TD library: reducing sick leave

Here is a example of transformation design, whereby action is deliberately made difficult in order to achieve new behaviour.


Hema, a dutch department store, has halved the sickness absence. Employees must nowadays "call in sick" online, where they must fill out a questionnaire directly. Online "calling in sick" raises the psychological threshold according to the inventor of the system. From six up to sixty questions are asked online and the employee must still ring his boss. The boss does not get to see the answers given in the questionnaire, but he does build op files so that patterns can be detected.

The reason I find this example interesting is that it is not about making something easy with regards to changing behaviour, but making stuff more difficult in order to be better. Complexity actually is intended, much like a bank vault, or the way casino's are designed to keep players in house.

permission to kill your darlings granted

I love Seth's thinking and I love the whole concept but, it's misuse is crippling marketeers:

Permission marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them.. (via seth blog)

Permission marketing should be seen as empowering the marketeers.

To often it's the status quo enhancing answer to innovation. Nobody asked for this or that. We gotta get permission from the market. Let's test it. The very word has taken a wrong turn. Is it because of a human need for security during chaotic times, laziness, or fear of the future? who knows. But permission now means safe, means boring means less profit.

It should be about giving customers permission to do business with you. You gotta lead. Not ask it, pretty please, with sugar on top. Method did not ask permission, it took it. the fruit company has been doing it for years. And the beauty of this...people begin to see them as ahead of the curve, so they can freely act like it.

This all kinda fell into place as we were creating our new corporate brochure. Our's is a Rubick's cube. It really works for us as a reinforcement of who we are and what we do. And we started giving it out to clients, and they loved it.

It was really great seeing, old serious men going back in time and be given permission to be children again; playfull, eager to find a solution, when they had only given us permission to do a presentation on the housing market situation.

Was it the reason why some assignments were won by us? No. But it forced some room for us to go further, to take clients on a ride somewhere where others would have looked out of place even asking if it's ok to go there.

Give people what they want, but please do not ask them how they want it, or worse wait for them to tell you when they want it..they just do not know. Or else we would have had faster horses.

For marketeers it really is time to take back what is theirs, the right/obligation to stay ahead of the curve, of being a teacher to the public. The bar is now so low we can't help but trip over it to victory.

Fraai magazine; free online mag for creativity

For anybody looking for some inspiration, creativity, and what not go here

As they put it themselves:

So here we are: FRAAI magazine, issue 1; the prototype. We got some great creative inspiration ready for you. A cover story on Art. Lebedev Studio. We got Fraai’s Favourites; compilations of inspiring artists and designers who receive our seal of approval. Furthermore; Creative Columns, Fraai News, An Interview Six Feet Under, That’s Fraai’s and a lot more creative content

Small trivia for when chatting up the ladies: fraai actually means pretty/good looking in Dutch. Bet they did that on purpose...poncy bastards ;-)

what if....the final frontier?

Watching a very interesting documentary about the US Army. It deals with the fact that the US army is in the midst of a great transition and overhaul of it's purpose.

Since Jalta there was a cold war to be won. This created an arms race to see who had more military might (mind you this a vast simplification). Since the fall of the wall, the war had ended.

This also presented the US army with new set of problems that still have not been fixed as we speak. 40 years or so of training your troops of fighting a big enemy who is most likely to attack with great might created a mind set that was focused on a finite all out war (it seems that the experience of vietnam, where fighting an guerillia war resulted in a disaster, did not alter the paradigm thinking that big war was a thing of the past).

Oh yeah and thanks to 80' movies and the kidnapping of born in the usa the image of the USA of being the place to go was also on point.

The fall of an enemy also upset the moral balance. Democracy became a non negotioable argument, instead of a desirable means, when dealing with foreign regimes. This is easy to understand why, as research shows that democracies tend not to fight other democracies. they tend to fight autocracies, dictatorships etc.. So moral superiority is around the corner

So enter the 90's and beyond, what u got is a one punch boxer who has not been seriously challenged for a long time and convinced of his superiority. But as the movie quote goes: " You're a big man, but you're in bad shape."

A new landscape emerged where one is not fighting armies, but human mobs, movements, cells. non liniar/military enteties, without the " rationale" conventions that governs western military thinking.

So the US/west right now is able to win every war. The problem off course is that, it's not about armies winning the war, but about governements winning peace.

It's not about the question of how to execute (excuse the entendre) something..it's become a question of why to execute something, uncovering the insights that best lead to a strategy that allows for great execution to fullfil it's natural role. That's were the new test lies. If you do not understand the motives of why some one does what they do, how can u then try to form a counter/prevention to their chosen execution of their motives?

So the what if of this long post is this: Is the military industry the final frontier for Account Planning?

Stretching the analogy, but AP has had to deal with approximately same conditions. Big giants corporations that first were used to go: " let's get our add on the Super Bowl, make it the sexiest, funniest ad ever with the best USP and we win the consumer from target group, because he is a rationale buyer".

Post modernism, social change, internet, 2.0 among other things have knocked this Big guy/corporation down for an 8 count. No longer does he have to win the war against other brands, no.. he is now facing an enemy who plays by his own rules, the human being who happens to consume. He does not care that you have the biggest budgets, best ads. You are not what he wants. He is (more or less)in control. All in all adland has been in quite some chaos, overflown by tech changes like tidal waves. Insight now more then ever has been key. ideas, not ads ( mere weapons) matter. We now know that irrationality, and messy decisions are what's what.

If AP can help design Jumbo jets, create healtier lifestyles, and make green cool, could it have a a part to play in helping western military thinking adapt the this new chaotic world?

Simply saying that AP's are not qualified, is not an argument, what makes you qualified to introduce medical products, talk about eco solutions? Like a good movie producer, AP's at their best are blank slates, able to spot the difference and help move organisations along...

Wag the dog did it in a movie, and only with regards to the PR part of a "war"...could it be done for real and all the way? should it be done? Business as usual or does emotion play a part ?

TD library: green wave

Driving home this morning was a joy; the sun rising in my face, some good tunes and better company made the ride home nice. But that was not what was so special about the
trip home (sorry Martina..:-) .

What was, was the fact that I hit 7 straight green lights. In...a....row. But I nearly missed two of them.

Why? Because once I was driving below 50 km an hour, once because I was going to fast (about 75 km).

Now off course this could have been a coincidence, like beating the spread on a full matchday, but some searching on the net proved that in fact it was not.

I had caught a perfect wave; the green wave to be precise.

To quote:

A green wave is an intentionally induced phenomenon, in which a series of traffic lights (usually three or more) are coordinated to allow continuous traffic flow over several intersections in one main direction.

Any vehicle travelling along with the green wave (at an approximate speed decided upon by the traffic engineers) will see a progressive cascade of green lights, and not have to stop at intersections. This allows higher traffic loads, and reduces noise and energy use (because less acceleration and braking is needed). In practical use, only a group of cars (the size is defined by the signal times) can use the green wave before the time band is interrupted to give way to other traffic flows.

What this achieves is that drivers are indirectly made to choose between a great ride or a ride with start and stops. It alters behaviour to a more favorable type. better for the enviroment, better for the engines, better all around.

But the kicker for me is the human element. You drive to fast, u will not hit the green lights. This will cause agro for your fellow drivers who do keep tot the preffered speed. Social controle will occur and the herd will sort out the extremes.

Simple, understated, effective planning and execution. Huraa for Holland... (and Denmark, but since I don't live there, who cares)

head to head contest

The NBA had Magic and Bird in the 80's, a rivalry which took a declining category and made it more popular than any other sport.

More recently Kanye West and 50 cent went head tot head, releasing albums on the same day and creating a great buzz + great first week sales for their albums.

Ali had Frazier.

Death Row Records had Bad Boy Records.

But where are the great rivalries with consumer goods? 

For all the talk of evangelist brand loyalty, iconic brands, it seems that there is not much going on in terms of rivalry.  Yet this is a staple ingridient for loyal fans to grow. 

Sure Apple and Microsoft had some run ins, Burgerking and McDonalds, but in all the categories you can think, how many geniune rivalries are there that get people buzzing ?

The definition of rivalry is the following: the act of rivaling, a state of being a rival; a competition. Competing for the same finite goal.

So before one can examine why there are no great rivalries, lets answer the question:

what does make for a rivalry, or a great rivalry at that:

A shared history:

If two enteties have a history whit each other, this is great basis for a rivalry. one was started as a antidote to the other, or they came from same backrounds but took different routes to the same goal.

The quality of the output/product. 

For a rivalry to start the opposites have to be equaly good.

Proximity:

You can not hate what u can not see. The two enteties have to be close enough to each other for followers to identify one as pro and the other as contra. they also have to aspire to deliver the same emotional connection/pay-off for either set of supporters (the lakers and celtics both went for the same title for instance).

Head to Head:

This is basically a must. Without this rivalries will not happen. One of the great rivalries of recent years: the redsox and the yankees became that in part because they played each other more than 50 times in a couple of years.

Competitevness:

You both gotta be chasing the number one spot or else people will tune out. 

Black Swan:

Something out of the ordianary has to occur that links the two together and creates diverse emotional responses/camps. Think of an all out brawl between two Baseball teams.

Taking this all in to account several problems can be spotted.

First of the chasing of the same finite goal. Most products, aspire to have a long life. there is no rush to get to the finish line. so if there is no time clock, why bother tuning in now. as a consumer, you perhaps subconciously feel that there is no urge to act now, as there is most likely always tomorrow.  And most brand claim victory anyway by moving the goal post. Just think of all the metrics  to justify some kind of leadership... 

Competiveness: Most products are just not good enough.

Head to Head:

Separate launches, commercials that run at different times. there is this sense that brands do anything to avoid each other. only when they can't avoid it, like on a shelve is there a head to head. mostly dissapointingly bland.

Black Swan:

Ipod was a black swan. Microsoft and Sony were sleeping, chance missed. 

" We try harder" strategy and campaing was a Black Swan at the time; prompting Avis and Hertz to go head to head with great products and ads.

All in all it seems that the great loyalty, passed on from generation to generation, is not being achieved by most brands (even though they like to believe that they do achieve it), because they prefer to operate in a vacuum, declaring themself victorious by default. yet the same loyalty can be achieved if they were to become open to their enviroment, allowing for context to select their opponents, and followers.

A friend of mine used to say: put a $100, - on it and you got yourself a game and fans, no matter what. while this is true, there are alot of ways yet for brands to create followings/emotions that in the end benefit not just the brands, but the categories, and consumers...

I'll bet that it won't happen any time soon though...but at least this is a good exercise for a creative session with clients and agencies

 

what if..there was a new type of photo album?

picture courtesy memorylanemedia

"She sent out for one of those short, plump little cakes called petites madeleines, which look as though they had been moulded in the fluted scallop of a pilgrim's shell. And soon, mechanically, weary after a dull day with the prospect of a depressing morrow, I raised to my lips a spoonful of the tea in which I had soaked a morsel of the cake. No sooner had the warm liquid, and the crumbs with it, touched my palate than a shudder ran through my whole body, and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary changes that were taking place…at once the vicissitudes of life had become indifferent to me, its disasters innocuous, its brevity illusory…”

Perhaps some one can help me with this, because I have been thinking about storytelling,

mem(e)ories and... photo albums;

More and more I (and a lot of people are) am creating memories via not only photo's, but blog posts, text messages, emails etc..

But if I wanna share and file it all, and my mum wants to have her friends look at all the memories, there is no one album that fulfills this need of mine.

There is virtual sharing, blogging and filing, but it lacks the physicality of being able to sit next to a person and leading them past memory lane, adding those little details/stories that are triggered as you relive memories and pass them on to loved ones...

So.....what if there was a hybrid : A Memory album

Basically an album/book/ where I could place (upload to) all my text messages, photo's (digital and prints), mails, posts (and all the feedback, which is a great part of the fun of sharing), twitter entries, postcards, e-cards etc... so I can tell grandkids (lord willin') about the memories they hold for me?

Maybe because I work at a publishing company that I just love the feeling of a book or a magazine placed in my hands.....Maybe I have just not searched very well yet and this type of album is in production already...

Anyways...I can't find it yet....so does anybody have alternatives, or feedback for me?