art of conversation

TEAMWORK WINS IN BARCELONA

(picture by No Pip No!)
Reports of the death of qualitative research have been greatly exaggerated.

I returned from the 4th annual AQR/QRCA conference in Barcelona with the feeling that there is life both within and beyond the focus group.
(More pix here)

What started as an idea over crab cakes lunch in Grand Central Station nine years ago has become a regular collaboration between AQR and QRCA - qualitative research trade associations based in UK and US respectively.

That restaurant has now gone, Pat Sabena tells me. I hope the conference continues to thrive – it really has something to offer. It was quite possibly the best thing to happen in Barcelona since April 23, at the nearby Nou Camp.

Dyson @ Grand Designs

Last week, I took a trip to the Grand Designs exhibition at the Excel Centre . I stumbled across the Dyson stand exhibiting their new 'ball' vacuum cleaner.

I wondered what makes this a 'grand design?' It has the combination of innovation and simplicity. It was very intuitive to move in all directions, not just back and forth. It provokes the response 'Why didn't anybody think of that before?'

Here's me trying the new Dyson hoovering (or Dysoning?) around a computer generated lounge.

Below is the latest Dyson ad where a leading engineer claims traditional vacuum cleaners have an inherent design flaw: they're restricted by four wheels. Enter the new Dyson pivoting on a roller ball.

Dyson are confident their vacuum plus 'ball' will sell at a premium of £300. It's innovative, uncomplicated and robust and seems a logical progression from older models. They haven't needed to reinvent the wheel.

Simon

In Search of Authenticity

Our tenth post in the series Quite Interesting Things You Didn’t Know about Borough Market, features ‘honey jam’ made by Tuscan nuns and chocolate made by monks.

Both products are from the Tuscan Monastery of Camaldoli, where Simona grew up. Now she is selling these products at Borough Market. Have a look ...

These days, we all want more authenticity. The more specific a manufacturer can be about provenance and contents, the more authentic they can claim to be. So, Becks beer is not from Germany, but from Bremen, Germany. Supermarkets now regularly mention the name of the farmer or the farm where their produce comes from.

Wandering around Borough Market is like wandering among the stalls of small-scale food producers from all over the world. You feel you are buying quality and authenticity (at a price, mind you). There’s also the reassurance that you are buying from a reliable source.

And who could be more reliable than nuns and monks?

Simon

Focus groups – dead or alive? Discuss.

(Picture by Capt Kodak) Following the bombshell that Sir Ralan Sugar thinks market research is valuable (see below) comes the revelation in this month’s Management Today that “focus groups” were first used in the second world war by the US military to test their propaganda films.

Focus groups have had a rather mixed reputation ever since. Love them or hate them, they have certainly become commonplace as an activity, but they have never lost that whiff of control and manipulation.

So, is it time to ditch them or time to re-instate them? The issue is being debated at the upcoming and highly recommended AQR/QRCA conference, Bridges to Excellence, Barcelona, May 7 – 9, 2008.

Over recent years, focus groups have come in for regular and pointed criticism. A good summary of everything that is “wrong” with them is here. The author, Philip Hodgson, says: “The big mistake is in believing that what the mind thinks, the voice speaks. It is time to start embracing methods that can deliver stronger predictive value.”

But who in their right mind thinks that what people say in groups (or at any other time) matches or predicts their behaviour? It is interesting that most of the criticism of focus groups comes from those who have another methodology to sell.

Of course focus groups as a means to evaluate something is flawed – and always have been. But this completely misses the point. As a way of exploring and understanding things, they are very useful. Because inside every focus group there is a potentially valuable conversation. The problem with “focus groups” is the focus, not the group.

To be honest, we hate the term “focus groups”. We do “unfocused groups”, or “group discussions” as we quaintly persist in calling them. Part of the problem is that focus groups as a brand have become bigger than the qualitative research process that they should be seen as being part of.

There were 9,689 results from a search of “focus groups” on Flickr. I think there were three kinds of things in the pictures.

Manipulation apparatus: most significantly, the one-way mirror; also things such as tick-box questionnaires ...

Facilitating apparatus: things like, chairs, flip charts, pens ...

Generative apparatus: people and their ideas, honest conversation, sitting in a circle, smiling, listening, being non-judgemental ...

What if we did focus groups using far less control and manipulation? There has been some interesting work on this topic, such as Francis Yelland and Caryl Varty's 1997 MRS Conference paper on unmoderated groups.

And such as the development of Open Space facilitation by Harrison Owen and others in the 1980s.

Most commercial group discussions are a balance between what matters to the participants and what matters to the paymasters. Perhaps that balance has slipped over the years.

We shall return to this theme. Don’t go away.

FOR NOT LISTENING TO FOCUS GROUPS - YOU'RE FIRED

In the latest episode (about new flavours of ice-cream) Sir Ralan (as he's always called) made a surprising reference to market research. He told the teams to do some research (their attempts were hilarious), and in the boardroom he emphasised its importance. "In my business career," he said, "I have learnt to set aside my own opinion and to do research to find out what the public think" (or words to that effect).

Well you could have knocked me down with a feather. I thought Sir Ralan's view of market research would be roughly as enlightened as his view of advertising (ie very old fashioned). And yet, there he is, so far on the side of the angels as far as market research is concerned, he is actually beyond reasonable.

I don't think we have any clients so angelic as to actually set aside their own opinion in the face of research. In fact clients tend to modify, expand or extend their opinion as a result of new insights from research, and I would argue that this active collaboration is a good thing.

So, a surprising view from Sir Ralan, and all the more welcome for that. Maybe he's a better role model for young business people than I thought.

Dominic

Let me tell you a story

Reading Kevin’s previous post, about recognisable themes or ‘hooks’ in ad campaigns, reminded me of a recent report from trendwatching.com.

The report explores how advertising has been telling ‘brand stories’ for decades; building up (and adding to) a story with recognised themes. Trendwatching.com has identified a new type of story which may eventually surpass the brand's own story.

They have named these ‘Status Stories’ and go on to explain that as more brands become niche, their stories are not always known by the masses. For niche brands, experience takes over from physical (and more visible) status symbols, leaving consumers telling each other stories to achieve a status from their purchases. Trendwatching.com therefore expects to see a shift away from brands telling their own story and towards brands helping consumers tell status-yielding stories to other consumers.

From the examples within the report, it is interesting to see if there is a move away from passive acceptance (or rejection) of a brand's own story and whether it is increasingly possible for consumers to have a more active role in the shaping the brands they buy and use.

So, I’m off to create my own personalised Kleenex box and start my first status story today!

Katie

"Confidence is a preference..."

There seem to be a growing number of TV programmes on advertising at the moment (eg Mad Men). To follow this trend, we thought 'why not post our favourite adverts?'

So, this is it. My favourite ad:

This is a cult ad which is meant to celebrate the football culture of Hackney Marshes and it does so with soul, grit and tension. Rough tackles, face-to-face blowouts, 87 football pitches full of real people battling it out.

Amongst them are a handful of 90's football greats such as ‘King Eric’, Ian ‘Wright Wright Wright’, and Robbie ‘God’ Fowler. Wearing average Joe style football shirts, they struggle alongside the other players. The great play with the small, the playing field is levelled.

And then there’s the iconic 'Parklife' song, the perfect fit. The voiceover is like a Harry Redknapp, Terry Venables and Barry Fry hybrid jollying you through the footballing scenes, and oozes an East London feel.

“Who's that gut lord marching. You should cut down on your pork-life, mate.
Get some exercise!”

It feels accessible and aspirational at the same time, it’s for Gods, Kings and us mere mortals. It makes you want to strap on your boots, don that number 7 shirt and get down to the park.

Nike's mission statement is:

"To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world. If you have a body, you are an athlete."

Or as I've heard it quoted. "everyone's an athlete - but only some of us train"

Simon

Keeping Continuity Creative

We’ve been thinking a lot recently about ads that ‘work’ and ads that don’t. Partly because me and my mate Chris Forrest were invited to talk about Stephen King’s Masterclass in Brand Planning at the book club hosted by Nick Southgate and those other nice people at Grey London.

The conversation came round to long-running campaigns which have a strong and recognisable theme or hook.

Apparently it takes about two years for associative connections to become forged in our brains. And that once the connection is made, it is hard or impossible to break. So you’d think the aim in marketing communications would be find a set of associations, something distinctive and recognizable and stick to it – update it and refresh it, add to it, by all means, but keep something constant.

Here are two ads trying to ‘move on’. Direct Line is a good example of how not to do it. Cadbury’s Flake does it well – although not everyone agrees.

The VO starts, “small business owners, we know you’re hard to impress…” and the ad is a slow zoom in on some random, expressionless guy. The VO drones on as the hard-to-impress face gets bigger and we end up looking at a Post-It note with a URL scribbled on it in tiny writing.

Actually, that was the original version. They subsequently added the red phone and the panel on RHS of the end frame. The point is, remove that red phone, which immediately brings DL’s shrill jingle to mind, and there is nothing left, at all. Perhaps they were trying to be all ‘business-y’ and thought the phone and its jingle was too childish or too consumer-y. Big mistake. Our mental image of Direct Line is almost certainly red-phone-shaped, these connections being well and truly forged by now.

What mental associations have been forged around Cadbury’s Flake? Perhaps, the woman on her own, the music/theme tune and the spilled crumb bit. The latest version features Joss Stone and has two of those three elements. She is not on her own literally, although she is maybe in her own world during her ‘Flake break’. To my mind it is a successful update, keeping enough continuity with the past but modernizing and making the portrayal of the woman far more credible, far less of an adman’s construct.

We don’t see Joss Stone stepping out into the rain, whereas previous Flake women seemed always to get wet, for some reason (in the field, in the canoe heading helplessly for the waterfall, in the convertible, in the bath).

In the book club, some people preferred the more artful Flake ads of the past, like the one with the overflowing bath and the lizard. Two separate ads, it turns out. This is the bath one:

Our brains play tricks on us. But they do love continuity in their advertising.

How to follow success?

It’s notoriously hard to follow a successful first album or Premier League season. Or advert.

We’ve all been trying very hard to like and appreciate Fallon’s follow-up to their inspired gorilla marketing, but it's just not happening. We preferred the emperor in his gorilla suit, this new outfit is a serious let-down.

We don’t have a problem with ‘irrelevant, unrelated, but fun’ ads, to quote a comment on CR blog. But it seems to us that, the more pointless an ad is, the more entertaining it needs to be.

It’s not that it’s got nothing to do with chocolate, that is not the issue. It’s the fact that the whole, expensive production seems to be devoid of an idea – or is it, toys (boys?) just wanna have fun? And does it resonate with women (not unimportant in the realm of chocolate buying)?

Maybe we are just not fascinated enough by airport vehicles, or Tonka toys. Maybe Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now doesn’t do it for us as a soundtrack. (Apparently this was a late call by the agency) The ad is like the Pixar film ‘Cars’ without the personality. But personality is exactly what an ad like this needs.

It seems that we are not alone in our disappointment. "I just can’t help but think this was the ad agency having one very boring and very expensive w**k at Cadbury’s expense" says TVs worst adverts

Seriously, the gorilla playing trombone would have been better than this. Or maybe we are missing something?

'PEOPLE BUY HOUSES THE SAME WAY THEY BUY SOCKS OR WASHING POWDER'

An ethnographer once told me this, and I think she was being controversial. Her theory was that people use the same kind of judgements (emotional and rational) when buying a house as they do when buying socks or washing powder.

However my own experience of buying a house is that there is a big 'aah' moment of emotional connection when you decide in your heart to buy it, but only a very little 'aah' with socks, or Persil etc. There is also a sense of drama when deciding on a house, that this is one of the more significant moments of your life, which you tend not to get with M&S pure cotton or Persil (unless you're the brand manager maybe).

But far more significant for me is the different mind state of being an active buyer vs a non buyer. I used not to buy anything at all if I could help it, but I've bought a lot in the past year. We've been doing up our house, so we've bought entire bedrooms, a whole kitchen, every kind of brand or appliance you can think of. Currently I'm trialling rugs, next it's TVs, then garden furniture and so on.

I think that being a buyer is a mentality. It's like a job. You explore the market, find out the leading brands, make your choice, find the best place to buy then wham, on to the next purchase. And yes, there is an 'aah' moment of emotional connection, faintly reprised in gradually decreasing waves whenever you look at the thing over the next few weeks/ months.

Being a buyer is like being hungry. You are looking to buy, you are actively scanning the market or the fixture, it's not a question of whether you will buy into the category just which brand you will choose. You get annoyed if you can't find what you want. And if you are not a buyer it's like not being hungry where any 'interruption' with offers of food just make you irritated.

All of which confirms my first instinct: that advertising and communications focused on people currently looking to buy from that category (narrow cast) is likely to be more effective and the role of broadcast is to direct us buyers to where we can find out more. We're in the market, so help us complete.

Dominic

A pinch of Anglo-Saxon loyalty

A very apt post on Adliterate saying we should be demanding greater ‘loyalty from brands rather than offering up yours for the price of a coffee’.

Blowing the dust off my English degree notes, I reminded myself of the notion of loyalty in Anglo-Saxon times. A great number of Old English stories were underpinned by the notion of ‘loyalty’: if the lord provided his faithful ‘retainers’ with lodgings and food, in return they would serve, fight and even die for him.

My friend told me his modern story of brand loyalty. He had been with his mobile provider for ten years and thought he was being looked after with a good monthly talk-plan. It turns out he wasn’t getting the best deal compared with competitors. When he told his provider this, they offered nothing to make him stay. ‘After all the time and money I spent with them, they did so little - there’s no such thing as loyalty.’

It would seem that this is no isolated case. After reading through articles such as Martin Lewis and this is money, there is little evidence of loyalty being rewarded in the financial services sector.

“They’ll do anything to get you, but they don’t look after you once you're there”, my mother used to say.

No wonder we’re so switching crazy at the moment.

Shouldn’t brands take a look at the Anglo-Saxon system and do much more to reward the loyalty of their modern-day ‘retainers’ and stop them switching to different brand lords?

Simon

Another New Girl

After years of event management in the music and media biz, I thought it was time to start a more fulfilling and rewarding career in ‘people research’. It’s exciting to be in an environment that’s focused on trying to find out what people really think, feel and what drives them.

So, after a brief stint at another qualitative research company, I found myself in the eclectic and buzzy area that is Borough, at the lovely Wardle McLean where the passion is there for finding those real thoughts and feelings.

I work on the Field and administration side of things, which means I have a real insight into a project from to finish. Oh yes… and I seem to be surrounded by lovely little beetles too.

When I’m not working, you’ll find me pottering around Greenwich market hunting for a bargain, reading anything by Natsuo Kirino but mostly planning my next snowboarding trip.

Lavinia

REVOLUTIONARY RESEARCH

Research2008, The latest annual market research conference, "The Great (Client) Debate", featured hand-held interactive voting gizmos, shown en masse here, resting ominously. The audience in the big room could vote on propositions, REAL-TIME.

It was really fun, but it is also a cautionary tale, as REAL-TIME is one of the many things that clients want researchers to be doing, along with DRIVING things down, DELIVERING things, finding SOLUTIONS, taking ACTION and CHANGING things.

In a paper about the Post Office (coincidentally), the audience was asked to rank the relative levels of trustworthiness of each of the following:
a) the Prime Minister
b) the Kray twins
c) a Cadbury's Creme Egg McFlurry
d) YOUR LOCAL POST OFFICE
e) Northern Rock

The bar charts with percentages appeared REAL TIME, with the Post Office emerging as second-most trustworthy, apparently reflecting the national view, not just the views of the seven people in the audience who managed to vote in time.

REAL TIME research was sometimes spontaneously invoked by the chair. Let's ask the audience, they said, whether you prefer ...
a) chalk
b) cheese
c) don't know

While it was great to see REAL-TIME research in action, it was also a reminder that maybe speed isn't everything.

The gizmos could also send anonymous texts to the chair. I heard that there were some genuinely angry, even shocking messages sent. Were people hiding their true views under the cover of anonymity? Were these 'shock texts' partly the reason for the lack of debate? Were they the audience's defensive response from the occasional verbal assault from the platform?

Meanwhile, a short walk from the Great (Silent) Debate, was a much louder Pub Debate, featuring a number of people doing a range of entertaining and unfathomable things in the interests of freshness and revolution, what they called 'real research'.

Acacia Avenue hosted a group discussion with builders talking about hair products;
Chris Forrest rhetorically asked Why Are We Here and Mike Imms and John Griffith acted out the meaning of insights, using hoops, plastic balls and home-made mirrors. As a metaphor, it was so extended it went to the Elephant and back, via Victoria, taking a few detours en route, but it kept everyone amused. Maybe that was the insight.

I had to leave before we had fully worked it all out, but weirdly I bumped into someone oddly familiar, REAL TIME, right outside the MI5 building.

This person claimed to have NOTHING to do with the Post Office. Hmmm...

IN SEARCH OF INSIGHT

Half way down the steps into Vauxhall tube station, returning from our industry’s annual conference, billed as “The Great Debate”, I think I had an insight.

It seemed a good conference although there wasn’t actually much debate (always a struggle, that), but there were lots of clients, lots of sponsors and for the first time, interactive voting gizmos. And nice coffee.

Perhaps it helped that clients went for half price (“The Great Rebate”) and that the new chair is a client, who works for the Post Office who coincidentally sponsored the event and provided some of the speakers.

For all these improvements, though, the conference on Day One quickly became “The Great Complaint” as a succession of clients and ex-clients ganged up on research and researchers. Here we go again. Take that, you dull, repetitive, unworldly person! Why don’t you know all about our business, from the inside? Why can’t you be more concise, INSIGHTFUL and action-oriented? Why can’t you BE MORE LIKE US?

One session featured a technique called Death By Vox Pop. Two presenters stood up and said, watch this video, then sat down again. What followed was an interminable, random succession of clients (one of whom, I swear, was sitting up in bed) going on and on and on AND ON about how verbose researchers are. If the chair had not intervened, it would still be running now. (A question for the conference organisers, how can A VIDEO over-run its slot?). Apparently Vanella Should-Know-Better Jackson used the same technique on Day Two.

This same session challenged us to “drive business transformation through systemic insight generation”. The following session was about “the rigorous application of research tools and insights being treated as an integral part of any broader marketing activity”. WHAT?!

We were suffering from a bad case of business-speak. As if we were attempting to be more like our clients by sounding more like them. To be fair it was a client (the impressive Greg Nugent of Eurostar) who pointed this out. I don’t understand the Brief, he said, so I’m going to talk about something else! He wanted researchers to be as bold as this.

So in the spirit of boldness, I’ll assert that you cannot manufacture Insight. You don’t get it by talking about ‘ideating’ and ‘innovising’ either. Clarity is the first casualty of marketing. It’s not clear what we even mean by insight any more, despite the fact that research departments are now insight departments. Insight may be the new currency, but it has a highly volatile exchange rate. (All metaphors courtesy of Mike Imms Metaphors Inc)

So this occurred to me on the steps into the Tube. When is an idea an insight? When is information insightful? When it is of value to the client and is not something that they would otherwise have seen. So are insights best derived from the inside (of companies), or do you need some distance, some independence from the organisation, to bring an understanding of the real world and real people to bear on business issues?

I'd argue the latter - and I'd agree with Nick Bonney and Jonathon Fletcher that by working better and more collaboratively with clients, we are all better off. But this is easier said than done.

The thing is, research cannot change business. Only business can change business. As Stephen King said (as quoted in the invaluable 'Master Class in Brand Planning - The Timeless Works of Stephen King')...
"the researcher must be seen as an expert on what is, not on what to do about it ... we should insist that his real role is to interpret and bring to life what goes on in the world”

Jamon everybody

The ninth in our occasional series, Quite Interesting Things you maybe Didn’t Know about Borough Market focuses on Brindisa, one of our favourite places in the whole market. If you’ve never been to Brindisa, go.

This is Zac, hard at work on one of Brindisa’s wonderful hams.

Joselito Gran Reserva ibérico is widely regarded as Spain’s best ham, with a sweet and nutty and a melting texture. Using free range pigs fed on a diet of acorns, the production of these hams in Guijuelo near Salamanca has remained the same for a century.

Jabugo ibérico ham is produced by the same supplier, but from pigs only partially fed on acorns and cured further south in hotter temperatures for less time, this ham is slightly more savoury.

Brindisa has a tapas bar and a shop. The shop sells the best olives and the best ham you’ll find anywhere. The tapas bar is brilliant, but you can’t book in advance, just turn up, and enjoy.

NEW GIRL

After spending a decade at Synovate (and its previous incarnations), honing my skills and curiosity, I heard about this and decided it was definitely time for a change - and what better agency to move to than Wardle McLean!

Whilst I was extremely lucky to experience a great deal of variety, exploring topics from legal publishing and government initiative with business respondents to perceptions of holidays, websites, transport needs and scratch cards with consumers, I was drawn to a small, but perfectly formed agency that understands the importance of conversation, clarity and insight at EVERY stage of the process. And no dodgy rap videos.

So here’s to bespoke thinking and continuing explorations (of the qualitative kind!)

Katie

SUPERMARKETS, SMOKE AND MIRRORS

Did you see Horizon last night? Billed as a scientific inquiry into the suspiciously impressive, scientific claims made by marketing, the programme was more spin than substance.

Horizon is the BBC’s “flagship scientific strand” and now uses more slick marketing techniques than the average TV advert. Professor Lesley Regan was dubbed "the prof” and we saw a lot of her (rather trendy) shoes, along with people in a stylised studio with white coats and heavy eye make-up, products being put into a kind of refrigerated, reverse Room 101.

In a very post-modern twist, the prof investigated ‘supposedly scientific’ claims by doing a highly unscientific experiment involving 10 pairs of twins. So it was science, done as entertainment, which told us in effect to keep buying brand name goods but to ignore superfoods and organic produce. Thanks, prof.

Ships Passing in the Night

I wanted to post a mini-observation now six months into my qual life (see first post) which may (or may not) be familiar to you …

It’s late in the evening. The train pulls in to Euston station and I’m standing at the train door waiting to get off. I notice a man to my left holding a ‘Spectrum’ viewing facility bag stuffed with polyboard.

“Market Reseacher?” I ask.

“Yep. Been talking to young men about lads mags in Manchester. How about you?”

“To mechanics in the Midlands about employment,” I answer.

“It’s fun life on the road.”

We smiled at each other and parted.

A little people talk

Doing qualitative research you come across a lot of people. Typically, one group of people ('clients') is trying to understand another group of people ('consumers'). Our job is to facilitate this.

I am just back from a sabbatical, having had a baby. Meet Amelia, six weeks old.

It took me a while to realise this, but babies are people. Little people, but people nonetheless. They communicate their needs and desires to us ('waaaiiigghhrr'!) and our job is to listen and interpret the sounds and read the other signs (the facial expressions, the body language etc).

So why is it that when we interview grown-ups, some clients say, yes but, is that true / why do they keep contradicting themselves / do they really mean that? You don't say to a baby, 'for heaven's sake, can't you be more consistent!'. So why expect people in groups to 'be consistent' or to have answers or deliver insights. Grown-ups need attention and support and encouragement, just like babies do.

Good research comes down to interpretation and in order to get the answers and the insights, like good parenting, you need curiosity, sympathy and patience.

Babies. Something to teach us all.

Getting the Point

As the new girl at Wardle McLean, I am really pleased to be joining a team that places ‘conversation’ at the heart of what we do as qualitative researchers. However, as Kevin has previously discussed, so much of our communication is non verbal and I realised that whilst away on holiday over Christmas, I was totally intrigued by how we interact with each other when there is no common language.

As we tried to get directions, I saw a gesture that usually infuriates me when I’m back in the UK. The gesture is only ever used by Politicians (hence the infuriation!) who, instead of pointing, which is far too aggressive by all accounts, will make a fist and place their thumb on top and use this to gesticulate. However, I found the same gesture is used in Malaysia where it is considered incredibly rude to point.

Whilst I still find politicians rather annoying, I’m intrigued that there can still be such large differences in the meaning of such small gestures. Indeed, in The Times this week, an article pointed to the importance of understanding local customs relating to non-verbal communications for soldiers in Afghanistan.

So even though I’m back home and able to converse with people, I’ll be watching closely to see what they are saying when they are not talking and how they say it!

Katie

TV advertising - Inform or entertain?

I like to think that I watch television to be entertained.

Cadbury’s ‘Guerilla’ made this quite clear for us in 2007. It does show that we love TV ads in the form of an entertaining story or spectacle (Sony ‘Balls’ and Guiness ‘Surfer’ also leap up as my top of mind examples).

Speaking recently with a friend who’s an agency creative, he told me some advice give to him as a creative newbie. His creative peers told him to make sure the creative grabs the viewer first and incorporate the rational elements (product benefits, price etc) secondly.“You need to make them switch on and take notice”, he went on. “A lot of the time, we present work and in the end the safest, most boring one gets chosen”.

I feel the more we see ‘safe’ advertising (facts & figures), the more we’ll switch off (and over). Should a bit more trust be relinquished to the creative agency? Could this produce more entertaining and effective advertising for viewers? Could this mean a few more £ in the coffers of advertisers?

It’s a tough call for advertisers to risk big budgets on more ‘entertaining’ advertising. From the POV of the armchair consumer, I’m sure this will make them sit up more in between Corrie.

Lost in Cyberspace?

Picking up a copy of the Guardian yesterday, I realised it contained a new ‘Joined-up Media’ supplement reporting news in the digital world. A subject now requiring its own supplement, it reminded me of the speed of convergence technology and our ever-growing dependency with our lives online. Does this mean, as I keep on reading, a significant amount of our free time will be spent online wedded to our beloved www, Facebook and self-styled avatars?

Well, I’m not too sure. Splitting our daily time into chunks - work, food, sleep, switch-off, shopping, exercise, socialising, online etc – I think of my friends and family, and there are very few I consider willing to indulge in such extensive ‘time-online’ (say more than 3 hours a week). This is not because they are technologically incompetent but because time is simply precious to them.

It could be argued that email and Social Networking will lure us into more time online. Initially I agree, but after their initial ‘thrill’ phases - and the MySpaces/Facebooks and Hotmail have had these- they ultimately serve as more expedient ways of staying in contact (like texting has become to us nowadays).

So, for the majority (techies aside that is), I would expect the greatest benefit of online now and in the future is to help us free time rather than consume it, spending hours lost in cyberspace accompanied by our alter-ego avatar. It may well give me a few extra minutes to read more Guardian supplements too.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

This year for the first time we are forgoing Christmas cards and giving the money saved to charity instead. Our chosen charity is Kids Company.

Kids Company (reg charity number 1068298) was founded in 1996 to provide practical and emotional support to children and young people. These are children who love their parents but live with worry for their well-being. Often the role of child and parent is reversed and the child is left surviving their experience of childhood alone.

The organisation delivers a preventative and reparative therapeutic service to children. It currently supports 11,925 clients, of whom 800 are parents and teachers. In excess of 95% of the children refer themselves or their peers to our services. Their services are delivered through 33 schools across London, a children’s centre in South London and a post-16 educational site.

You may like to come along to Borough Market for mulled wine and carol singing and join Kids Company by the Christmas Tree on 21st Dec – 2pm to 5pm, or 22nd Dec – 1pm to 3pm.

Incidentally, here is Carol.

Not singing, in this instance.

Surprising Sausages

Speldhurst is a small village in Kent that produces some very tasty sausages. It also happens to be the village where I grew up.

The other day, about to order food in a local pub, the words 'Speldhurst Sausages' leapt off the page. There were various 'SKUs': lamb and mint; lamb with herbs; pork with leek.

So was I overwhelmed by a ‘Lovemark’ experience, as I overlooked the rest of the menu and ordered Bangers & Mash, Speldhurst-style (scrumptious, if you're wondering)? I was quickly aware how my ‘love’ for the new-found Speldhurst 'brand' had driven my product choice.

And this from a man who used to work at Saatchi’s and who suggested that Lovemarks should be replaced by ‘Skidmarks’.

However, this example of Lovemark ‘brand loyalty’ is the exception that proves the rule - that people do not usually give a monkey's about brands. So, Speldhurst does not have a “Future Beyond Brands” and I don’t feel “they’re owned by” me either as if I had just bought a lovable puppy from a pet-store. So, maybe I’ll get over it. Normal rationality will be resumed shortly.

Simon

ALL TOGETHER NOW

As world leaders meet in Bali to talk about talking about targets to reduce carbon emissions, scientists are saying that unless we act together soon, it’s about damage limitation rather than prevention. Global carbon emissions have increased by 20% since the Bali summit was scheduled. Even if a limit of a 2% annual increase is achieved (a big if) there will be some very real effects of climate change to deal with.

(Collage by Donna Deestea)

So, it’s serious. We shall all be affected, one way or another. But, as we have asked before, how to persuade people (in Europe/the west) to change their behaviour?

A little anecdote. Sunday afternoon, central London. This guy’s been sitting in his parked car with the engine running for about half an hour. I made a ‘switch off ignition?’ gesture to him. What followed was not an edifying conversation. But it suggests that ‘collaboration’ is not that easy to achieve …

Me: I just wondered if you might switch off your engine? You’ve been there for ages and you’re not going anywhere and…
Him: What!? who the **** are you?
M: I’m a passer-by. I just noticed …
H: what’s it got to do with you?
M: I’m breathing your car’s fumes as I go past and …
H: … well cross over the street then!
M: do you not want to switch off your engine?
H: (angry) look, who are you?
At this point he got out his mobile phone took a picture of me and said
H: you’re a marked man!

"PASSPORT, DRIVING LICENCE OR IDENTITY 2.0?”

It would seem there’s a new conversation on the block - Identity 2.0. (Visual from Ulikleafar)

Russell Davies in last week’s Campaign, Notes From the Internet, Sxip and the CRM world are all talking about it; Wikipedia has recently added a new entry on it (watch Sxip’s CEO's impressive presentation on the subject - click below).

SOMETIMES IT'S HARD TO BE A BLOGGER

So much to say, so little time.

We are well busy with work - furiously frowning into our face-magnets - but we didn't want to miss all the interesting goings-on in Blogoland.

John Grant has some brilliant pieces on EVO and (further down) on possible effects on green-consciousness of a recession.

Gareth talks about the implications of Google going Green.

Mark is exercised by the limitations on the strategic planner.

Richard's crew are getting all hot and bothered about innocent drinks and the true meaning of brands.

And from us, a picture of a flying cat in someone's bedroom. Source here.

Call us shallow. Say it's meaningless. But we think it's funny.

And you can think (plan/strategise/rationalise etc) too much. Sometimes it's all about timing.

ALL MODERATING STARTS WITH ONE SMALL GROUP

Luke poked his head into the studio.
“They’re ready Simon”.

[Deep breath, nice and calm, be yourself - they won’t bite]

My experience of moderating my first ever groups was nerve-wracking. You certainly feel the anticipation.

In they came. Six of them. They were real, human and sitting right in front of me, expectantly. Now what?

QITABM #8

(ANOTHER) QUITE INTERESTING THING ABOUT BOROUGH MARKET (the 8th)

You have meandered the market, grabbed the grub, practised the pictures .... now you can buy the book!

The book is the The Borough Market Book: From Roots to Renaissance by Ptolemy Dean; Sheila Dillon; Henrietta Green (Author), Miranda Glover (Editor), Jason Lowe; Photographer (Illustrator).

You can buy it here via Amazon.

Christmas present perhaps? Any book by someone called Ptolemy has to be worth a look.

GREEN IS THE NEW GREEN

Yesterday the PM announced that he was setting up a new ‘green hotline’ to advise people on what they can do to cut their impact on the environment, as part of a new Green Homes Service, a single point of contact for people who want a "home energy audit".

So green is becoming mainstream. But why would the average UK householder want to do a 'home energy audit' who is not yet ‘converted’ to the green cause? And what would effect a change of heart?

Looking for answers, I went listen to John Grant, launching ‘The Green Marketing Manifesto’ at the AKA bar.

I'M GONNA BUY BUY BUY THAT BRAND

For years I never spent any money. Of course I bought my lunch, plenty of drinks, even very occasionally a car. But all the real spending, the month in, month out spending (food, clothes, everything) was all done by my wife. She buys everything the children need and until recently she bought everything for the home.

It's a cultural thing: men overestimate their influence as consumers, the real power in any market place is generally female.

On Your Marks

Christmas is coming and so are Christmas ads. Marks & Spencers’ contribution sees Elizabetj Jagger, Laura Bailey, Noëmie Lenoir, Erin O’Connor, Twiggy Lawson on the prowl for a hunky Antonio Banderas in an extravagant 1940s/50s outing, thanks to the creative talents of Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R.

James Surowiecki noted that advertising is less about conveying information about a product, than 'signalling confidence' in it. In this instance, M&S is signalling in a brilliant and safe way. It probably works perfectly for those who shop - or might shop - at M&S, to add a bit of glamour this Christmas .

Thinking back two years and before, M&S would have struggled to resonate with consumers with this style of communication, but on the back of successful campaigns with Take That and seductive food advertising, this latest ad exemplifies a drastic turnaround in fortunes from an old-school retailer to a new-school destination of choice.

This confident piece of festive communication from M&S continues the strategy of playing to their strengths as a retailer that offers exclusive range, glamorous quality and, dare I say it, no more of granddad’s cardigans.

Simon.

Colour. Like Another

Slumped on a hotel bed in York this weekend watching TV, I noticed Orange's latest 'never-ending' TV ad, young people exploding coloured ribbons, rolling colourful carpets (and so on) in the urban outdoors.

My mind turned to the Sony campaign (balls, paint, rabbit); I drifted back to those funky iPod adverts; then Persil's 'small and mighty' exploding clothes ad sprang to mind (reminding me again of Sony's 'Paint' ad).

Are we entering a new creative phase where brands battle creatively to 'own colour'?

WHAT ARE WE LIKE?

(Picture © PJ Miller)
It was fitting that we met at Congress House, home of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), location of this Sir Jacob Epstein statue, because I have rarely felt more ‘at one’ with my profession than I did on Friday. Camaraderie is underrated.

‘AQR@QRCA@AQR: changing times and challenging values’ wouldn’t mean a lot to anyone outside the rarified world of qualitative research, but this half-day conference was a great chance to get together and to look into what we do – as hosted by Peter Lovett and Julia Gartside-Spink and as already delivered to the QRCA in Atlanta last year and Vancoouver recently.

Nobody plans to become a qualitative researcher, we tend to fall into it. Despite the current media obsession with ‘focus groups’ (or maybe because of it), most people don’t understand what we do – including quite a few clients!

THE SUN SAVED MY BACON

I was puzzled stopping off at Pret for a late sandwich. The shelves were empty, all the good stuff gone, except for the BLT's. Plenty of bacon for anyone who wanted it. Then it clicked; there was a Sun headline two days ago, to the effect that bacon gives you cancer. Actually I think the Sun was in scoffing mode, but even so, the bacon scare has surely begun.
Makes you remember how much faster bad news travels than good news. And how the 'behavoural change' so beloved of advertising planners is so easily achieved by a 'scare'. And how quick people are to give up something that isn't addictive, compared to cigarettes for example. Oh well, at least the pigs will live a little longer.
Dominic

MORE CONVERSATIONS

Being office workers and write-y types, we spend a lot of time sitting and staring at our computers, frowning.

Computers are like face magnets. It is hard to tear yourself away.

So Dominic suggested that we create a time every day when everyone is encouraged to switch off their face magnets and sit around and talk.

QUITE INTERESTING ...

… THINGS YOU MAYBE DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT BOROUGH MARKET # 7

A feast of quite interesting things happening down the Market the last couple of days, with the 'Taste Spain' festival – a celebration of Spanish food and culture.

For example. did you know that Spanish persim(m)ons are derived from the Kaki fruit and are related to the Sharon fruit?

And did you know that persim(m)ons have their own PR agency? (RED communications)

And that there is some debate over their spelling? (see comments)

DOES STRATEGY STILL MATTER?

The advertising industry is cock-a-hoop over the Sony Bravia campaign and the Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Gorilla ad, both by Fallon. Sometimes you just have to stand back and admire the work – so hats off to the agency, plus whatever art students may have had the original ideas.

But a worrying question for strategists is, if