The Warc Blog

Ever tried haggling in a high street shop? If you’re British, the chances are you’d see it as being a bit beneath you – embarrassing, even. Some might have a go on holiday, in Morocco or Egypt, and enjoy the excitement of feeling they got their money’s worth by the grit of their innate bargaining powers, but it’s a novelty experience most would leave at the airport.

Not any more. RAPP, the customer experience agency, today presented the latest findings from its on-going Opportunities in Austerity research. The results show that British citizens are embracing the idea of becoming bargain hungry, discerning shoppers, and some brands are flourishing by helping them along.

I have just finished Week 4 of the Ariely/ Duke University online course on Behavioural Economics (http://bit.ly/134WRDq) The last 6 days have been all about "Labour & Motivation" - particularly relevant for those of us in gainful employment. 

It was extremly interesting, if pretty hard work - maybe I'm just feeling the pain a little after four weeks of evening and weekend study; or perhaps the topic was chosen deliberately to test our desire and will mid-way through.

Yes, we know that there are differences between a dedicated e-reader and a tablet. And if absolutely forced, consumers will acknowledge the differences too. But ultimately that's not really what consumers focus upon. In the hearts and minds of consumers it works out to a kind of 'meet-my-expectations-stupid' paradigm, and articulated or not, shrinking sizes and prices of 'full-featured tablets,' are managing to better meet customer expectations and are, thus, raising questions as to the viability of devices upon which one can only read a book.

I've recently completed the 2nd Week of my online course on Behavioural Economics given by the renowned Dan Ariely. Week two was all about "The Psychology of Money". (You can read about the first week of the course here.)

What did I learn? Here's a short summary, aided by a few refresher views of the relevant Lecture sessions.

Corning – the 'glass company' that came up with the telescope mirror for the Palomar Observatory, lighter and tougher windshields, and with Gorilla Glass for the first iPhone (GG now in its 3rd generation) – has showcased their new, ultra-thin, 100-micron thick, flexible glass.

Let's be clear, we're talking about glass, not plastic. It's called "Willow Glass" and it bends. By "it bends," we mean it's supple and bendable like plastic. But it's glass. And it could change the shape and form of how next-generation electronics are ultimately designed.

I'm currently taking an online educational course in Behavioural Economics (BE), lead by the eminent Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational and teaching Professor of Duke University (http://danariely.com/)

It's a fabulously well done course - lasting 6 weeks, it consists of Video tutorials, Reading Assignments, and tests that lead to a possible certification. And it costs nothing.

It was American President Eisenhower who famously spoke of "unwarranted influence." At the time he was talking about the military-industrial complex. But if he were around today, we suspect he would have included the aviation business, specifically passenger airlines, especially in light of the spate of recent mergers.

Mergers are not new, of course, but consumer and economic trends have accelerated those in the airline industry in recent years. We measure airlines in our annual Customer Loyalty Engagement Index, and can't have helped but notice that there are fewer National carriers showing up in the survey now than a decade ago. Ten years ago there were 10 airline brands, this year there are only six. American Airlines merged with U.S. Airways, Northwest merged with Delta, United merged with Continental, so fewer airlines and, perhaps, consumers fear, "unwarranted influence" on the parts of those that remain.

Some may deride it as corporate greenwashing, but the idea of brands "doing good" as well as making a profit is becoming an increasingly hot topic. I was struck earlier this month at the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) conference by client after client highlighting the need for brands to have a social "purpose". Here at Warc, we've also been inundated with entries to the 2013 Admap Prize, with over 100 people weighing in on whether "brands can be a force for social good".

With that in mind, today's "doing good makes for good advertising" panel at Advertising Week Europe was very much on trend. Addressing a venue packed out with London ad people, panellists from both the agency and client sides agreed on one key point: cause-related marketing cannot be superficial, but must instead represent a fundamental change in the way companies do business.

Advertising Week Europe kicked off across London today with a series of sessions on thought leadership - including several looking back to last summer's Olympics and the lessons that were learned there.

BAFTA's Piccadilly headquarters was humming as a capacity crowd packed in to hear Sir Martin Sorrell CEO of WPP, turn interviewer and discuss the art of winning with Sir Dave Brailsford, the performance director of the highly successful Great Britain cycling team, which won eight gold medals at the 2012 Games.

Real fishermen have a saying: "a bad day of fishing is better than a good day at the office," but perhaps not at McDonald's. Not this month, anyway. It turns out that Fish McBites – offered in three different sizes and a new Happy Meal – didn't lure enough customers into the chain to help U.S. sales last month.

The paltry catch cast a pall over the brand's headquarters because the company hadn't netted a monthly decline in global sales for nearly 10 years. Until last October. And this January. And again in February. So whatever strategic bait they think they're using, it isn't working as well as the corporation hoped. Their profits have floundered, a situation that must have more than one shareholder carping at McD's CEO, Don Thompson.