Ogilvy & Mather Creates #OgilvyChange

TalentZoo.com | Flack Me | Digital Pivot | Beneath the Brand

Archives | Categories

By: Dwayne W. Waite Jr.

As behavioral economist Dan Ariely wrote, humans can be guaranteed to be predictably irrational beings. Behavioral economics, then, is the way we can figure out why people react to certain ideas and actions. Consumer behavior falls within this field of study, since it too attempts to reveal why consumers act the way they do when buying a good or service.

Finally an agency, Ogilvy & Mather UK, understands the value of such principles. It has announced that it will open a behavioral science arm called #OgilvyChange, and it will be available exclusively to its client list. The article reports that #OgilvyChange will use aspects of social psychology, behavioral economics, and cognitive psychology to help answer questions regarding how their clients' customers operate.

Roy Sutherland, a fan of consumer behavior and vice-chairman of the agency, said, "Marketers have suffered from a blind spot in their understanding of human behaviour." We would agree. The creative and strategy that defines advertising today lacks the appeal element of which we all say that advertising needs. The only way to remedy the issue is to dedicate ways to figure out how the consumer is ticking. What motivates them, what doesn't, and why? Focused research on the conditions in which consumers make decisions, and the variables that affect them can be an extremely powerful tool for the advertising and marketing world.

As AdLand continues to be enamored with behavioral targeting and predictive modeling online, they are missing the beginning step. What drove them online in the first place? What offline factors made them want to search for the good or service? Where are they in life that makes them want to connect to your brand? Sadly, online targeting efforts will not help define who the customer is. People confuse this, because the modeling online helps build a customer profile, so it can suggest the goods and services they may be looking for. It maps actions, but not reasons for those actions.

Kudos to Ogilvy & Mather UK for demonstrating that looking into the human psyche is still a relevant and crucial piece to creating powerful advertising.

blog comments powered by Disqus

About the Author

Dwayne W. Waite Jr. is partner and principal at JDW: The Charlotte Agency, a marketing and advertising shop in Charlotte, NC. He enjoys consumer behavior, economics, and football.

Beyond Madison Avenue on