The100: Best of 2021

To finish a year that’s gone faster than you can say “8-days-until-christmas”, we’ve gone back into the archives and dusted off the 10 most popular links featured in The100 during 2021. Best enjoyed with a brew, as always. In joint 10th 22 innovations that’ll change the world, the sonic extinguisher being a personal favourite. And while …

Continue reading

The100: Mind reading, bias firewalls and the Mars Rover

Bias Firewall Martin Agency has published a tremendous tool called The Visibility Brief. The aim of the document is to help us ask better questions, broaden perspectives and do more representative work. It’s advertising focused, but applies itself just as well to research. Also excellent is The Outside Directory, which lists UK creatives from everywhere …

Continue reading

The100: Awkward silences, trendy falsehoods, & Jurassic cats

The Effect bias I made that name up to describe my predilection for this wonderful clickable diagram of cognitive effects, biases and fallacies. A particular rabbit hole for me was the top right quadrant of too-much-information. Are you average? Apparently the average professional spends 21.5 hrs per week in meetings? Up from 14.2 pre-pandemic. Crikey. …

Continue reading

Empathy? Not feeling it.

Consumer closeness? Not even close. Consumer centricity? More like on the periphery. There is plenty written about these 3 key approaches to market research, but no one has nailed it. No one has got it working in such a way that they are really understanding people; and as a result, no one is really winning …

Continue reading

The100: Budget insights, shorter briefs and knickerbocker glories

Everything changes?   BBH labs have analysed consumer behaviours, beliefs and attitudes to see if ‘change’ is really true.  Change is to marketers what lightbulbs are to moths. We fixate upon emerging behaviours, fetishise the latest platforms, and fantasise about ‘new normals’. The world as understood through agency decks is a place of constant upheaval. There …

Continue reading

The100: Syllogistic reasoning, better briefs and the Burlap King

Machines need paths With apologies to many out there hanging their proverbial hat on AI, we have read an argument that states AI Is No Match for the quirks of Human Intelligence.  Insight problems generally cannot be solved by a step-by-step procedure, like an algorithm, or if they can, the process is extremely tedious.  I …

Continue reading

The100: Hedonic adaptation, the curse of knowledge & plastic cheese

Contrast, not constant Certainly we are evolutionarily wired to notice contrasts, not constants. Been lucky enough to go on holiday this year?  Wanted to stay there forever?  Well, apparently, that’s not advised. Without any contrast you won’t savour it as much, because you will adapt to the hedonism. Rory Sutherland (via one Mr D Kahneman, …

Continue reading

The100: Brand purpose, how to remember, and Miami Vice

“The Danger of a Single Story” The copywriter who just keeps on giving: Dave Trott again with a brilliant piece directly related to empathy: We are not the target market.  It’s a simple trap to fall into, and that’s perhaps why so many of us do. We are a consumer, but we are not the …

Continue reading