ARE YOU READY TO GO BEYOND? GAIN THEORY’S DOWNLOAD OF THE ANNUAL MARKETING SOCIETY CONFERENCE
INTRODUCTION
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The UK’s Marketing Society membership reads like an all-star cast of a highly acclaimed marketing movie. From esteemed marketers such as Craig Inglis of John Lewis and Amanda Mackenzie of Aviva (currently ‘on loan’ to Project Everyone). Fellows such as Sir Martin Sorrell and Sir John Hegarty. You’d be forgiven if you thought attending their annual conference was akin
After all, as one of the speakers said ‘a company’s success or downfall is often down to its marketing’. It’s a heavy crown to bear which is where the Marketing Society jumps in with their
to a covert meeting of world leaders. In truth, the
motto to ‘inspire bolder marketing
membership is mainly made up of marketers
leadership’.
from every kind of brand - all trying to keep one step ahead of the competition on
The day was off to a great start with the promise that we would be
behalf of their company.
transported beyond - through the wormhole into a parallel dimension where drones, programmatic advertising and artificial THE DAY IN TWEETS
intelligence are the norm.
INTRODUCTION
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BEYOND WHAT IS EXPECTED
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Ready for 2025? Four routes to consumer favour Reinventing banking
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How rational are we?
Can you live your life better?
3 6
Why do we love a story?
Creating a more productive culture
“Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.” JOHN F. KENNEDY
BEYOND YOUR COMFORT ZONE
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Will AI save or destroy humanity?
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Global goals and what they mean for business
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How far can you take a high performance brand?
READY FOR 2025? FOUR ROUTES TO CONSUMER FAVOUR.
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THE FUTURE FOUNDATION SHOWED US FOUR QUADRANTS THAT MAKE UP THE FUTURE. Brand focuses on emotional engagement
PERSONAL NOT PERSONALISED
EGO GENERATED CONTENT
Brand is enabler/creator
Consumer is enabler/provider
COLLABORATIVE / COMPETITORS
PREDICTIVE CONCIERGE
Brand focuses on functional engagement
READY FOR 2025? FOUR ROUTES TO CONSUMER FAVOUR.
5 WATCH THIS
1. PERSONAL, NOT PERSONALISED The future is all about on demand living. Consumers want 1:1 personal services - cue the text message service Magic and Amazon’s ‘Alexa’.
2. EGO-GENERATED CONTENT 53% of people on social networks follow brands and 2 out of 3 expect brands to follow back. There’s a need to feel validated and feel like they are the next Zoella. Most people don’t feel like they are reaching their full potential and wish they could be more like the social media projection of themselves. Brands have an opportunity to fill this void. Case Study: Spotify created ‘My Coachella Story’, a personal experience of events before, during and after the Coachella festival, making each person feel like the ‘celebrity next door’.
3. PREDICTIVE CONCIERGE Consumers want to feel in control – brands can help by bringing ‘cruise control’ applications to their lives. Case study: Aviva’s Retirement Forecaster – an online scenario planner that helps guide people towards the kind of retirement they’re aiming for. THE DAY IN TWEETS
4. COLLABORATIVE COMPETITORS In order to fill the consumer expectation of being able to buy anything, anytime, anywhere brands should collaborate with previously perceived ‘competitors’ Cue Alibaba’s plans to build a global small business platform enabling someone in Argentina to buy a local product from a small Swedish business.
HOW RATIONAL ARE WE?
THE POWER OF FREE
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Everyone gets excited by something free There’s a question around identifying the type of people that are enticed by free offers Ann-Marie took us through two offers used to incentivise small businesses to use AdWords
Google’s Anne-Marie Farrell and Dan Ariely, a behavioural psychologist, joined forces to showcase the power of behavioural economics in context of rational, or some might say, irrational behaviour.
THE VALUE OF PROCESS CONTENT As Dan put it ‘sometimes we are wiling to pay for incompetence as long as we see it in action’. In other words, people appreciate the outcome more if they see and feel the approach and journey taken to get there.
OFFER 1 - $75 ADWORDS FOR FREE OFFER 2 - PAY $25 FOR $100 WORTH OF ADWORDS
The totally free offer led to much higher conversion than the second, which achieved 40% less conversion.
THE PAIN OF PAYING BY CASH There’s an immediate sting of paying by cash versus the anaesthetised effect of paying by card. This is why pre-paid holidays feel so much better.
However, the offer seemed to attract the wrong kind of users. Users attracted by the free offer didn’t engage with AdWords and were therefore unlikely to get the most value of it. On the other hand, those who paid money, were more engaged, spent more time and effort on the process as a whole, therefore achieving more success and were more likely to become committed users.
WHY DO WE LOVE A STORY?
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Elif Shafak - author, columnist, academic and frankly downright inspiration speaker - took us through a journey about storytelling and how to reach the holy grail of ‘wisdom’.
Everyone has a book inside them,
knowledge is spread very thin. Even
Shafak encouraged us to learn
a story to tell. Most of the time we
then, there’s a misconception that
from people who are different and
simply don’t tell our story.
information equals knowledge.
do so on a one to one basis, as we are more receptive to new ideas
We think about creativity in
Sometimes there’s a need to
and have a higher likelihood to
ghettos reserved for creative
‘unlearn’ – unplug from what we
empathize with others. She said
directors, artists etc. – we need
think we know and re evaluate our
‘it’s no coincidence that fascism
to break this mould - CEOs,
perspective.
relies on the masses – where we
accountants, and people not
are more likely to be influenced by
reserved to the ‘creative elite’ can
Wisdom is a complex thing with
also be creative.
no set algorithm per se. It’s an amalgamation of information,
We live in a pancake generation
knowledge, audacity, empathy,
– we think we know a lot, but the
intuition and so much more.
others’.
REINVENTING BANKING
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‘If you’re in control, you’re not going fast enough’ – Mario Andretti, world champion racing driver. Anthony Thomson formerly of Metro bank, is launching a new bank called Atom, It has no branches and you can open an account on an app and bank with them anytime, anywhere – or as Anthony put it ‘you are never further than an atom away from your account’.
The current rate of change is outpacing the extraordinary. There will be more change in the next ten months than in the last ten years. Based on Atom’s research and insight into what consumers want, price is not the biggest motivator. Yet ‘traditional’ banks invest a lot in pricing & promotions. Perceived value by customers is an amalgam of several things – price is only 11%. Service, consistency and transparency are important too. For example, in consistency some long standing customers find it unfair that new customers are offered preferential rates and treatment. Customer satisfaction is highest when we ‘self serve’ thus the premise of Atom which is always in your hand and pocket. On company mission/vision ‘a great vision leads to a sharp intake of breath and surge of adrenalin’.
CAN YOU LIVE YOUR LIFE BETTER?
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Alain de Botton - the Swiss-born British-based philosopher, writer and television presenter – underscored the importance of delivering on the happiness promised in advertising.
Advertising has a
set by brands in
We need to reboot
tendency to promise a
advertising is often failed
the entire customer
life transformed. Take the
when it comes to the
experience around the
Campari advert which
commodity consumers
commodification of this
implies your social life, love
receive.
happiness. Put simply, ask yourself: how can I
SOURCE: LUDICCREATIVES.COM
life etc. will exponentially be improved by purchasing
As marketers we struggle
gear my business on all
the drink. But does the
to really commodify
touchpoints to deliver on
brand always deliver on
how to sell happiness to
the brand promise?
its promise in a real life
people.
context? The expectation
CREATING A MORE PRODUCTIVE CULTURE
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In an inspirational session, Jeremy Darroch Sky’s CEO and Sir Dave Brailsford, CBE – former performance director at British Cycling and currently performance director at Team Sky - spoke about the lessons business can learn from sports performance improvement techniques.
THE DAY IN TWEETS
Re: reaching goals –
Habitualise behaviour:
the case, you’ll have a
take a marginal gains
after conferences,
cracking team.
approach, develop
people often return to
manageable steps
their day jobs and don’t
If you have an idea
to reach the end
take the time to process
on how to improve
destination.
any information.
productivity, start with yourself.
Create an environment
Take time to reflect
where people can be better, not perfect.
Decide on the small aspects to habitualise.
Break down and analyse what makes a difference
Growth for improvement
to productivity, then
starts with the individual
apply the marginal gains
– if you create a team
approach.
culture where that is
WILL AI SAVE OR DESTROY HUMANITY?
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In a session that can only be described as having been delivered by a brilliant, quirky mind, Professor Bostrom, author of the bestseller “SuperIntelligence”, tackled one of humanity’s greatest challenges: if future superhuman artificial intelligence becomes the biggest event in human history, how can we ensure that it doesn’t become the last?
90% of the ‘experts’ polled
such as analysing big data,
think that AI could supersede
robots perform well; whereas
the human mind by 2070
mastering things which are simple to humans such as picking up an
Is creativity the last bastion
object, has taken robots years
of humanity? Bostrom
to achieve.
SOURCE: LUDICCREATIVES.COM
doesn’t rule out that AI could eventually have the
On whether AI could resolve
same creative capabilities
humanitarian crisis such as Syria
as humans. However, he
Bostrom is not decisive but does
does point out that when
say that ‘conflict is part of human
it comes to tasks that are
nature’.
tricky for humans to master,
GLOBAL GOALS AND WHAT THEY MEAN FOR BUSINESS
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Amanda MacKenzie, Aviva’s CMO, has taken a two-year secondment to work on Project Everyone –the brainchild of Richard Curtis, filmmaker and founder of Comic Relief. The purpose of Project Everyone is to promote the simple but ambitious global goals that the UN launched in September.
The marketing campaign reached a staggering 3 billion people in just 7 days. Amanda encouraged everyone to think of the
She encouraged all companies to pitch in – not necessarily by starting a new initiative but perhaps building on ones that are already in existence.
SOURCE: LUDICCREATIVES.COM
goals as the Magna Carta.
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SOURCE: LUDICCREATIVES.COM
HOW FAR CAN YOU TAKE A HIGH PERFORMANCE BRAND?
As the winner of the Marketing Society’s ‘Outstanding Leader of the Year’ award, Ron Dennis of MacLaren took to the stage in a one-on-one interview with Emily Mathis to talk about how he maintains painstakingly high standards, how he switches off from work and the brand’s future plans.
THE DAY IN TWEETS
‘I haven’t done a day of work
‘One of the worst places to solve
in my life’
problems is in bed trying to sleep. Thinking requires time’
On on switching off: ‘I scuba and ski – things that require
‘Be prepared to pay a little
you to concentrate’
more for the right service. Your relationship with your suppliers
‘Developing a winning culture is challenging because not everyone wants to go on the journey’
is critical.’
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