Comments for Big Thinkers

Comment on New campaign in Israel to raise awareness of AIDS among teens by Julian Saunders

Julian Saunders — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 14:21:18 +0000

A short film about SIDA is here
http://www.youtube.com/user/joinedupcompany?feature=mhum

Comment on How we change:the value of learning seminar by Stuart Baird

Stuart Baird — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 10:10:08 +0000

Both sessions were useful and engaging. There was quite a lot to cover off. The main things I got out of it was the need to create team dynamics, space and time to think creatively, to ‘always be in beta’ is a geek message we should all live by: learn to challenge, get involved in the conversations – try things out, accept that in creative industries there will be failures – and wonderful success.

There was a lot of enthusiasm in the room with people coming from a wide range of backgrounds, experience and expertise: this should be the approach for incoming briefs. Harnessing that collective brainpower and creativity will lead to more innovative solutions.

Only minor gripe with the sessions is – we know what good private sector ads look like what I want to know is what lessons are applicable (the journey to the execution, how the creative came together?) because let’s face it brands like Nike and VW have invested in their brand and product for about 2 generations and they are selling something people want and aspire to. This is the polar opposite to what we are trying to do: do people really aspire and want to give up on fags, chips and beer, even if they do are they allowed to think that way by the commercial sector behind those industries (granted there is no ‘chips’ industry – but you know what I mean) ?

Finally – let’s bring more activity examples that aren’t ads.

Comment on How we change:the value of learning seminar by jeremy Sweeney

jeremy Sweeney — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 20:21:12 +0000

Hierarchical communications styles (which Government communications often are, however skillfully camouflaged) are increasingly alien to the current generation who are natives of the plural and democratic web based communications.

In a democratic based communications system one of the rules is that there has to be a value exchange ie if I (the brand or message originator) want you the target to read or listen to what I want to say then there has to be something immediate in it for you, above and beyond an important health warning etc. The message or medium needs to connect to something of immediate human value, like humour, warmth, feeling good, tangible threat etc.

Comment on How to make Behavourial Economics a useful tool for multi-disciplinary teams by Julian Saunders

Julian Saunders — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 09:07:18 +0000

The IPA booklet Behavioural Economics- Red Hot or Red Herring identifies 7 principles that are of relevance to communicators:-
1) Loss Aversion-it can feel twice as painful to lose an item as it was to acquire it in the first place.
2) The Power of Now-people engage less with future events than they do with current events
3) Scarcity Value-Unavailability is more appealing than availability
4) Goal Dilution- people can’t take in too much information at any one time
5) Chunking-It is easier to deal with things in chunks that be presented with “one long task”
6) Price Perception-Price is not so much the consequence of the value we perceive we are getting –rather the price that is demanded makes us value it.
7) Choice architecture is critical-how something is presented has a big impact on whether it is selected and there is no neutral way to present a choice as all choices are presented in a context

Comment on How to make Behavourial Economics a useful tool for multi-disciplinary teams by Janet Grimes

Janet Grimes — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 08:28:50 +0000

What I particularly like about this whole approach is that it seems to chime so well with “common sense”. Not to do down our very disciplined strategic approaches – but in a couple of hours brainstorming with a few bright and enlightened individuals you can come up with some great solutions – as evidenced by the IPAs test sessions.

Comment on New practice 4: The learning organisation by GrowTaller4Free

GrowTaller4Free — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 20:55:15 +0000

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Comment on The future of communications planning by Tony UK Web Hosting Services

Tony UK Web Hosting Services — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:17:15 +0000

Hi,

I would also add that people often think of IT as having a small “I” & a big “T” but we should always think of the requirement first & build the system around this.

I have so often seen at first hand (in government & private sector projects) the emphasis on the technology to the detriment of the processes & the people actually using the system.

I always try to think big “I”, small “t”.

Keep up the good work!
Tony

Comment on Watch the video of Richard Thaler’s speech by Karl Milner

Karl Milner — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:15:01 +0000

Always entertaining and informative, so I was gutted was not able to make it to see this – but enjoyed it on-line all the same. I have two questions for the man:

1. There is one fundamental flaw in these fantastically interesting insight led products: By their very nature you can’t industrialise them. Surely a lot of these ideas are so attractive because they are so novel and that’s no good to me – I want results on a population scale and you can’t “trick” all the people a all or the time right?

2. Do I detect the faint aroma of the magic get out of jail argument: “the market will provide” under-lying lots of these fantastically innovative and interesting products? I think specifically of the electronic disclosure point – I believe openness can drive behaviour, but in most situations I work in (GP satisfaction data for example) creating an app. will require a helping hand from a benevolent system manager or clever regulator rather than spontaneously appearing from the magic market fairy – who doesn’t live in Dewsbury and isn’t interested in low margins. Given the lack of magic market fairies in this neck of the woods can the cold hand of the state do this stuff just as well

… and by the way couldn’t the cold handote state industrialise that product quicker? ummm?

Best K.

Comment on Belgian campaign to prevent driving whilst holding a mobile by Brian Jenkins

Brian Jenkins — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 10:45:19 +0000

It’s a clever idea – neat linking of platforms. That bit is innovative. But is this really any more of a nudge than a road safety radio? This viral recerates a dramatic first hand experience, which the radio ad doesn’t. But the radio ad will be heard by drivers as they’re driving.

Comment on The future of communications planning by Brian Jenkins

Brian Jenkins — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 16:05:46 +0000

The session reminded us, as if we needed reminding, that to communicate effectively in the digital age, the barriers between different silos need to be brought down. To be effective, marketing requires good creative ideas which engage people emotionally and intellectually, and those ideas need to be transmutable across different platforms and media.
We should additionally remember the significant number of citizens who are digitally excluded. Just as Peter Kemp from M4C referred to Nascar Blindness, I think a lot of people in UK media have Apple Vision – they think that everyone, like them, are immersed in iPhone and iPad use. The biggest seller of mobile phones in the world is still Nokia.