Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011
We’ve managed to cobble together fifteen of the best looking men (all the ugly ones opted out) from the 1000heads London office to participate in this year’s charity fund-raising initiative, Movember.
Robin, Henry, Egidijus, Hazem, James, Andy, Freddie, Kingsley
Ricc, Alex, Joe, Tim, Nick, Aurelian
If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, Movember is a moustache growing charity event held during November each year that raises funds and awareness for prostate cancer.
At the start of Movember us chaps register with a clean shaven face (see the bare-faced group visage above – snapped yesterday) and from henceforth shall be known as Mo Bros. Collectively, we now have the remainder of the month to grow and groom our Mo, raising money along the way to benefit – an issue that’s close to us all – men’s health.
I’m heading up the 1000heads bunch as Team Captain and you can get involved and donate by checking out our team page and clicking the ‘Donate to Team‘ button on the top right.
And that’s it, we’re away!
Keep an eye on the 1000heads Twitter stream for constant progress reports over the coming thirty days – 24hrs in and we’ve raised over £100, which makes us very happy indeed!
Tuesday, November 1st, 2011
When I first started working at 1000heads, I was regularly asked what I did, and I usually began by explaining, ‘We build relationships with key influencers to affect conversations about brands.’ Actually it started out a lot more convoluted than that, with references to insight and advocacy and amplification; the number of glazed expressions prompted the simplification.
However, it was while carrying out the Different Size Feet research into parental social influence that it became apparent that perhaps there is a little too much emphasis in our industry on the ‘influencers’ and not enough on the ‘influenced’ – the ones who actually end up making the difference between brand success and failure.
When we first briefed the research to our partners at Kids Industries, we wanted to discover how social influence impacts on parents’ buying behaviour: how, why, where and when conversation prompts them to buy, on and offline, and which social relationships influence them at which stages of the process.
What I didn’t expect to uncover was a fascinating insight into parental behaviour towards these influences.
After the initial qualitative research, we found that parents are not a generic herd of followers at all. Eight very distinct groups of behavioural paradigms emerged, each with its own distinct psychology prompting shared common traits around what and who influences socially and how that translates into purchasing behaviour. What was even more exciting was that quantitative research showed that these personality types were broadly consistent across all product categories.
How does this affect what we do at 1000heads?
Put simply it means that while we will continue to identify and connect to family influencers, we know that to reach everyone, several strands of strategy may be necessary. Our in-depth knowledge of these social buyer personalities (which we will continue to build on) and their behaviour means we know who needs to be sharing the conversation at what trigger points and with what emphasis.
Subsequent discussions about the personality types has also proved these types to be pretty universal – OK, so having kids is a life-changing experience, but reactions amongst those without children does indicate that this research has relevance beyond the parental sphere. You can read in more detail about the research and the personality profiles via the Different Size Feet white paper, but here’s a brief summary of these types:
Likely to have specific passions but approach all purchases with rigour and independent research, relying on online and offline resources as well as opinions of other ‘Experts’.
Very risk averse. Will spend a relatively long time on purchase decisions, exploring all options, reading reviews and asking friends and family for opinions.
Rely heavily on opinions of family and friends and love to share their own experiences and recommendations.
Are primarily driven by price, tending to only ask other Frugals for recommendations.
Motivated by keeping their kids happy. Will converse with other Child-centreds and their children to gain their endorsement.
Lack the motivation to research for the best quality or deal. Will often decide at the point of sale or observe others for tacit recommendation.
Not at all product or brand driven, tending to take a highly functional approach when considering new products. They seek information only when really necessary from trusted sources.
Lack strong networks and experience with products/brands overall compounded by lack access to information (both online and offline. Make lots of mistakes due to poorly informed decisions
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The question is, which one are you?
