The100: Simulating scent, universally cool and Arun’s roof

Comparing apples to sliced apples When scent is central to a product, on-pack imagery that evokes that scent increases consumer preference. And the more the image stimulates scent, the greater that preference becomes. Fernando Arendar explains Sharma and Estes’ research: “People consistently preferred the versions with scent-related images. They imagined stronger aromas and rated the …

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The100: Unprompted opinions, value grids & goodbye

You may have spotted on LinkedIn that there are some big and exciting changes happening today when it comes to Watch Me Think. TL;DR: my time is done.  As a result, I’m also handing over The100 reins to my magnificent colleague, Fran. She’s been helping to edit these since, well, we can’t actually figure that …

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The100: Qual informed art, measuring magic and Gangman cam

Qual informed Art Playwright Alecky Blythe spoke at our recent UK event on communication. Alecky uses recorded conversations to build her scripts and make them more engaging. And Alecky isn’t alone. For those of you who remember the band Underworld (Born Slippy? From Trainspotting?), you might be surprised to hear Karl Hyde used a similar …

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The100: Happy days, Internal architecture & Tom Cruise.

Happy days are good days and last week, I had a very happy day. We had almost 300 people in a room in London to listen to 10 ace speakers and a super client panel, all on the subject of ‘Communication: Less conversation, more action’.  It’s a subject that’s extremely relevant in today’s world, and …

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The100: Glorious imperfections, dominant personalities and Rory

AI’m not crying, you are Young & Rubicam made an ad called ‘Computers Can’t Cry’ back in 1964.  To Eddie Shleyner’s point it’s still hugely relevant today. And weirdly comforting that even prior generations thought they were going to be usurped by machines.  Artificial empathy Sophie Henson has uncorked today’s daily dose of sense, in …

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The100: Who’s rich, model collapse and ‘quite good’ 

“Did the Beatles ever mention television in their songs?” In an article that’s both worrying and funny, Nicholas Carr shares Gemini’s problems: “First, with the confidence characteristic of chatbots, Gemini declares that, yes, indeed, the words “television” and “TV” appear in Beatles lyrics. It offers “Yellow Submarine” and “Here Comes the Sun” as prominent examples. …

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The100: Stirring stories, immortal failures and Bruce McClaren

Stories stir, numbers numb I enjoyed listening to strategist Kevin Chesters talk about crafting stories that drive behaviour change. As part of his research into storytelling, he spoke to a wide range of communicators, including a vicar who said:  “Often the only thing people remember about a sermon is not the words, but how the …

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The100: AI notetakers, purposeful inefficiency, and Gloria Steinem 

Negative social proof We’re a funny bunch of fish, us humans. And Richard Shotton has been reminding us why. He’s been looking at the pitfalls of trying to shock people into action by flagging negative behaviours, because you either excuse yourself (‘not me’) or you plead helplessness: “Either way, our behaviour is unlikely to change. …

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