Hill+Knowlton Strategies

MINDSPACE (Dolan et al., 2010)

+  +  +         #2  Incentives         +  +  +

Incentives can be a powerful tool in harnessing the power of the public – engaging people and motivating behaviour change. The impact of incentives clearly depends upon factors such as type, magnitude and timing of the incentive. In a competitive economic environment brands are increasingly using incentives to attract consumers and stand out from the competition.

The power of incentive

Brands in the service industry – such as high-street banks, mobile phone network providers – are using incentives and rewards to become more attractive to consumers. However, the behavioural economic insight loss aversion is important in order to understand how best to use incentives in marketing. Loss aversion is used to explain that we dislike losses more than we like gains of the equivalent amount. What this means, for example, is human beings feel the loss of losing  £1 more than we feel the elation of being given £1. Therefore, brands that emphasise the money (or reward) that people will lose out on by not taking an action/purchasing can have a more powerful impact and motivation on people’s behaviour, rather than simply highlighting the amount they could be given if purchasing.

Brands in the fast-moving consumer goods industry consistently have to compete for consumer’s attention. Unilever’s Magnum icecream is an example of a brand currently (April 2013) using incentives as a marketing strategy to drive sales and engage consumers. The incentive Magnum is giving consumers is the chance to win a designer handbag worth £800 every day. However, now understanding loss aversion, if Magnum had framed the incentive in a way that consumers feel that they are losing out if they do not purchase, then this could have a more powerful impact on people’s behaviour to drive sales. Although, the type and magnitude of the incentive of a £800 handbag could be significant enough in itself to demand attention from some consumers. Furthermore, people have a habit of over-weighing small probabilities – for example lotteries – and so consumers may over-weigh the small chance of winning the handbag.

Magnum - win a designer handbag everyday

Another example of using incentives to engage a community is ConAgra Foods. In order to increase engagement on it’s Healthy Choice Facebook Page, users who “liked” the brand received a coupon for 75 cents off their next Healthy Choice purchase. ConAgra then coaxed more consumers to join its Facebook page by dangling a “buy one, get one free” coupon offer. In other words, the coupon’s value grew as more consumers joined the page.

However, a fundamental problem with using incentives, is that once an activity (such as buying a Magnum) is associated with external reward (chance to win a handbag), then individuals are less inclined to participate with the activity in the future without further incentives. Furthermore, and worst still, is if a brand fails to deliver on a reward/incentive – an example would be Red Bull’s VIP trip of a lifetime to the Belgium Grand Prix Competition. Red Bull was censured and criticised by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in February 2013 after sending competition winners on a budget trip across three countries, making them share a bed and then sending them home early after they were barred from entering the race’s VIP enclosure.

Incentives - influencing behaviour and engaging consumers

In summary, incentives can be a useful tool to engage people’s behaviour – and the impact of the incentive depends upon type, magnitude and timing. People have a habit of over-weighing small probabilities, meaning competitions can be effective. Losses loom larger than gains, and so framing incentives to consumers in such a way that they feel the loss if they don’t participate can be a powerful communication and marketing tool. However, if brands become associated with external reward/incentive then consumers can be less inclined to participate in the future without these external rewards/incentives.

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Every so often a cultural spoof comes along that is eminently watchable and shareable.  Or a song that is so catchy that it gets stuck in your head – an ‘ear flee’ as The Today Programme so elegantly phrased it this week.

And sometimes the stars align and a catchy spoof is born – as with the boys from Eton’s ‘Eton Style’ homage to Psy’s hit track and video Gangnam Style….  1.6 million views to date and counting….

Now I love nothing better than the sound of plummy voices  rapping – my three all-time favourites are Smirnoff Ice’s Tea Partay, the Yeo Valley rap from 2010, and (showing my age now) the 1991 French hit Auteuil Neuilly Pass by Les Inconnus – it helps if you speak French, but even if you don’t you’ll enjoy the video and  the ‘Salut tu vas bien’ chorus.   But ‘Eton Style’ is something else, it’s  genuine, it’s joyful – no brand has interfered in the making of this video – and it’s very very silly.

If you haven’t watched it, you need to do so now.

A marvellous glimpse into the hallowed cloisters of Britain’s most famous boys’ school.  And what an awesome dance move that little horsey trot is.  The Eton boys don’t quite pull it off, and the production is a little slick for a homework project, but just how charming is that video?  In case you are wondering they are six formers –  apparently this is recognisable from their ‘white tie’ (there are occasional information advantages to living with an old Etonian…).

You probably recognise the tune, but have you seen the real thing? Quality at 531 million views, give or take a million or so. Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to this week’s An Apple a Day.

Firstly, I recommend checking out this post on the BMJ Web Development blog on the most impactful time to disseminate blog posts on different social networks to help them ‘go viral’. A really interesting piece and the sort of insight that might add real value when planning social media campaigns or blogger outreach for clients.

In other digital health news, a recent survey of around 4,000 nurses and nursing students in the US has found that around 71% use smartphones for work, with 66% of students using them at nursing school. It’d be interesting to see if the stats match up in Europe but these findings are a pretty compelling argument for the value of smartphone apps for this audience.

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So we near the end of the first month of 2012 – WELL DONE US. Except that Italian captain. And Tom Watson’s intern. And all those naive enough to believe that the SOPA/PIPA thing has gone away (if those words mean nothing to you then read this). And Snickers. And unwitting singers at American churches. And the Russian police. And Bayern Munich. And Uzbekistan. Everyone else, though, pat yourselves on the back – especially me, who found my very own doppelganger last week! We survived the most depressing day of the year, and from hereon in everything will be just peachy.

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Christmas advertising.  It only seems like yesterday that I wrote about it, and here they come again.  A veritable blizzard of ‘oohs, aahs’ and sharing  of the new John Lewis Christmas ad has sparked me into writing again.

Yes indeed, John Lewis has done it again.  Pulled at my heart-strings with a fab child actor, some great product on display, a lovely little twist, and  a cool sound-track.   I have to confess stopping my Sky+ to watch the ad again yesterday, and it almost set me sobbing.  Thank you Mr John Lewis, I’ll definitely pop into your fine store and purchase a few gifts this year.

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Phew. Three weeks since I last did one of these, and my word has there been a lot going on. Bankers have shut down a church (well, you know, indirectly)! The Sun gave us possibly the most tasteless frontpage in years! One of the most appalling hatecrimes of the (admittedly newish) decade was committed to little or no mainstream media fanfare! France and Germany mocked Italy’s sexually incontinent Premier! The filthy rich just keep on getting richer! And loads more besides, much of it even more dispiriting than those few links I’ve just shared.

Ignoring the fact that world is going to hell in the proverbial handcart, though, I’ve actually had rather a lot of fun (because that is obviously the MOST IMPORTANT THING). I’ve seen comedy; I’ve been to an awesome gig;I’ve been to the theatre and seen probably the most harrowing play I’ve ever seen, ever (actually, make that the second-most harrowing - this was probably worse); I’ve eaten some truly tremendous food; and I got to see a truly tremendous rapper live in a tiny venue. So, you know, I’m alright. Are you alright? I’m starting to worry.

Anyway, enough of this. Make yourself a cup of tea, settle down in a suitably confortable chair, and imagine my soothing, dulcet tones reading this out to you (and, if you like, imagine my malcoordinated body acting out every single video too. You pervert). You may want to get some biscuits too; this could take a while.

Image courtesy of Neutron, LLC

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The pretence that this blog is a weekly thing really has to stop. One month since the last one, fact fans. I’ve had THINGS TO DO. Not least going to Brussels and Croatia, where I went on holiday and did NOTHING other than read and swim and be horizontal. It was awesome, and as a result I now look less like this and more like this. No really, I do.

BUT that was then and this is now; I have returned to a world in which the internet spends all its time railing against the evil of corporations and then…er…goes incontinent with grief over the passing of the head of one of the world’s largest corporations; in which Silvio manages to somehow become even more ridiculous and offensive;  and a world in which somehow one of the members of 1980s pop combo Hue & Cry has become a consultant on games, play and ludic theory. We live in interesting times. Here are some totally insignificant bits of online ephemera to help distract you from what appears to be the total meltdown of civilisation which is going on all around us. Christ, I sound like an old man.

Socially responsible graffiti on a Croatian beach hut

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So, did anyone see this over the weekend?

Copy reads: “When we launched 15 years ago, those four words summed up what we believed in. And they still do.

“We don’t need to paint them on the tailfins, like some advertising slogan. That would just be wasting your money.”

Ahhhh….there’s nothing I love more than good old mile-high brand rivalry, fighting it out over the pages of our weekend papers.    BBH has clearly spent many many hours, weeks and months wallowing in nostalgia, crafting the detail that went into the £20 million British Airways campaign ‘To Fly To Serve’.    Thinking through all the ways to imbue their hard work into our public consciousness, right down to painting the tagline onto BA tail-fins. And then Easyjet’s agency VCCP goes and knocks up a dismissive print ad in a couple of hours. Awesome.

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I read in Marketing this week that Moneysupermarket.com is planning to present itself as a ‘big brand’ with a new big advertising campaign, and a new spot ‘Gorilla’.   I am mighty relieved that they’ve lost Omid Djalili, but am I right to be feeling just a little cynical that their agency Mother has introduced gorillas into the mix…? The ad doesn’t break until Sunday, but in case you’re dying to find out what happens, the brand character Geoff is so excited to have saved money on his insurance that he interrupts a quarrel between two gorillas and ends up chief gorilla.  Can’t wait.

The gorilla ad to beat of course, (and hence my cynicism), is Cadbury’s ‘Gorilla’.  I don’t know how Fallon sold in that ad, but it is so bonkers that it generated stacks of buzz and PR, drove sales of Dairy Milk, won multiple creative awards and even revived Phil Collins‘ career.  To this day it remains beautifully watchable.

This got me thinking about gorillas in advertising, and I was struggling at bit until I remembered King Kong.  The ultimate reference point for toughness, Mr Kong is mostly used to plug cars. Read the rest of this entry »

Guess who’s back? NO, IT IS NOT EMINEM! IT IS ME! (Though in fairness our level of musical / performing talent is comparable) Stop gawping at the back – I AM NOT DEAD! I wish that there was some sort of exciting reason for Web Curios’ long absence – an enthralling, Willy Fog-esque journey, an unexpected temporary career change, an unforeseen visit to chokey…but no, nothing so thrilling. Like Schrodinger’s Cat, Web Curios’ existence was momentarily uncertain – but now I am most definitely here. I think.

Anyway, there’s a lot to catch up on. Some people’s phones got hacked and everyone got VERY ANGRY; the most powerful man in the world turned 50; my new favourite rapper released a mixtape; I went to Boston and saw none of it (but did get to fly business class and thus received a pair of complimentary pyjamas – THANKS VIRGIN –  which was well worth the £3,000 that the flights apparently cost); oh, God, loads of things.

None of that matters, though. What does matter is that you immediately click on this link and donate money to stop people dying of starvation in Somalia. Thanks.

Frankly nothing that you’re going to read from hereon in matters one iota compared to the above, but it’s probably going to be marginally more cheering. Read on, and make your Friday afternoon of wageslavery marginally less soul-crushingly worthless than it might otherwise be.

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