Blog

James Devon

18th November 2009
Behavioural Economics & Better Offers

I recently attended a workshop at the IPA about their Behavioural Economics plans. Very interesting it was too, mulling over the potential benefits, drawbacks and impact on structure and nature of agencies etc.

The other day Dave Trott wrote a thought-provoking post which included some fine example of smart promotions carried about by Absolut FM. And this got me thinking...

One of the potential benefits of implementing Behavioural Economics thinking is to improve the nature of the offers and incentives we use to change behaviour. If we're better at understanding what drives behaviour then we can "nudge" people in the required direction more effectively.

Here's something I spotted outside the Gym Box on St. Martin's Lane.

The text at the bottom reads:
"Thrashing the Competition. For this month only, if you are a member of another gym, you can use and abuse us for FREE. Enquire within."

Now this is pretty smart. Everyone knows there's masses of guilt on our high streets through under-usage or non-usage of gym memberships, so this provides an extra opportunity to assuage the guilt. Simple, yet I'm willing to bet it's effective. Odd that the offer is not mentioned on their website though.

2nd November 2009
A Banksy Rip-off?

Another spot from my trip to NY... on a wall between the sublime Spice Market and the très chic Pastis in the achingly hip Meatpacking District I found a few Banksy-esque bits of graffiti.

They're basically pasted up images with a touch of paint dabbed on after. A spot of googling has identified the artist as a certain Mr Brainwash. Lots more images here at Satori's photostream on Flickr.

Interesting, but highly derivative?

2nd November 2009
The Charm of Slice Perfect

I spotted this charming way to announce the arrival of a new restaurant on a recent trip to New York. (It was somewhere around the bottom end of Hudson Street).

Turns out to be for an organic pizza experience, Slice Perfect.

14th October 2009
Coming to an ad near you.

Three pieces of creative goodness.

First, a nifty animation technique using folded bits of paper found via @alphanum3ric

VIDEOGIOCO by Donato Sansone from Enrico Ascoli - Sound Design on Vimeo.

Second is the work of Drzach & Suchy creating images from shadows that change dependent on the direction of the light source. Sorry can't remember where I found this one.

And finally the "hand from above", which is sort of an augmented reality, interactive crowd pleaser type thingy, found via @mattklippel

Hand from Above from Chris O'Shea on Vimeo.

7th October 2009
3D Interaction with Touch Screen

There's been lots of chatter around Microsoft Surface this week, including this neat Audi configurator amongst other bits and bobs.

The video below shows a very interesting development, interacting with and controlling the display via blocks that can be indentified by the pattern of glass fibres they contain. This also allows them to be stacked and still recognised by the surface. More here.

7th October 2009
A Bit About Google Wave

Google Wave beta invites have been sent out recently to much excitement from the digerati. However it wasn't quite so fun for some, spare a moment to pity poor Iain Tait after a Twitter prank went a bit wrong, or right, depending on your point of view. It seems to be an incredibly advanced communication tool. Here's a link to a very long explanation (1hr 20mins). However, below is a much shorter video of Google product managers explaining it in about 8 mins.

Below is an animation from the digital buzz blog to explain a small bit of what Wave can do. Created no doubt to blag an invite.