Advertising Age reported on Advertising Age's CNBC CEO Summit earlier this week. In their article they quoted BBDO CEO Andrew Robertson, who said:
"We used to think about messages that created a case for a particular behavior. It's not about that now. It's about creating experiences that, by participating in them, change consumer behavior. I'm only interested in behavior. Everything else is just a proxy for it. Unless behavior changes, it's all been a waste of time and money. That's an important lens through which to look at everything, because there's a lot of interesting stuff going on, none of which is going to change behavior. And our clients can't make any money unless behavior changes."
Link to full article: http://adage.com/article?article_id=131172
I think this is one of the most profound things I've heard recently about the importance of creating engaging, relevant experiences (online, offline, wherever) that impact behavior.
It begs the question though – what kind of experiences really change behavior? I can't help thinking about my 7 and 5 year old playing games on pbskids.org or nickjr.com. They're learning, exploring, playing. And I see their behavior change, what they talk about, what they pretend. But I think it would be a mistake to say that every experience (or cool interactive web site) changes behavior.
What are some experiences that have changed your behavior?
I love psychology. I’m reading a book called Stumbling on Happiness right now (which I highly recommend). He provides you with objective data from some studies done across the country. One study was to show that the element of control influences happiness. The study was done in a retirement home where one group of elderly residents was given a plant to care for. There was another group that was given a plant, but was told that they can’t mess with it; someone else would come care for it. At the end of the study, the group that was allowed to care for their plant lived longer, stopped taking as many meds, their health improved, became more social, etc. In the non-control group, 30% more of the patients passed away, became more introverted, and stayed on just as many meds.
Now that all of that is said, I’m not sure how it directly applies to New City Media, but it changed the way I interact with people on a daily basis. I’m always thinking about how much involvement the other party has in making decisions and trying to make them feel like their opinions are always legitimate.
Posted by Glenn Sorrentino on 10/01/08 at 11:16AM
I guess in this instance you have to assume that Mr. Robertson is talking from a marketing/branding perspective, so he’s speaking about the experiences we all have with brands on a daily basis.
From that standpoint, I’ll relate a quick story. When I graduated from Virginia Tech back in 95 we rented a big Uhaul truck to get my stuff and one of my roommate’s stuff back to Richmond. It was a long day of loading the truck and basically taking back roads due to the size of the truck. 40 miles outside of Richmond, the truck broke down. It was about 2PM. We drove one of the cars to a gas station (this was before cell phones, more or less) and called Uhaul. They said the closest Uhaul mechanic was in Newport News, a good 2 1/2 hours from where we were and he had 2 other trucks to repair on his way. When he finally got there at 7:30, we were told the truck never should have left the lot. We ended up having the truck towed to BOTH houses to unload them, and I’ve never rented another truck or trailer from Uhaul.
And that’s something that no amount of advertising can fix.
And that’s why I believe we’re doing the right thing at New City Media by working with clients on ALL aspects of their business. Because if the brand experience doesn’t live up to the brand message, none of it matters.
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Posted by Dave Perks on 10/01/08 at 3:11PM