Have the last laugh The use of humour in advertising has nosedived over the last 15 years. As of 2020 just 34% of adverts were funny or lighthearted, down from 53% in 2004. And the bottom line isn’t laughing either. Recent studies have shown humorous adverts tend to be more effective, and have a significant, …

Happy New Year and all that (at what point should we stop saying that?); welcome to another year of poking bears and kicking sandcastles in The100.  Are you sitting comfortably? The not-yet-trending report Trend predictions are often as much use as an inflatable dartboard. Yet Pinterest may just be onto something with their Pinterest Predicts …

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 …

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. …

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 …

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 …

Nice egg, Mr Fabergé, but… Rory Sutherland (does it again) on how looking at the parts can destroy the value of the whole:  While more use of data, quantification and comparison is always good in theory, it is not always good in practice. For one thing, too much data drives people towards analytical thinking — …

Imposter imposters As Tim Minchin said of imposter syndrome:  I know we’ve all got it but it’s a bit boring now […] I don’t know if it’s the most interesting way to describe it […] Get over it and stop being a w*%ker […] Because you have plenty of evidence that you are good at …

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, …