Five Ways Voice Will Change Branding
In this year’s Super Bowl commercials, Amazon’s Alexa lost her voice. In the real world, she’s louder than ever. The Amazon Echo, and other voice-activated home assistants like Apple’s iPod Home, are enjoying a surge in sales. Mass adoption isn’t quite there yet, but it looks likely, if not inevitable.
To Survive The Retail Apocalypse, Keep Moving
These are tough times for physical retailers. It seems like every week, news breaks of another brand in trouble. With 60% of purchase decisions made in the retail environment, understanding and predicting shopper decisions is a critical task and one that deserves the appropriate investment.
Dogs! Cars! Dogs Driving Cars!
Advertising ideas don’t get simpler than Subaru’s Barkleys – but sometimes simple works. We take the motoring mutts for a test drive.
Still Ready For Prime Time: How TV Defied The Doomsayers
The “death of TV” has become a marketing trope. But it hasn’t happened yet. We explore why.
The ‘Most Innovative’ Imperative For Every Insights Firm
Alex Hunt discusses the pace of insight change and the latest GRIT findings.
Innovating for the Environment
Images of an albatross feeding its chick plastic and a whale with a bucket caught in its mouth shocked worldwide viewers of Blue Planet 2, the documentary about our oceans. Plastic became Public Enemy Number One overnight. Enter innovation and new product development.
Unwrapping The Plastics Crisis Phenomenon
This time last year, almost nobody was talking about a “plastics crisis”. This year, it’s the hottest of topics. But how did the plastic waste issue finally get onto the public radar, and what lessons can communicators learn from it?
Who’s Picking Up Your Litter? Litter Kills Campaign
Britain has a serious litter problem. Find out how System1 Agency helped Clean Up Britain combat this issue with their ‘Litter Kills’ campaign.
How Fluent Are You In Branding
We often talk about the 3 qualities that make for great, profitable brands: Fame, Feeling and Fluency. If your brand comes to mind easily (Fame) it’s a good choice; if your brand evokes positive emotion (Feeling) it’s a good choice; if people recognise your brand and its assets quickly (Fluency) then it’s a good choice. But how to nurture these qualities in your communication?
A Personal Reflection on IIeX Behaviour
System1’s European Managing Director, Horace McDonald, takes us through his highlights from this year’s IIeX Behaviour London.
Tips For Innovating In A Tipsy Category
Distinction in the alcohol sector can be tough – rip off the label and often times your brand isn’t unique anymore. Companies must heavily rely on continuous and successful innovation to earn their spot in the top of consumer’s minds.
How Far Can Reputation Take You?
We pose the question: Does a strong brand mean a company can get away with being downright average when it comes to advertising effort?
Ready Shopper One: Why Marketers Need Full Immersion
Alternative realities are big right now. The success of Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One blockbuster – about a guy whose exploits in a virtual online game win him fame and fortune – shows the idea of “VR” still seduces even now we can build our own headset by folding up a bit of cardboard.
How To: Think About Trends
We change much less than we think we change… but change still happens. We explore how behavioural science can help marketers bet on the future without losing their shirt.
Grow Up? Never!
Non-alcoholic shandy Bilz Panache needed to turn its nostalgic associations into a dynamic, joyful modern brand. See how our System1 Agency work helped them do exactly that.
Dieselgate – A Car Crash In Slow Motion?
The latest wave of our automotive tracking study shows the emissions scandal still clouding VW’s German prospects. What does it mean for the future of German cars and alternative technologies?
How To: Launch A New Brand
How do you launch a new brand? We answer one of our most frequently asked client questions. A look at early stage brand growth through a Fame. Feeling and Fluency lens.
Hilarious Ads – With An Effectiveness Lesson
Sakeru Gummy’s “Long Long Man” series of ads is the perfect example of a Fluent Device.
Christmas Comes But Twice A Year
Christmas in April? It is if you’re a planner or marketer. As brands plot their Xmas campaigns for 2018, we offer some unseasonal advice on how to pick emotional winners.
Subscription Services: Thinking Inside The Box
Subscription services have been a huge consumer success story this decade – can emotional communication and fluent innovation help them take the next step to growth?
A Spoonful Of Fluency Helps The Sugar Go Down
The UK’s new “sugar tax” is part of a wave of regulation hitting food and drinks brands. When laws change, can Fluent Innovation help keep consumers sweet?
Mini March Madness! Fluent Devices Bracket
A fun March Madness bracket starring Fluent Devices, the distinctive assets people love to love.
Can You REALLY Build A Brand In Six Seconds?
We look into our ad testing database for the most emotional 6s ads. Are they great stories… or something a bit more basic?
Failure Rules: Getting To Zero Waste
“The paradox of success is you need failure to achieve it” – but there’s more than one type of failure you have to manage…
Now THIS Is How To Use A Distinctive Asset…
How McDonalds is using its golden arches to add a creative twist to Brand Fluency.
Want To Manage Change? Get Weird!
John Kearon reports back from the Insight Show with thoughts on change, diversity, and the power of weirdness.
Five 5-Star Ads Celebrating Women
For International Womens Day, we look at five 5-Star winners that celebrate women from our 2017 and 2018 ad tests.
Super Bowl: Football, Advertising AND Insights showcase?
With over 100 million viewers and a 5 million dollar price tag for a 30 second spot, it is imperative that brands advertising on the Super Bowl spend their money wisely.
FeelMore50 2017: Humor Wins Big for American Brands
What gets North Americans feeling emotional? “Dogs and kids”, a cynical observer might say, and it’s true that each year’s FeelMore North America list brings a new crop of adorable children and puppies. But plenty of ads use those elements without emotional success, and this year we’ve seen some small but interesting shifts in the overall sentimental picture.
Super Bowl Fourth Quarter Report: Teaser Troubles, and the NFL’s 5-Star Win
Our fourth quarter blog post from the Super Bowl, focusing on teasers and the NFL’s own “Dirty Dancing” ad.
Super Bowl Third Quarter Report: Bud Gets Serious, Tide Gets Talked About
Our third quarter LIVE TESTING Report focusing on Budweiser and Tide.
Super Bowl Second Quarter Report: Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snowboard!
Our second Super Bowl Live Blog – and more 5-Star successes for Winter Olympians.
Super Bowl First Quarter Report: Inspiration meets Humor as Eagles Soar
Our first Super Bowl blog post.
Pepsi and Bud Light Lead the Way in Early Super Bowl Testing
The early results of our Super Bowl testing are in – and Pepsi and Bud Light have cause to celebrate. Pepsi’s revival of its 1992 ad with Cindy Crawford, and Bud Light’s viral “Dilly Dilly” ads, have both registered strong results on System1’s tests. Together they throw a spotlight on one of the most important, but least known, aspects of advertising success: Fluency.
The Do-Gooder Bowl
What are brands focusing in on with their ads for this year’s Super Bowl? How have the ad previews/teasers performed so far? Which brands are back for another Super Bowl spot, and which are rookies?
Super Bowl LII Ad Testing: Bigger, Better, Live – r
Last year we broke new research ground by testing every Super Bowl ad LIVE, announcing the results on video, on Twitter and on our website as they came in. It was a lot of work, a lot of fun, and a wild, hectic celebration of the great emotional ads every Super Bowl brings. So, of course, we’re doing it again
Five Big Findings from the 2017 FeelMore50
The 2017 FeelMore50 list launches today. ust to remind you, the FeelMore50 is a list we publish every year of the best emotional advertising. We ran self-funded tests on over 700 ads which won awards, enjoyed viral success, or made the news over the course of last year. The fifty with the best results appear on the site. Here are five big things to take away.
Coming Soon: The 2017 FeelMore50
Every year, we test and rank hundreds of TV and digital commercials, in a search for the most emotional ads of the year. It’s the FeelMore50 list, the only industry ranking that reflects the real emotional response of real people. The latest rankings – covering 2017 – are coming to our FeelMore50 website on Thursday.
Seduce Don’t Persuade: NPD
Brands tend to approach innovation by thinking about “unmet needs”. Instead of persuading a customer to buy something new because it meets their needs, we think you’ll have better results seducing a customer into buying something new because it feels good and has fluency. We call this probing of the market for seductive opportunities Product Landscaping.
The 3Fs of Christmas 2017 – Family, Fantasy, Familiarity
The results are in! With over 50 ads tested as part of our FeelMore Xmas live project, it’s time to reveal which brands hit the emotional spot this Christmas. The good news is it’s been a bumper year for UK ads.