Herd - the hidden truth about who we are

10 years of HERD insights

So it is 10 years ago this week that I first formally presented what I called the HERD hypothesis in written form (see above) at the Market Research Society in Birmingham (for which incidentally I shared the Best New Thinking Prize). Since then - together with a number of brilliant folk - we've managed to evolve and "operationalise" the basic insight at the heart of this paper, with 2 more books, prizes from the nice people at WPP, ESOMAR and Emerald Insight along the way, a host of well-liked articles and some fascinating conversations and experiences with people I'm not sure I'd have met otherwise.

It hasn't all been plain sailing - I have endured any number of pats on the head ("interesting but not really mainstream"), some strange challenges ("OK for kids marketing & poor people - maybe abroad?") and occasionally some hostile responses ("we don't believe that monkey shit round here" being my favourite).

But gradually, over those 10 years things have changed: not least thanks to the explosion of "social media" which has made arguing for the importance of social influence in shaping human (and consumer behaviour) so much easier (praise the Lord for Mr Z for this at least). 

And collaborating with brilliant people - especially Professor Alex Bentley - to turn the analytic techniques developed across the social sciences into practical tool for marketers and decision-makers has been an unexpected but wholly positive pleasure. Back in 2007, we first developed a 4 box map based on patterns to be found in

And now 10 years on, a number of folk have picked up and recycled the work we've been doing (which is exactly how things work and spread), mostly (but not always) attributing sources. So if for example you find someone presenting one of these* over the next few days and weeks,...

 

...you'll know what to think, won't you?  

Yes, the HERD effect is at play...

Thank you all - Alex, Mike O'B, Hugh, Jason, Ray P, Gareth K, Kevin K, Kevin D, Nick K, John K, Alex B, Susan G, Tom E, Audrey, John W, Graeme W, Wendy, Angela, Sair, Mark B, Mark H, John, Fiona, Stephen, Giles, Ben, Geoff, Paul, Liz, Judie, Colin, Chris, Roddy, Peter M, Gemma, David, Bob B, Bob P, Claire, Anne & Merry.

Sorry I can't be at MRS to celebrate the 10 years anniversary but I'm sure it'll be fabulous!

*BTW the version here first developed by Alex & I in 2010 with Anomaly & Sony Europe

 

 

 

 

Related articles

Herd Instinct in the headlines

Nilsson, artists and the HERD

Memories of the future (4) You, me and everyone we know (again)

First Post: The "Herd Effect"

The anti-nudge herd

The Herd on Holiday again

Herd, Spread and Research World

Batman, Me, @willsh and the future of advertising

Pic c/o Manhattan Infidel

Here's a piece that John Willshire and I wrote for the Wharton School's Future of Advertising project.

Using - as you'll see - bat-toys and the fabulous Artefact cards...

Interested to see what you think

The Letterman Question

Here's a piece I did for the CASRO 2012-13 Journal (based on my keynote at their annual gathering in Scotssdale (page 42ff) based on an idea that the brilliant Grant McCracken gave me when I last had lunch with him:

"TV chat show host David Letterman used to play a game with his audience as he sifted the day’s ephemera, asking this simple question of the things he (and his researchers) found to point and laugh at: is this anything? Or, is it nothing? In other words, is the object, behaviour or utterance significant and suggestive of an important trend? Or, is it merely junk? Should we be paying attention to it or should we smile and nod at contemporary culture’s richness as it sweeps past our noses"

So let's ask ourselves before we start "...what kind of thing is the phenomenon we are studying and seeking to explain [or change]? Is it something shaped by the agency of individuals acting independently of their peers or is it something that’s shaped primarily by social means – by the influence of others other than the individual?"

  What kind of thing is this?

Marketoonist extraordinaire

Last week in Chicago had the good fortune to catch up again with the delightful Tom Fishburne AKA Marketoonist

Regular readers will know how much I love the wit and insight of that other marketing top toonist, Hugh Macleod but am chuffed that Tom had been led to do an I'll Have What She's Having toon since we last met down in West Wales

And lovely it is, too.

Do yourself a favour, go sign up for their regular toon mail-outs. You'll see the world differently through Tom and Hugh's eyes

 

 

 

 

 

Behavioural Economics (however you spell it) and 3 times the Rory Fabulousness

Great day in Chicago today with the folks from Brainjuicer, Microsoft and Ogilvy exploring BE and marketing from lots of different angles. 

Great to see old friends, not least the Chief Juicer himself (who managed to keep his trousers/pants on all day which the link reveals is a novelty nowadays), my co-author Alex who's over here at Northwestern hanging out with the NICO guys, Carol Oman from Kraft and Graceann Bennett (who's running the Ogilvy planning thing here).

We shared some stuff from the new book which seemed to go down really well - the simplicity of the model at the heart of the book really seems to engage people. 

Couple of things struck me: first, how radically the conversation has shifted here in just a few years: when I first presented on it in the city way back in 2005-6, few folk were prepared to give it the time of day but now the BE agenda is no longer wierd and marginal; it's something worth enough for 100 execs tospend the day thinking and arguing about and examining what the insights bring to our practices and techniques. Of course, you'll find me qvetching about the fact that too much of the conversation is still around individual cognitive quirks and not enough about the social stuff that really makes the world go round, but that doesn't mean I'm not big supporter.

Second, that events like this that are gold-dust - the fact that Brainjuicer keep putting them on around the world, collaborating with different clients and creative agencies is an enormous credit to them. The events are free to attend and nobody gets paid - we're all here for the conversation and the stimulation.

Third, that one of my dreams has now been realised: we have now cloned Rory Sutherland. Not only can he exist in two timezones (a live Rorcast sufficed today)...

...as you can see, we had to blow him up to giant size in order to make the matter-transporter work (or has he just been down to the Cinnamon Club a few times recently?)

But why settle for one Rory when you can 3 supersized Rory's as here

3 times the fabulousness, indeed. 

All hail the chubby Welshmen! Nobody has done more to promote the new behavioural and cognitive sciences that our man Rory. 

Art in the space between us

In Chicago today for a speechifying event tomorrow. I love the city for many reasons but one of the most important is its long commitment to public art. And not just the easy populist stuff.

For example, I've loved Cloudgate from the moment I first caught site of it. A social object of the highest order to interact with and around.

This is me, gazing at a distorted image of myself

And then today I discovered that the Art Institute has lovingly restored the beautiful Chagall Windows

Good to be back!

Gone Fishin

 

Pic c/o Prattlefromtheflatlands

See y'all in a couple of weeks

What comes next

 

Pic c/o Adam78

This morning, in a cab on the way to a briefing session for a new project, I realised I was feeling something a bit odd.

Good-odd, not bad-odd.

You know that really tingly feeling when you take out a fresh piece of paper - a blank sheet - and pick up a new and sharp pencil? The excitement of starting something completely new and not knowing what you're going to end up creating, but feeling sure that it could be just great?

Intoxicating....

As one of Tom Stoppard's characters says, "Oh, to be at the beginning again, knowing almost nothing"

Chief Culture Officer Bootcamp London

 
Very excited - young Grant McCracken anthropologist extraordinaire and author of among other things Chief Culture Office is in London a week Friday to share the joy of CCO bootcamp. Learn from the man himself - just sign up here. 

I'll hanging around commenting on proceedings and generally getting in the way.  

And repeating the words of last week's Dr Who "Here's something I don't understand - let's go poke it with a stick"

Hope to see you there.

Together in Amsterdam

 
Today's the main holiday of the Netherlands - Queen's Day - a celebration of "saamhorigheid" (togetherness).

Appropriate then that I've been here hanging out with the lovely folk at The Next Web and sharing some HERD-love (if you get a chance next year, get yourself down there).

And launching the Dutch version of HERD ["De ultieme kudde"] with the delightful Sander of Maven publishing (btw fab forward by Rijn of Blauw Research - thanks, mate!)

As the man/machine say: I'll be back

Herdmeister is watching you

 

I managed to scare the life out of an old mate the other day - without being in the room

He turned up for a workshop at the IPA and found himself being eyeballed by yours truly (from a poster)

So watch out...

Speechifying HERD

 

More and more interesting speaking gigs coming up (watch this space).

Including this one, for howies' do-lectures in September with this amazing line-up

Nothing to do with this storyDownload Open books, though (I suspect)

Overheard in a bar: what marketing does

 

(Yes, that's me in the glass)

Just back from a crazy ten day research trip of snowy New England which included a visit to this great bar in Boston, Drink

Great line from one of the excellent bar staff when we enquired where they kept the booze:

"Oh, we keep it locked away. We don't want things like brand preference or marketing getting in the way of making a good choice"

Carnival in San Sebastian

 

Off next week to San Sebastian in the Basque country of Spain to do the keynote at the ABLA conference.

While out-of-season seaside resorts always hold a certain charm for me (well, apart from Cannes, that is) I'm kind of hoping that the trip coincides with the beginning of Carnival - a very HERDy time in the calendar.

A time when people get together and - enthused, as the Ancient Greeks would put (that is, possessed by the deity) - challenge the rich and the powerful. A time when that HERD part of our nature is nearer the surface than perhaps we/they'd like

Maybe I'll just be there for the TInkers' parade. How appropriate, either way!

PS if you're going to ABLA, do let me know and come and say Hi!

On the road

 
When I'm on the road, doing my speaking gigs or just travelling to work with folk far away, I find things are a bit clearer.

Maybe it's view from 30000 ft, maybe the tiredness, maybe the isolation from the daily round but it always reminds me why I do what I do and why it matters. (props to Hugh)

And why not doing it is impossible (or at least not possible for me - check the middle 8 here for more details)

At the home of the beautiful game

 
One of the perks of a project I've been doing recently, is a chance to chew the fat about this brave new world with some old mates

And to go to some really interesting places (thanks, Surinder for the pic).

When you look into an empty stadium (such as the home of the BG), it's clear that the players are only the overture for the fans - the real stars of the football experience

Which just gives me a chance to revisit this bit of tribalism...just listen to and watch the crowd

Travel made social

 
I'm a big fan of Dopplr and have found it very useful in connecting with my highly dispersed chums as we travel the globe, but Myskystatus is new to me. It's actually from those v nice people at Lufthansa...

Imagine the brief: how to increase salience of Lufthansa to international travellers (including non-loyalists) by making something of actual use...

Basically it provides auto-updates of exactly where you are to your chosen social media platform while you are in the air...

YAY!

HT Christian AKA @Sun4Startups

HERD. Back in SF?

This is Tim. Outside American Apparel (LOL)

Best bit of copywriting I've seen in a while, don't you agree?*

Anyway, fingers crossed to be back soon

*If you think you've got something, share it and we'll have a vote!