Jens over het vertrek van Tim & Joeri:

“we hebben maar anderhalf jaar samengewerkt, maar ik denk dat ze me toch al een beetje als hun geestelijke vader zagen. Dan moet die vadermoord er een keertje van komen, zeker?”

“Praten werkt”, dachten ze bij KBC, en ze pasten hun winstverwachtingen aan de kredietcrisis aan, op een strengere manier dan de regels eigenlijk voorschreven. Waardoor het aandeel … prompt de dieperik inschoot. Praten werkt dus toch niet zoals verhoopt?

Dat is niet gezegd. Als alles in deze crisis rond vertrouwen draait, dan is dit soort moedige beslissing (op termijn) vertrouwenwekkend. Zoals Andr? Bergen terecht stelde: een bank die zwak staat, doet dit niet. En nooit leek Fortis zwakker toen ze rond de pot heen draaide met zijn barslechte communicatie.

Nee, communicatie kan niet alles redden. Maar het is mooi dat KBC in zijn eigen mantra gelooft.

Welk creatuur maakt zich daar klaar om in een volgende GERMAINE-spot te schitteren?

We’ve just won a pitch, and I think we won it on both strategy and creative. However, what struck me was the speed at which we came up with a very simple, but effective, strategy. The rest of the work was in developing and finetuning the creative concept(s) and tactics.

On the other hand, we’ve been working for a (new) client since two months now, and only slowly, after hours and hours of meetings, digging through tons of studies, and consulting loads of external experts, is some kind of strategy developing. And we’re still mulling it over, tossing it from one to another, holding it to different lights. And only slowly becoming accustomed to it ourselves.

I was wondering twice. The first time: isn’t this going too quickly? Aren’t we overlooking something? The second time: isn’t this going too slow? Aren’t we missing something completely obvious?

Luckily, Russel Davies took my doubts away with a nice piece on “slow strategy”. I love the expression of “socialising ideas”. Much more time-expensive. But if, as a result, the whole client company “buys” it, we may actually have saved some valuable time …

Don’t want to rub it in. Don’t want to be become the official spokesperson of the anti-Gorilla-movement (because, and this may seem hard to believe, I actually like the commercial!). But still, there it is:

I already discussed earlier a book I’ve bought and read recently about “choice architecture”, called “Nudge“. In this book, the authors elaborate a way of steering people’s choices in the direction of socially accepted or promoted behaviour, while still leaving them essentially free to pursue other directions should they want to.

The perspective of this book is that of the social engineer, the authorities, the well-wishers, the “steerers”. The object of the nudges is the unwilling and unknowing individual whose behaviour needs to be molde. Therefore, the image arises of people-as-sheep: a herd that needs to be managed and directed, but who has of itself no clue of what it is doing.

However, there is another, equally important perspective to consider, and that is the one of “the steered”. Indeed, “the people” needn’t be sheep, they may just as well be considered as conscious individuals that want to be steered in certain directions. Or better still, who actively use others to steer their own behaviour in a direction they want, but are afraid they wouldn’t follow if left on their own devices.

What the hell do I mean with that? Well, ordinary life shows us plenty of examples of what I’ve just said. Think Alcoholics Anonymous or Weight Watchers. Members actively seek group pressure to help them do what they want to do, but are afraid they lack the character needed. Think engaging in group sports, because the social pressure will help you actually show up for sports moments, as opposed to those lonely jogging hours. Think volunteering to be a dedicated driver, because you know that role comes with a required behaviour (i.e. not drinking) that you might not be able to muster without a specific role.

Now, in walks Google. With an application that gives people just that: the opportunity to guide their own behaviour, for those moments they know they won’t be able to guide it themselves anymore. I.e. when drunk. In other words: people cede the authority over their own behaviour to someone else because they know they will lack the authority over their own behaviour.

In this case: an application that makes it harder for you to send e-mails when drunk, which helps you avoid awkward and embarrassing moments the day after you sent someone a mail you really, really shouldn’t have sent.

Yes! De “EINDELIJK”-headline op de nu in de straat hangende Napoleon-abri drukt perfect mijn gevoelens uit. Eindelijk! Er is een Napoleon-campagne!

U vermag misschien enig cynisme in mijn opmerkingen te ontwaren, maar dat heeft ongetwijfeld te maken met het feit dat wij zo’n 6 tal jaar geleden betrokken waren in een pitch met 4 ? 5 andere bureaus - en de adverteerder in kwestie heeft nooit de elementaire beleefdheid gehad te melden dat we het niet hadden gehaald, ook niet na talloze telefoontjes en contactnames. Faut le faire: 5 bureaus aan het werk zetten, en de moeite niet nemen om de telefoon op te pikken. Soit, ben blij dat er na 6 jaar iets hangt. Zelfs al is het dit.

Want ik snap dit niet. Napoleon regeert het land? Nog afgezien van de ambetante timing nu de Fransen (o.l.v. Sarkozy, de nieuwe Napoleon) grote stukken van onze nationale banktrotsen aan het inpikken zijn?

Ach ach … en ons pitchvoorstel was zo goed …

vandaag officieel gelanceerd, en in natura ook uitgedeeld in het Brusselse: onze campagne om mensen ertoe aan te zetten meer groenten en fruit te consumeren, en dat de hele dag door. Vandaar: All Day Long. Binnenkort op tv, in de supermarkten en op appeltjes en tomaatjes allerhande.