How to motivate behaviour change
A version of this blog first appeared in the pages of B2B Marketing, posted online here. This is the first in a regular, quarterly series linking psychology and marketing, flying under the banner of I’m Still Thinking. Thanks for the platform, which I’m sharing with two other marketing psychs. Details to follow. — Marketing communications […]
Insight from the front line
A large department store chain decided that it was time for a refresh of the seats in the footwear section of its shops, with a store in the Midlands pencilled in as a pilot for the new design. The new seats duly arrived, with a motivational speech delivered to the footwear team from the Area […]
On curiosity, repertoire and universal human truths
Ricardo Sapiro has dedicated his career to brand marketing. Training with Johnson & Johnson before moving on to Wyeth Whitehall, both roles in Brazil, he made his reputation during a 15-year tenure at Unilever. With local, regional and global brand marketing roles, he ran the business in Brazil and across Latin America, as well as […]
Why good writing matters
Founder & MD of Insight Agents, Sam Knowles, pens a personal paean to Steve Pinker, Harvard psychology professor, one of the most accessible serious scientists to have crossed over into the mainstream without compromising his academic integrity. In the process, readers lucky enough still to take their summer vacation get a top tip for holiday […]
Finding our inner why
Purpose is the new mission and vision, all rolled into one. Companies that can’t articulate what their higher purpose is – beyond the fiduciary duty they owe to their shareholders to turn a profit – are so last century. Simon Sinek’s Start With Why is an international best-seller, and his TED Talk How great leaders […]
Which party deserves my vote?
It’s the afternoon after the night before. Paxman attacked Cameron on policy, Miliband on personality (that “Are you alright, Ed?” jibe on camera was beneath Paxo, though Ed’s riposte “Yeah, are you, Jeremy?” gave it the contempt it deserved). And Kay Burley? The Twitterverse has said enough about her partiality. But are we any clearer […]
Strive for conscious competence in every sentence you craft
Fresh threat of Newspeak as General Election verbiage piles up Simple, clear words are attractive. The obfuscatory lexicon is to be avoided at all costs. Which sentence do you prefer? My trade is that of the corporate storyteller, helping companies and brands to find their why; to express what it is that makes them […]
Impactful corporate storytelling demands singular stories, not schizophrenia
Remember when you were a kid? Something had gone wrong. You were involved, and someone was going to be angry. A teacher, a parent or a sibling. But you weren’t seen, and to minimise repercussions you crafted a version of the truth that had an air of plausibility to it that would also get you […]
The geek shall inherit
Few companies have done more over the past 20 years – and frankly ever – to turn Big Data into insights that inspire evidence-based action than dunnhumby. Before they helped Tesco create its Clubcard and methodically predict customer shopping behaviour, Sainsbury’s was the UK’s biggest supermarket. Within a few years, the insights developed by dunnhumby […]
How to be a better brand storyteller: the five golden rules
This week is the Society for Storytelling’s 15th annual National Storytelling Week. Events to mark this promotion of the oral tradition of storytelling take place in schools, museums, bookshops and pubs across the country. If I get my way, the 16th will take place in boardrooms, too. Storytelling is much in vogue in business. Marketing […]
