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How Not to Plan - A Review by Richard Shotton

Thinking Around Corners

May 31, 2018
4 min

Thinking Around Corners

The fourth instalment of Thinking Around Corners, run in partnership with the Firefish, took place at Google’s HQ in central London and the packed out audience had high expectations. Understandable, given the resounding success and positive feedback from our previous sessions. Industry stalwarts Martin Weigel, Head of Planning, Wieden + Kennedy, Amsterdam and Richard Shotton, Deputy Head of Evidence at MG OMD were primed and ready to use unconventional thinking and uncommon s

Information Diet | Katie Mackay-Sinclair

Apr 17, 2018
4 min

Information Diet | Katie Mackay-Sinclair

This is part of the series 'How to be Curious - Cognitive Fitness for Planners' by Ian Leslie, our APG Guest Editor during April 2018. He believes that strategists need to be curious and stay curious and the only way to do that is to excersise your brain as you do your body. One important aspect of fitness is diet. Here he gives you a look at the information diets of different strategists, via a Q&A. Katie Mackay-Sinclair | Partner at Mother London 1. Outside of ad industry/m

A Review of The Choice Factory – Richard Shotton

What makes different types of planners tick?

Jun 1, 2017
4 min

What makes different types of planners tick?

Last week at the Guardian, APG Young Planners met for the third time this year to dig deep into the minds of five top Planners and Strategists all from different types of agency. We heard from a Direct, Digital, Brand, Media and Traditional Planner, and asked them to share: a description of their job, the key skills they need to do their job, how they approach a client brief/business problem and tips and tricks of the trade. Richard Madden, Strategy Partner at BBH, kicked off

APG Thinking Around Corners

May 25, 2017
7 min

APG Thinking Around Corners

In a new approach to strategy events we held the first ‘APG Thinking Around Corners’ in the worst rainstorm of the year. So a tribute to our excellent speakers, our moderator Jem Fawcus, and the plucky audience who rated strategic stimulation above a cosy evening with Netflix and made it so lively and thought provoking. Where Noisy Thinking is designed to project provocation from the stage, this event series is more intimate and more about discussion and building on ideas. It

The Truth Behind Claim Data

Mar 23, 2017
3 min

The Truth Behind Claim Data

David Ogilvy famously said, “The trouble with market research is that people don't think how they feel, they don't say what they think and they don't do what they say.” This scepticism towards claimed data is shared by most social psychologists. The difference between claims and the truth is starkly revealed on dating sites. Look at the graph below from OK Cupid! which shows the distributions of heights of its users. The fact it mirrors the US population, but shifted two in

Three underused biases that affect creative messaging, channel sellection, media implementation

Mar 16, 2017
5 min

Three underused biases that affect creative messaging, channel sellection, media implementation

One of the appealing aspects of behavioural science is that rather than being a single, over-arching theory, it’s a broad collection of biases. That means it’s flexible enough to be applied to the variety of problems we’re trying to solve for brands. Despite this, the commentary in advertising has been about the same handful of biases: social proof, loss aversion, framing and the like. With that in mind I wanted to discuss briefly three underused biases. I’ve chosen a ran

12 Brilliant Behavioural Science Books

Mar 9, 2017
5 min

12 Brilliant Behavioural Science Books

This week I’ve shared what I think are some of the best books, blogs and events on the topic. In the following weeks I’ll discuss some broad themes such as why observed data trumps claimed data and why we should give as much weight to target moments as target audiences. I’ll also discuss some of the lesser known biases, as I think too much coverage is given to a small subset of biases, such as social proof and framing. Finally, I’ll look at the ethics and effectiveness of n

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