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Too much information? by Anna Clark

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 10:30:00 EST

Be it organising my friend’s hen (bachelorette) weekend, or choosing a new mobile phone, I always seem to have something I’m researching.

These days, with so much information at our fingertips I usually spend lots of time researching to find ‘the best deal’ or ‘the best product’, but I sometimes find myself getting so involved with the minutiae that I get to the point of just wanting whichever one ‘will do’.

The issue for me nowadays is that there is almost too much information available, and it can be contradictory. When attempting to choose a new phone recently, I read official reviews, looked at websites that compare the network coverage, and asked my friends who I deemed experts…and came up with conflicting opinions. Perhaps the learning here is that what is good for one person, isn’t right for another. This presents a challenge for online review sites: wouldn’t it be better if you knew that the person writing the review was ‘like you’, or if you knew they didn’t have an ulterior motive?

Queue Ahead - Plan Ahead by Anna Clark

Wed, 12 May 2010 12:25:00 EST

It is an oft-spoken cliché that British people love to queue. The author George Mikes, best known for his humorous commentaries on various countries and their citizens, said, “An Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue of one.”

The recent UK General Election saw the highest turnouts for 13 years, which resulted in long queues and, in a number of cases, people still queuing by the time the polls closed, meaning they missed out on their vote. One wonders whether people would have patiently queued (in the rain) past the deadline in other countries. That is not to say that there weren’t angry scenes when the truth became apparent, but there weren’t reports of people forcing their way in or worse still, queue-jumping.

I recently found myself musing on this topic when supporting some friends at a battle of the bands contest, where, after the last band finished their set, the crowd of thrashing metallers* formed an orderly queue on the dance floor to place their vote. It seemed an unlikely sight, but perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised.

Changing behaviour for the better by Anna Clark

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 09:12:00 EST

At the end of last year, Volkswagen launched an initiative called The Fun Theory, based around the idea that you can use fun to change people’s behavior for the better. They made some changes to public places to make ‘better’ behavior more fun – changes such as replacing a normal staircase with a giant piano staircase, where lo and behold, people began to use the stairs instead of taking the escalator. Having set the ball rolling, Volkswagen called for people to submit their examples of using fun to change behavior, and shared the results on their website: http://www.thefuntheory.com/

This seemed an interesting idea to me – and is an interesting take on the carrot and stick approach. We often talk about the ‘gap’ between what consumers know they should do, and how they actually behave, which spans thing such as health activities, and green behaviors, and other ‘socially responsible’ acts. It seems that in spite of having the knowledge of what they should of, consumers feel they face legitimate barriers such as a lack of money, or time, when perhaps really it’s motivation that’s lacking.

Experiencing Globalisation by Anna Clark

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 11:52:00 EST

On a recent trip to Delhi to run a trends workshop, we took the opportunity absorb the city, do a spot of people watching, and as trend spotters on tour, check out the local advertising

One of my first impressions was the very obvious presence of all the major global brands. HSBC advertising met us in the airport, and as we travelled around the city we saw plenty of ads from tech companies such as LG and HP, and FMCG brands such as Pantene. Of course in a nation that still very much trusts advertising over word of mouth, the presence of so much advertising was to be expected.

A New Twist on NPD by Anna Clark

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 11:48:00 EST

Known for its popularity with teenage boys dousing themselves with it, I find myself surprised to be writing how ‘on trend’ the Lynx (Axe) deodorant brand seems to be. However, a couple of their recent innovations provide a perfect example of using consumer trends in NPD.