Only Dead Fish

Free Alan Johnston

Alan Johnston, BBC correspondent in Gaza, disappeared on his way home from his office in Gaza City on 12 March. There has been no word since. He is thought to have been the only international correspondent still working there, but it is feared that he has been abducted. Intensive efforts to secure his release have so far proved fruitless.

I'm not a journalist but I work in the media and so feel that showing my support is important. You too can show your support by going here and cutting and pasting the code to display the icon you see here and in the right sidebar.

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Lay a little egg for me

I think I must be the only person who works in advertising who keeps chickens. I was a bit reticent at first but the missus talked me into it and I have to say I've really warmed to them. Yesterday, Tinkerbell (the grey one in this pic) laid the biggest egg I have ever seen.

Ouch.

Sacre Bleu

The ever fascinating New Scientist 'Short sharp science' blog has posted on these French public Health posters warning about the dangers of AIDS. As they rightly point out, some governments including our own have a track record in the effective use of graphic imagery to make a powerful point (think of the US 'Faces of Meth' and famous 80's UK AIDS campaigns). These however, seem to me to be just plain creepy.

I was somewhat cheered up though by one comment left on the post:

"They may be disturbing but the message comes across loud and clear. I will never have sex with a scorpion again."

Sublime Subliminal

Conscious I've been a little worthy of late so here's some light relief. Derren Brown taking on the ad industry. Fascinating (and slightly worrying) insight on how ideas come about. A little long at six minutes but believe me it's worth it. Absolute genius.

Changing the world one step at a time

This is Avery Hairston. He’s 15. When he was 13 he saw Al Gore’s ‘Inconvenient Truth’ slideshow and decided to do something about it. His question was always the same “Why aren’t people doing the simple things to help?”. One such simple thing was changing inefficient, short-lived normal light bulbs to compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). CFLs are more expensive, but they last 10 times as long, and use two thirds less energy.

Avery’s thought was that lots of people changing just one bulb would make a big impact. He lives in Manhattan and he knew that many people simply can’t afford CFL bulbs - so he founded a charity to buy CFL bulbs for the residents of New York’s housing projects. 8 of his friends said they’d help. The charity, RelightNY, has a vision, a business plan, a website and sponsors including JWT, Virgin Mobile, Rodale, LiveEarth and Philips. It’s now one month old.

This story was originally reported in Ad Age here. I’ve written about it here for 3 reasons:

1. It’s inspirational

2. It shows how one person can make a difference. Some of the issues surrounding the environment are so big that they seem distant from our everyday lives. Initiatives like this bring them closer to everyone.

3.  Why aren’t any brands taking this as their cause?

24 youth insights in 147 seconds

Because killer facts are often lost in the melee, the threebillion project have collated a video which assembles 24 youth related random facts, stats and insights that have hit the internet over the last 4 weeks. Each one of them “was either buried in a lengthy report or brushed over in a blog”. Enjoy. 

This is how you do things

I have long admired Pearlfisher's work (for brands such as Absolut, Waitrose, Innocent, Green & Blacks) and their approach. Now I admire how they communicate it. Type in "Pearlfisher" to Google and (right there at the top) this is what you get:

Follow the link and it's all there, in just a few sentences:

"At Pearlfisher we know how to anticipate and interpret future human behaviour. Then we use what we’ve learned to create seductive, successful design.

Its called creating desire. And it explains why you came here.In fact every brand we partner experiences increased desire once we’ve applied our art

That’s our brand truth – what’s yours?"

Smart.

Green Matters

So what do people really think about the environment? We’ve just done a pretty big piece of research (we’re calling it Green Matters – mostly because it does) into UK consumers’ (sample size of 3000 men and women) reactions to, and engagement with, the big environmental issues.

Unsurprisingly, 88% of respondents claim to be concerned about the environment. But dig a little deeper and there is a definite theme – the gulf of difference there exists in the level of engagement between those issues which are perceived to be shared concerns and responsibilities, and those which impact more directly at a personal level.

People care about what directly affects them: the impact on their daily lives, those close to them, their children. Issues which are played out on the global stage through inter-government debate - like climate change and global warming - are of secondary importance, perceived to be much more removed from their daily lives. And while the majority agree that managing the environment is society’s shared responsibility, only a minority recognise it as their personal responsibility.

This is a theme which appears right through the different areas where environmental concerns are already impacting:

• Cars:- The majority of consumers simply can’t live without their cars, but it is when they are actively involved in changing their car that the environment and reducing pollution becomes a major consideration informing purchase
• Holidays:- Although consumers are aware of the environmental impact of flying, their perceived need for a holiday far outweighs any good intentions – despite Government discussions on the possibility of taxing consumers who fly more than once a year.
• Rubbish:- Recycling is nigh on universal - everyone recycles in some form or other. I guess this shows the power of educating consumers to make the little things they do to help the environment count.
• On average, our respondents threw out 1.98 bin bags per week.  Not surprisingly this increases amongst mass market families - with over a quarter using 3+ bags every week.
• Energy efficiency appears to be one area where consumers have been empowered to take action. Switching off electrical appliances is driven by saving money: safeguarding the environment is only the third most popular motive, after personal safety. But the vast majority now wash their clothes on 30 or 40 degree cycles. Interestingly, Ariel's 'Turn to 30' campaign was repeatedly mentioned as influencing behaviour positively.
• A significant minority of consumers are starting to use some kind of renewable energy in the home – including solar and bio-fuels. Many more would like to use renewable energy sources but are not sure how to go about it – outlining a clear need for more advice and information.
• Water saving messages seem to be having an effect: three quarters turn the tap off when cleaning their teeth; just under half use water saving devices in the loo, and a third share their bath water.
• Consumers are prepared to pay a premium when they perceive a real benefit. For example fair trade and free range products.
• Just under a quarter of respondents already purchase environmentally friendly products.

It’s really early days for us on this so this is just the very top line, But  we are already getting a picture that UK consumers need to be personally engaged by the issues. If advertisers want communicate around this area in a meaningful way, it has to be through direct affinity and relevance to people’s lives. This is the key to changing their behaviour.

More soon.

On a mission

So, brands should be generous. Like Amelia’s JFK school of branding, they need to ‘ask not what your consumer can do can do for you, ask what you can do for your consumer’. Co-creation, consumer power – it’s all clear, right?

If it is, then companies should be embracing this philosophy not just in their brand communications but in their vision. A cursory review of the mission statements of the Fortune 500 reveals that some are:

- To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world (NIKE)

- We will be the easiest pharmacy retailer for customers to use (CVS corp)

- To help all people live healthy lives (Becton, Dickinson & Co)

But an awful lot aren’t. Like: ‘Undisputed Marketplace Leadership’ (The Hershey Company). What does this do for the consumer? Do Hershey’s customers care that it is market leader? Do they care that this market-leadership is undisputed? Of-course they don’t.

I have a thing about company mission statements and I love visions which express the reason for a company’s existence in a simple, lucid, unambiguous way. A vision should be so clear that if you were to ask any employee what the mission statement of the company they worked for was, they’d just rattle it off right there. I’d like to see employees of a certain bookstore chain try and rattle off this one:

“Our mission is to operate the best specialty retail business in America, regardless of the product we sell. Because the product we sell is books, our aspirations must be consistent with the promise and the ideals of the volumes which line our shelves. To say that our mission exists independent of the product we sell is to demean the importance and the distinction of being booksellers. As booksellers we are determined to be the very best in our business, regardless of the size, pedigree or inclinations of our competitors. We will continue to bring our industry nuances of style and approaches to bookselling which are consistent with our evolving aspirations. Above all, we expect to be a credit to the communities we serve, a valuable resource to our customers, and a place where our dedicated booksellers can grow and prosper. Toward this end we will not only listen to our customers and booksellers but embrace the idea that the Company is at their service.“ (Barnes and Noble)

It is amazing how many company visions are just like this - long, verbose, complex paragraphs of prose that say little about what that company’s customers can expect to get from that organisation. If your employees can’t tell you what your company vision is, how do you expect them to live it? And if your employees don’t live your vision, how do you expect your customers to be touched by it?

The point is, it’s all very well a company’s communications telling people that its products, brands, and services are generous, that they can offer the customer benefit, reward, great service, whatever, but what good is that if the company itself does not live it?

Mission statement image courtesy