The100: IKEA effects, the voice of reason and pozzy-wallahs

Marriages taken in part-exchange The IKEA Effect is an interesting bias whereby we value things that require more effort because we’ve committed something of ourselves to them. In a 2 minute video at the bottom of that same page, Rory Sutherland explains how it can also destigmatize low prices: It’s rather like if you have …

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The100: Nicey-nicey ads, real strategy, and nessecarily [sic]

No such thing as ‘strategic planning’ Roger Martin, Professor Emeritus at University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, shares more valuable ideas on strategy & planning in a 10 minute video than I thought possible, including:  A strategy is an integrative set of choices that positions you on a playing field of your choice in …

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The100: Cognitive empathy, broken Nudge theory and Lisbon’s toilets

Nudge, nudge, hoodwink Tim Harford wrote an excellent piece in the FT called ‘What nudge theory got wrong…’.  A collective intake of breath from the behavioural scientists out there: If your problem is basically that fallible individuals are making bad choices, behavioural science is an excellent solution. If, however, the real problem is not individual …

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The100: Algospeak, logo debranding and polite elephants

Context is everything  Adam Ferrier writes about why creativity always loses the battle against indifferent consumers.  If you (or your company) pre-test creative work you need to read this. In fact, you need to read it anyway, especially if you use focus groups.   While we’re strong advocates of research and the commissioning of qualitative and …

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The100: Clients vs agencies, reality checks, and pillow fights 

Ask-a-Researcher Is there a better combination than when something is both useful and fun? Didn’t think so.  That’s why we asked a few of our researchers (who have walked the hallways of Cadbury, Kraft, Mondelez, Fonterra, PepsiCo, Unilever and Alberto Culver) to discuss some topical research related questions. Kind of like an advice column for …

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The100: Data visualisation, designed systems, and marble runs

Ear candy The Right Honourable Lord of Marketing, Russell Davies, was interviewed as part of Google’s excellent Firestarters series. On data, he said (45:00):  “The data gold rush era is declining. We’ve never had more data about our customers and we understand them less and less […] People with intuition and empathy will get disproportionate …

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