host of challenges that clients and agency types are working through today.

To name just a few that come up:

• Is there a lead agency? A good question to start with and if so what is its expertise, experience and remit? And if not, then who is best placed to manage the ‘integration’ process and curates ideas?
• How many people and what kind of people should be given the responsibility for driving out great ideas? We all know it doesn’t work when there are twenty people in the room but if small teams are best how can that be made to work across agencies?
• Is the ‘big idea’ still, too often, born of an old advertising model? Daryl spoke about ‘supercharged TV ideas’ (read Gorilla or Old Spice) versus ideas where advertising becomes the servant of the idea (read Spots and Stripes).
• And fundamentally, do current agency engagement (commercial) models foster the right approach and the best ideas?

So whilst the end goal for most of us remains the same - namely great ideas that create the desired human behaviours and feelings - the way clients and agency partners will get there continues to evolve.

On The Inside

I heard a presentation this morning by Brian Waring, VP of Marketing and Category at Starbucks.

He touched on the brand’s roots and heritage but focused in on more recent initiatives to open the brand up to its customers and enable them to direct the future of the company.

His words reminded of a recent email I received as a result of signing-up for My Starbucks which informed me that the Pumpkin Spice Latte was again available in-store (in the ‘third place’).

Nothing special in that you would say, a straight selling message?

It was of course exactly that but the ‘magic touch’ in the email was that the Pumpkin Spice was not being promoted or available ‘over the counter’ on the menu. The promise was that those in the know could ask for it and with a nudge and a wink the barristers would create it for you.

A ‘nudge nudge, wink wink’ kinda product, only available to those on the inside.

As I said once before, it’s the little things …….

Twitter Utility - For Mum

My mum was down to see her new grandson a couple of weeks ago and asked me what I thought of twitter.

She had read about it in the Daily Mail and couldn’t understand why anyone would need to know that anyone was at Tesco, or that Stephen Fry was following Delia Smith.

I couldn’t really argue with her on those two but I did find myself explaining how it could actually be very useful.

The examples I gave her?

I still love Baker Tweet but that’s an obvious one and probably says something about my consumption of warm bread.

During the recent England – Algeria game the electricity went off in my house and twitter helped me work out where the nearest unaffected pub was still showing the game. Unfortunately space was limited:

http://twitpic.com/1zb0ym

After the recent England – Algeria game the water went off in my house and twitter helped me work out that I was not alone, the electricity cut had caused it and Thames Water were on the case (and blaming the electricity people).

And then of course there was the twitter snow map last winter that helped me see who was bunking off work due to half an inch of the white stuff and who needed food supplies airlifting in due to 6ft of drifting.

http://www.benmarsh.co.uk/snow/

The whole area of social media and networks as utility is clearly nascent and fascinating.

It would be great to see people share other personal examples of twitter utility here ….

Big In Japan

Good to see our Fujitsu brand campaign getting good reviews this week. The teams have worked hard on it.

It’s a campaign designed to kick off the process of building the Japanese company’s profile to better reflect its market position. Fujitsu is the fourth largest IT company in the world - up there with the likes of IBM, HP and Accenture – but does not get the credit (read brand awareness / consideration scores) it deserves.

It is a tough time for many of their CIO customers, something we learned all about when we spent time with a number of them earlier in the year, We saw budgets under massive pressure, too much resource and energy being spent on day-to-day maintenance and operational tasks and as a result those technology leaders who aspire to be viewed as more strategic, business leaders becoming increasingly frustrated. They feel stifled.

So, this was a nice insight and what also became clear is that this feeing is driving the beginnings of a sea-change in the category as people begin to search for new models of IT and technology delivery that take out cost whilst enabling IT to have a more strategic influence on the business rather than being an internal service function.

Fujitsu’s technology leadership and service innovation differentiates them in many areas, especially in the emerging area of cloud technology. As a result, we realised that they could lay claim to the promise of enabling the CIO to get away from his frustrations and reach his ideal future sooner. Hence the campaign idea of ‘Get There Sooner’ that has been executed solidly in print, outdoor, digital outdoor and online so far with more to come.

Love the Vuvuzela. Hate the Generic.

I am not sure if the consistent droan of the vuvuzelas annoys me anymore. Or in fact if it ever did! But listening to colleagues today and Five Live on the way home this evening I know I’m not speaking for everyone.

The BBC team in particular was lucky enough to encounter some very passionate advocates of a complete ban on these most exotic of wind instruments.

“They’re annoying ...” said Mick from Bristol.

“It’s like a mosquito in your ear...” said Tony from Leeds.

“It sounds like a schoolboy international...” said Matt.

And my particular favourite: “I can’t hear the England fans singing and chanting on TV ...” said Fabio (OK. I didn’t quite catch this chap’s name).

Now I live close to the Heathrow flight path in TW1 so I probably get used to background noise quicker than most BUT surely, surely, surely the noise and atmosphere created will be one of the key elements that will make this World Cup what it will become –special and unique.

The alternative - to ban the vuvuzela - is to celebrate the generic. To long for a World Cup just like the last one and the one to come.

Think about it. Ban the vuvuzela? Where would we go next? Or perhaps more pertinently, what would our memories be made of if we had previously thought like this?

Let’s take to our time machines, go back to Buenos Aries in 1978 for example and outlaw ticker tape. We could then set a course for the Azteca stadium in 1986 and stop people from standing up and throwing their arms in the air.

Yes it’s a simple point yet I’m amazed to see the volume of counter arguments running rampant on twitter and the wires.

This World Cup will be great in spite of global brands that sponsor it and the global media owners that cover it. It will be great because of a 30-yard pile driver from someone we least expect, a dazzling piece of artistry from a Messi or Kaka, a crazed celebration from Maradona and inevitably a penalty shoot-out for England.

But more than that it will be great because of what Africa and African culture brings to it. It will be great because of the vuvuzela!

A little over two weeks ago I stepped on to one of Stellios’s flying Orange machines and left these fine shores for a two week break in Crete (where, just for reference, cash is king and restaurants on the south coast have a lower propensity to show pictures of the dishes on their menus).

Reflecting on a few of the things that happened whilst I was away:

> Ash cloud returned, blew over, returned, blew over …
> Greece went bust
> Greece was rescued
> The UK voted
> The UK was thrown into political turmoil
> The Eagles sent the Owls down

Oh, and one other thing - The World Cup bandwagon got well and truly rolling!

Back in London this week and I feel I can’t move for brands getting in on the act of hyping both the event and England’s chances (2nd round exit to Germany?).

For some brands the link to World Cup 2010 is clear. Adidas? Check. Carlsberg? Yes I can see their relevance to the competition too and the “teamtalk” execution is certainly rousing if it fails to quite get the hairs on the back of my neck standing as high on a second viewing.

But Kit Kat and Mars though? C’mon! Give me a break …. (sorry!)

Anyway, the brand that has executed a World Cup idea most beautifully has to be Louis Vuitton. It’s here and it’s cool. It has Zidane, Pele and Maradona in it so how could it not be? Even if their link to the beautiful game is tenuous at best!

http://www.louisvuittonjourneys.com/legends

The Planner’s Psyche

A couple of weeks into a search or a new Planning Director for our London office I am already tired of hearing that ‘planners just aren’t moving jobs at the moment’.

It’s a cool role with a great team, great clients and a generous package for someone doing a similar ATL / Integrated / Digital role today (or wanting to step up from a Senior Planner position) but the CVs just aren’t flying in.

Apparently it’s all down to the economic environment and a natural tendency of planners to be more cautious as a result. Really? I thought Sir Martin had called the bottom?

Anyway, the hunt goes on ……. richard.mabbott@gyrohsr.com

Brand v Demand - Summit, Research and Lord Heseltine

Last week over 100 delegates attended our (Gyro:HSR's) first B2B Marketing Summit in the UK.

The event was held in Manchester Town Hall, a fantastic venue which – Danny our Manchester MD assures me - harks back to when the city was last a commercial power house. We had some fantastic speakers from some great brands including Fujitsu, Google, HSS and Pearson along with our own Rick Segal and the legend that is Michael Heseltine.

I had the pleasure of sharing the stage (albeit a good hour or so after he spoke) with Lord Heseltine to host a panel debate on the theme of the event:

Brand v Demand – do brand custodians too often disinvest their brands in favour of short term demand generating activities?

We had conducted qualitative research with clients and contacts through 2009 and used the findings to stimulate the debate. In my mind the question is somewhat of a false dichotomy but there are still interesting views from both sides of the fence.

We have produced a summary report of the findings which people are welcome to download at:

http://www.brandordemand.com/

There is also the opportunity to share your point of view should you fancy.

Ten things ....

As the Sunday papers clamour to provide us with their predictions for the year ahead, I had a think about a few things the past 12 months have taught us / me.

Here are ten to start with:

1/ 0.02mm is interesting in the right hands. Especially if those hands are the D&AD award winning team behind Sagami’s ‘Love Distance’ campaign http://awards.dandad.org/2009/categories/onln/online-advertising/25046/love-distance

2/ Markets can behave irrationally. How else can we explain UK bookmakers making England second favourites for the World Cup? (Yes I know, it’s the punters not the market that are behaving irrationally).

3/ We’ve gone real time. We’re texting, twittering, facebooking like …. It’s all about ‘Now’. Admittedly Vodafone cottoned onto that a while ago but Samsung tapped into that nicely with ‘impatience is a virtue http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8tWLEsLpxs

4/ Hash can be bad for your health - hash tags that is - as Habitat found out earlier in the year when trying to use coverage of the Iranian election to sell sofas. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/5621970/Habitat-apologises-for-Twitter-hashtag-spam.html

5/ The success of a campaign can be judged on recall of a TV execution? That was the argument some experts made to explain why an ad by ‘Confused.com’ had performed better than one by ‘Compare the Market’. Missing the point I think when you see that Mr. Aleksandr Orlov now has well over 600K facebook fans.

6/ That being said, TV advertising is far from dead. Comcast proved that without question – simply genius http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYAOLKSAaBM

7/ There is more than one way to skin a cat. Or launch a new car. As VW showed with the Golf GTI in the US http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/golf-gti-iphone-usa-2009-10-29

8/ You really are only as good as your last burger. See Fallon + Sony + Balls.

9/ Baku is interesting the first time you visit. On each subsequent trip it is blustery, dusty and a long way from home. Bakcell were doing well when we left them though.

And finally, one other thing that I now know all too well.

10/ Nappies are easy. Not pleasant, but easy. Thanks for every one Avie x.

The Jam used to tell us that the bitterest pill was hard to swallow.

But as I watch the political landscape here in the UK develop it seems our current and future political leaders no longer feel that holds true.

As the parties set out their respective stalls ahead of next years’ contest, I wonder if ever before an election has been contested on the basis of ‘vote X, it’s going to be much worse with us’!

It tells us something about the world we live in today I guess. That the levels of trust we have for our leaders have fallen to such a low level that they now feel the only course of action is to be honest with us.

Research Gyro conducted a year or so back showed that in the midst of the credit crunch less than 17% of us (believe we) trust advertising…. . if you’re a bank brand I doubt things have improved.

Marketers of course know all this. They also know that consumers are savvier, more informed and – in theory at least – should have more control over their choices.

And as such the best brands and agencies are responding. Day after day we see, dream up and argue over various brand attempts at collaboration, co-creation and participation.

So as we move forward into 2010 and beyond, we will undoubtedly see more and more stunning ideas in this area as we all become used to these changing times.

We’re going to see more openness, more honesty and less spin. And personally, I think I look forward to it. It can only be good for the soul.

The Real Thing?

Coca Cola’s lawyers obviously need a holiday … to Corsica.

On a recent trip there I discovered the locals have their very own version of The Real Thing – Corsica Cola - and they haven’t been shy in using the Coke packaging as the inspiration for their own e.g.

http://www.fractal-angel.org/photo/img/photo0829.jpg

At first I assumed that Coke must own or license the brand but I am reliably informed that the Pietra brewery on the island actually launched it in 2003.

So how have they managed to create something so similar to and seemingly ‘get away with it’? Of course I’m no lawyer so maybe there simply isn’t a case to answer but if there is then what could the story be?

Well what became very evident whilst travelling around was the fierce pride in being Corsican. Road signs are presented in both French and the local Corse language but the French version is almost always painted (or sometimes shot!) out. Advertising celebrates a ‘made in Corsica’ sentiment. And restaurants delight in serving up all manner of traditional and very local delights.

So one theory has to be that a judgement call has been made at Coke HQ that the newspaper headlines created by tackling Pietra in the courts would do the brand more harm than good on this very proud island.

Maybe. Maybe not. Either way one final question remains.

Does Corsica Cola taste like The Real Thing?

Simply, no! Though certain other brands sold by the Pietra brewery do come recommended.

U2 Love Blackberry .... and Apple

I have always been told to Zig when your competitors Zag … or Zag when your competitors … you get the picture!

I’ve just seen the new Blackberry ad, “We Love U2”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx_wdg-BSaY

I like it … but it reminded me of something …

What was it … of course, the iPod U2 ad!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nljs4kzpebU

A mistake? An oversight?

No, I can’t believe it’s anything but a conscious effort to take a leaf out of the iPod book of marketing.

After all, if you want to emulate them and beating them is not really on the agenda, why not copy them? Mmmmm ….

Wally

It’s awards season and over the last couple of days I’ve found some time to look through a selection of entrants and winners from both the D&ADs and Cannes Lions.

There are plenty more to look through but I’m currently dothing my cap to a couple of nice uses of outdoor and one barnstormer of an idea that blasts through all channels.

Virgin Trains and the guys at Spike did the talking billboard which, no matter how often I see it, still gives me that envious, ‘why didn’t we think of that’ feeling!

http://www.spikeuk.com/vtposter.html

The next bit of outdoor magic comes from Australia and it’s a beauty. It’s a fantastically simple, fun and engaging way to get money out of people’s pockets (via their phone bills) and improve the lives of Sydney’s dogs and cats.

http://awards.dandad.org/2009/categories/mmkt/mobile-marketing/20776/throw-us-a-bone

The last one is a BIG IDEA. And it’s a little more hardcore. In fact you might want to look at it first and then use the previous two to relax.

If you haven’t seen this before I won’t spoil the fun. Just hit the link below to Meet Wally’s Heart.

http://awards.dandad.org/2009/categories/intg/integrated/18822/meet-wallys-heart

Just A Little Bit Better

I did an interview in Starbucks this morning before work. “Why Starbucks?” asked Janet when I arrived at work?

Her inferred point was right. I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing it at Costa or that blue place even though it’s a little closer to the tube. So why Starbucks?

Of course there isn’t a single reason. They’re just ‘a little bit’ better in every aspect.

The chairs are a little more comfortable. The tables are a little further apart. The barristers are a little friendlier. Their sustainability initiatives are a little more interesting. Their loyalty cards are a little cooler. Their coffee is a little better. They are a little bit better at making a dry cappuccino. Their digital work is a little more engaging. And the whole experience just feels a little warmer.

Here’s to being that little bit better. It’s on the margins that brands win and lose.