on a serious note

last week we went to anomaly in london where we were lucky enough to have a talk by the herdmeister himself mark earls who talked to us about the difference between independent and social trends. mark's philosophy is that we, as humans, are herd animals who act as a result of other people's behaviour, gaining useful knowledge by being social and relying on other people. never before has this behaviour been more easy to prove than with google analytics where the short and long tail distributions of topics can clearly be seen. the importance of long tail distribution within a brand, especially of the bell curve that comes after the initial peak is the most desirable objective when advertising as it spreads to a much wider audience in the long run and builds through word of mouth.

mark's presentation was really clear and visually explained the crux of what the social element brings to the communication industries. you can see mark giving a similar talk at the RSA here.

after mark's talk, geoff gray, one of the partners at anomaly, gave a presentation about anomaly's principles and the current state of advertising. he highlighted the fact that we must think of media as part of the ideas and not simply as an afterthought. this showed in the campaigns they've run for brands such as diesel, converse and umbro.

it was really impressive to see how, often with very low budgets, how being culturally connected and strategically creative can create hugely successful campaigns, simply by leaning into things that people already care about. this interest and understanding of people is what has drawn me to planning in the first place and it's led me to believe that the main job of a planner is making sure that it's going to work.

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