This isn’t so much a recent story as a long-running saga that has got very interesting recently: climate change.  In this piece I’ll look at how the case of the leaked emails, and the subsequent accusations of scientific fraud have fundamentally changed the landscape of the whole global warming debate and created a climate of distrust that makes objectivity meaningless and science worthless.

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This week, I’m looking at the banks – and how there was more to the sudden surge in interest on 26^th February than first met the eye.   I’ll look at some ways to get to the bottom of an apparently unexplained rush to the web and explore some of the disadvantages of having customers that signed up out of necessity rather than choice.

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This week, I’ve looked at the flooding in Madeira, how it has affected the island’s travel and tourism market – and potentially benefited its winter sun competitors, and what the prospects are for the island in the longer term.

 

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This week, I’m going to look at the death of designer Alexander Mcqueeen, the different ways the public has responded in the UK and the US, and the question of celebrity versus immortality according to Ebay.

 

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The Toyota story is a very interesting case study in how a company’s reputation, and subsequent commercial success, depends on how it responds in the event of a crisis – in this case, the recall of its vehicles for safety reasons – and how its online visibility, particularly on search engines and social media, is a critical factor in managing that reputation.

 

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This week, we’re going to look at the launch of the new Apple tablet – the iPad and examine what the search behaviour of the online population can tell us about Apple’s pre-launch activity, the reception that the new product has enjoyed and what the prognosis is for it in the longer term.

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Forget the Golden Globes, which is the fastest rising search of the last 7 days, this week I want to look at an event of far greater significance, the Haiti Earthquake.   My research into the disaster and the media and online public’s reaction to it, has uncovered some very revealing insights into how a country’s reputation can have a profound effect on how the rest of the world behaves towards it at times of crisis.

 

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One of the fastest rising stories of the week is that of Iris Robinson, and this has been a really interesting case study in how past events have an impact on the media and online public’s reaction to a current story.  In the case of Mrs Robinson, her Anti-Gay stance has had a profound effect on the way the scandal of her affair is being reported in the media, and searched for and talked about in the general population.

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This week we’ve got an interesting mix of the old and the new and conflicting desires.  On the one hand, we’ve got the perennial New Year favourites – a new job, a new home and a holiday, which I’ll explore, but also some wildcards in the pack which provide some telling insights into celebrity dynamics and an increasingly engaged online population.

 

We’re escaping the real world with Celebrity Big Brother, Doctor Who, Thomas Cook and Thomson, but at the same time, we’re looking for a job through the Job Centre and a new home with Rightmove. 

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Because it’s Christmas, I thought you might enjoy a special edition of my Insight of the Week. 

 

In it, I’ve explored the data, based on consumers’ online behaviour, behind some commonly held assumptions about Christmas.  Do we really hate sprouts?  Are men genuinely bad at Christmas shopping or just pretending?  Are we putting our decorations up earlier every year or does it just seem that way?

 

Read it and discover the truth!

 

Have a lovely Christmas everyone,

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This week, the most interesting story is that of Amanda Knox, which shows an increase in searches of 1,450% in the last seven days. From looking at search patterns, we can see how the story has unfolded over time and how changing public perceptions of her character, guilt or innocence and relationship with the other protagonists – is reflected in searches.   more »

This week I’ve gone for the fastest rising search of the week, Tiger Woods, and he’s got this issue all to himself, because it shows some very interesting patterns regarding the how the story unfolded, the public’s relationship with him and his wife and what it tell us about the famous British sense of humour.        

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In this deck, I've shown how Brand Storytelling was used to great effect during the First and Second World Wars, as a way of controlling people's attitudes and behaviours, by giving them the motive, the means and the opportunity to help them tell better stories about themselves.

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This week’s Insight of the Week looks at the surge of interest around the Michelle Obama photo story, the interwoven relationship between Peter Kay, Ticket Master and the Manchester Arena where he’ll be playing his live show and the vagaries of Mariah Carey’s fame.

 

 

 

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In this paper I have explored the concept of Brand Storytelling and how the most exiciting and effective stories always benefit the consumer as much as the brand. I have looked first at the three key elements of a storytelling strategy: Motive - the reason and rationale, Means - the content and connection and Opportunity - the event and invitation, all of which are interdependent to a large extent. I have suggested some interesting tools and techniques to uncover the stories that brands are telling about themselves and the stories that consumers are looking for. Thirdly, I have examined the ways in which the best storytelling brands are giving their consumers the information, inspiration and incentive to tell their own stories, in their own words and their own way.   more »

This is my Masterclass - a comprehensive, step by step guide to the online research methodology I have developed, for turning online data into real world insight. In it, I use actual research scenarios and case studies to show how to harness the wealth of freely available information, inspiration and insight on the Internet for more resonant, relevant and effective Planning. In the first section, I list the tools and techniques for gathering the data. In Section Two I look at how they can be applied to a typical strategic development process and in Section Three, I have taken a sample business problem and looked at how the methodology can help us understand brands, consumers and communications and the relationship between them, in a whole new way   more »

I read a report of some research recently carried out by Oxfam which showed that 60% of consumers say they will buy more organic food in 2009. Terrific. But the actual sales figures tell a different story. According to TNS, after several years of robust growth, sales of organic goods fell by almost 20% in 2008 and have continued to decline into 2009. In this thought piece, I use my online research to explore the reasons for this conflict between consumer intention and action and identify ways that brands can harness it for their strategic advantage.    more »

There seems to be a tendency, in the way this recession is reported, and in the way some brands are focusing their communications strategies, to describe it as a mighty hammer blow that has prostrated the people of Britain. We are depicted as a cowed and passive people, entirely focused on the bad news around us and responsive only to increasingly hysterical offers and promotions. A kind of marketing ECT. Yet, when you look at what people are looking and asking for as they go about their business online, particularly when you look at what they are asking for on search engines, a more detailed and in many ways, different, picture emerges.    more »

Half consultant, half leader of thought and half agent of change, I am a different kind of planner. This difference manifests itself in, for example, a unique research methodology I have developed, which harnesses online data sources, to deliver authentic consumer insights which can be applied to devise resonant integrated strategies. I am currently Planning Director at Bell Pottinger so drop me a line there, on nhayward@bell-pottinger.co.uk or on my personal email, nicholine@gmail.com   more »

I've discovered something very interesting through my online research. I've found that people search on Google for completely different things during the week and at the weekend. People spend the working week, particularly Monday and Tuesday, looking for information, sorting things out and facing up to bad news. Searches about the recession, redundancy, stress, heart disease, cancer, domestic violence and suchlike peak during these days. We also look for a plumber, look for a job and check bank rates and house prices. On the other hand, searches for romantic, relaxing, enjoyable information and activities peak at the weekend. It's as though we don't want any negative stuff to intrude on our weekend, it's our retreat from work and worry and a time for pleasure and personal fulfilment. This has some very interesting applications for brands and in the attached deck, I discuss how these insights can be harnessed to ensure that brands say the right things to the right people at the right time.   more »

I co-wrote the Search is Brand white paper with Mark Rogers of Market Sentinel in 2005. In it, we discussed how, with the rise of user generated content and the role of the search engines as gateways between brands, commentators and consumers, an online reputation management strategy is an essential part of corporate communications. Some of the technologies we describe are a bit out of date, but the insight was way ahead of its time.   more »

I wrote this white paper in 2005, to discuss one of the key issues facing marketing professionals today – the integration of online and offline marketing. It explores the then radical idea of putting search, at tge heart of a brand's marketing strategy, and how using search more intelligently can help you get better results at every stage of an offline communications campaign.   more »

My 2007 paper on how you can use online data to generate insights at every stage of the Planning process, from scoping the market and segmenting the audience to defining the messaging and tone of voice. The data sources have changed (from Yahoo! to Google) but the process is more or less the same. A seminal work.   more »