So we need to put ourselves in our consumers shoes and figure out how they get from A to B.  There are 6 critical decision stages.  What happens or could happen at each of these stages and why?  Which of the 6 key stages have the biggest and most critical on or off ramps to purchase?  Once we’ve answered these questions, we can begin to look at strategies that deal directly to the most critical of the insights.

Then we hand the whole thing over to the creative department who apply empathy and creativity to the recipe and we’re off and running towards developing an ad campaign that will change consumer behaviour.  Sounds easy, eh?

Anyway – that’s the process and the thinking behind strategy and here’s a great real life example…one of the most talked about campaigns of 2011.

The Problem:

• Young guys drive home drunk…60% of all drunk drivers are young men under the age of 25.
• Young guys have all seen the ads and they know they shouldn’t drive drunk but they are resistant to the PSA type government message

Key Insight:

• Young guys know they shouldn’t drive drunk but they don’t want to kill the vibe by telling their mate not to drive drunk.  They’re afraid of looking like dicks.

Strategy:

• We need to give them the balls to speak up regardless of their social fear of looking uncool.
• We’ve got to show them how speaking up can make them look cool.
• We’ve got to take the pain out of speaking up and give them a way to say what they need to say without ruining them socially.

The Solution:

• Show cool, aspirational people and use humour, music, and other social tools to create a series of catchphrases

Then the planners passed the strategy on to the creative team who with the luck of a whole heap of pixie dust created the following TVC…

The Outcome:

• This is the most viewed TVC of NZTA’s history
• In social media, there were literally hundreds of homemade versions of the TVC made by 6 year olds making friends wear bike helmets to The Cuzzies making their own ripoff that also in turn went viral  - if you want to see some of them, check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsFlVWqWHlA
• Their feedback from their own target audience has been immensely positive…viewers writing in and saying thank you for helping them to save face and maybe even a friends life
• Read more here:  http://tinyurl.com/dyb8h7y

Ghost Chips is now a MEME which means it’s become a sort of shorthand cue or catchphrase for warning a friend not to do something.

(NZTA and Clemenger BBDO, all information is courtesy of Andrew Holt, Account Director at Clemenger BBDO

Only 9 days to Christmas so it’s time for our annual Christmas animation from all of us here at Simpatico. Turn the speakers up!

It’s been one heck of a year for all of us and we want to thank you all for your grace and support throughout. We’re closing our office on 23 December and re-opening on the 9th of January 2012. There will be a skeleton crew on call so you’re not on your own if you need us.

Onto the issue of gifts…we thought that this year was not a year for OTT gift baskets and have instead made a significant contribution to Wai Ora Trust. Wai Ora is not only our new landlord but we are delightfully surrounded by their gardens, working farms and vineyards where many of society’s marginalised find work and re-training. Wai Ora is a charitable organisation and we think their efforts are outstanding.

Merry Christmas to all of you and your families. We hope you have a wonderful and restful break and look forward to seeing you in 2012.

All the best – Marian, Garry, and Neil

We can all sit through the same meeting, listen to the same words and subsequently walk away with different views on what was said or meant. Rather than seek clarity because we think it’ll make us look stupid, we act stupid by making assumptions about what took place.

And there we go, blithely down the paths of unrighteousness until inevitably the crap hits the fan. Assumptions cost time, money, effort and in the worst cases, relationships.

Being in the communications business I’m hyper- vigilant to the assumption trap and have installed at Simpatico all the processes and disciplines we can to avoid it like the plague. Not only do we need to be certain that we understand each other and our clients but also and most importantly, we need to understand the consumers we’re paid to connect with.

Being the emotionally driven animals we are our egos tend to take over – “I know what people think and they’ll love this idea”. But hang on, you’re a  28 year old designer and the consumer is a 54 year old grandmother – how do you know what she thinks and feels and how she might respond to your design idea. It’s not art that we’re dealing with here but it’s not rocket science either. Communication, whether it’s a business meeting or advertising to the masses should never be made of assumption .

If there’s doubt about how people will respond and feel, why wouldn’t you talk with them first? There’s a skill though in interpreting what people tell you and that lies in understanding what the right questions are and how to go about asking them.

On a monthly basis beginning in January, Simpatico will be running our own formal buyer behaviour research groups asking a changing panel about various topics suggested by our clients and readers of this blog.  If you’ve got any burning questions you’d like to have answered then we invite you to  get in touch and we’ll get your conversation into the mix.