3. February 2014 The Knowledge Centre
Welcome to the latest of our quarterly newsletters.
The Knowledge Centre is to Leo Burnett LDN what the Tube network is to London â
sure, one can theoretically exist without the other, but everyone will be grumpy and
late and thereâll be a general feeling of despair mixed with ennui. We rumble along
behind the scenes, delivering carriages full of information, pausing at the red lights of
doubt and, er, stretching similes to breaking point.
We work with lots of clever folk who share new and fresh ideas with us, which helps us
to keep a keen eye on what the worldâs up to. Weâre pleased to be sharing our findings
with you. Inside this bulletin youâll find snapshots of the various internal publications
that we create and circulate, as well as highlights from a selection of our information
resources, and plenty of press coverage of our lovely new ads. This quarter weâve
become a little preoccupied with automation â see what you make of that.
From hard-hitting insight to piquant cultural memes, youâll find all sorts of useful info
within. Organised, reliable info that generally arrives on time, unless someone gets
their briefcase wedged in the door at Sloane Square or something.
Oh, and if you fancy a chat, drop us a tweet - @LeoBurnettLDN
Daniel Bevis
Senior Knowledge Editor
Leo Burnett London
4. February 2014 The Knowledge Centre
Welcome to the latest of our quarterly newsletters.
The Knowledge Centre is to Leo Burnett LDN what the Tube network is to London â
sure, one can theoretically exist without the other, but everyone will be grumpy and
late and thereâll be a general feeling of despair mixed with ennui. We rumble along
behind the scenes, delivering carriages full of information, pausing at the red lights of
doubt and, er, stretching similes to breaking point.
We work with lots of clever folk who share new and fresh ideas with us, which helps us
to keep a keen eye on what the worldâs up to. Weâre pleased to be sharing our findings
with you. Inside this bulletin youâll find snapshots of the various internal publications
that we create and circulate, as well as highlights from a selection of our information
resources, and plenty of press coverage of our lovely new ads. This quarter weâve
become a little preoccupied with automation â see what you make of that.
From hard-hitting insight to piquant cultural memes, youâll find all sorts of useful info
within. Organised, reliable info that generally arrives on time, unless someone gets
their briefcase wedged in the door at Sloane Square or something.
Oh, and if you fancy a chat, drop us a tweet - @LeoBurnettLDN
Daniel Bevis
Senior Knowledge Editor
Leo Burnett London
5. February 2014 The Knowledge Centre
Frisk is a weekly in-house newsletter from the Knowledge Centre and the Planning
department, discussing trends, cultural snapshots and general stuff that piques our interest.
Hereâs some of what weâve been sharing lately.
INSTAFAX
Short-form video is everywhere these days. Vine offered us six seconds, Instagram expanded the offering
to fifteen, but thatâs more than enough. People want brevity; quick things that they can look at in the short
space before the microwave goes ping or the bus doors heave open with a pneumatic sigh â miniature
video snippets fill in the micro-gaps in the day when weâre momentarily not doing anything else. Such is
the modern world.
The BBC have noticed this. Theyâre not stupid. So theyâve started condensing the daily news into tiny
15-second bursts and pumping them out on Instagram. Itâs an astute observation of modern digital
behaviour, and potentially a way to throw a few current affairs into the consciousness of todayâs digital
butterfly, maybe. Well, itâll either work or it wonât. (Also, I like the retro Ceefax reference in the name.
Ceefax was great.) http://instagram.com/bbcnews#
APRON STRINGS
An interesting fact that you may have seen in the news recently - more than a quarter of 20-34 year-olds in
the UK are still living with their parents. (You may also have noticed that many news outlets are using the
phrase âstill living at homeâ, which irritates me greatly. Everyone lives âat homeâ, unless theyâre homeless.
But I digress...)
Sticking around at your folksâ place has myriad advantages - cheap rent, a well-stocked fridge, you donât
have to freak out if you break the plumbing... for a lot of people, this greatly outweighs the stigma of being
a thirty year-old who still lives with their mum.
6. February 2014 The Knowledge Centre
But frivolity aside, for many itâs a necessity to stay
with parents indefinitely - itâs just not economically
viable to do otherwise. Rentâs expensive, house
prices are bonkers, jobs are scarce.
Wanna crunch the numbers? The Guardianâs
DataBlog has you covered. Look:
h t t p : // w w w . t h e g u a r d i a n . c o m / n e w s /
datablog/2014/jan/21/record-numbers-youngadults-living-with-parents
COMMUNITY SHOP
Food waste is an everyday horror story. The amount of food that doesnât even make it to supermarket
shelves because of some packaging defect is staggering; it all either ends up in landfill or gets squished into
animal feed. But Community Shop is a concept that takes this perfectly good scran and makes it available
to those who need it.
The pilot store is in Rotherham, and its stock is provided by the likes of Marks & Spencer, Asda and Tesco.
Food thatâs deemed unsuitable for mainstream sale due to aesthetic defects - but is still perfectly fit for
sale - is available at up to 70% off. The hook is that you can only shop at Community Shop if youâre a
registered member, having proven that youâre receiving government benefits. Great idea, huh? And if it
proves successful (which it should), theyâll be going nationwide. http://www.community-shop.co.uk/
7. February 2014 The Knowledge Centre
TRANSLATE.COM
URINE DETECTORS
Google Translate is a hilariously hit-and-miss thing.
Sure, itâs extremely useful to have this free, easyto-use doodah that allows you to turn text from
a language you donât understand into one you do
(or vice versa), but itâs not something youâd put a
huge amount of faith in. Words can be ambiguous,
nuances get lost, colloquialisms and sentence
structures donât cross borders, and you can end up
getting completely the wrong end of the stick (or
âKant died engineering, van die erde Stokâ, which is
what you get when you translate âthe wrong end of
the stickâ into Hebrew, then Italian, then Afrikaans,
then Chinese, then Icelandic, then back to English).
So, translate.com aims to circumvent this confusion.
Itâs an app that runs on crowdsourced results - you
Itâs a truism that public elevators always smell of
upload some written text, or an image of some text,
widdle. Weird, isnât it? Iâve been in lifts loads of
or a sound or video file of someone speaking, and
times and have never been struck by an unquellable
one of the two million users will offer a translation.
compulsion to void my bladder all over the place.
For added peace of mind, these translations can
For one thing, itâd be mortifying if the doors were
also be checked for accuracy to prevent this
to open while you were still mid-stream. How would
happening: http://youtu.be/akbflkF_1zY
you explain that? âSorry, it really hums of wee-wee
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/translate.com/
in here, I thought that was what we were supposed
id740974884?mt=8
to do...â
The catchily-named Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid
Transit Authority are, ahem, taking matters into
their own hands with this issue, fitting their lifts
with urine detectors (by which I mean sensors, not
little detectives in raincoats paid to stand there
and point at your winkle).
Brilliantly, the sensors detect the activities of
slashing miscreants and immediately alert any
police officers in the vicinity, who will then
presumably either arrest them or - much worse shout in a loud voice âTHIS MAN DOESNâT WASH
HIS HANDS AFTER HEâS BEEN TO THE TOILETâ.
Clever. http://bit.ly/Mf5Afa
8. February 2014 The Knowledge Centre
CATACOMBO
This is one of those brilliantly odd ideas that doesnât sound real, but is: a coffin for music lovers thatâll play
them their favourite songs for eternity. The system exists in three parts: CataPlay, CataTomb, CataCoffin.
The first of these is a Spotify-connected platform that allows friends and wellwishers to create playlists - if
youâre the soon-to-be-dead party, it might be an idea to prime these people with a cheat sheet. Or yâknow,
bequeath them your iPod. The music gets streamed to CataTomb, a smart 4G-enabled headstone with an
LCD screen, showing any passers-by what youâre listening to down there. And of course, thereâs CataCoffin
- your eternal resting place, stuffed with speakers (including a big-ass subwoofer!). It costs $23,500 - but
if you imagine that weâve got, say, 200 years before the inevitable nuclear apocalypse, thatâs only about 32
cents a day. Well worth it.
Of course, if you were particularly mean and had a recently deceased relative who you werenât that keen
on, you could sneakily erase their iPod and fill it with Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga. Imagine that. Forever.
Your own personal hell.http://youtu.be/SDpC5ZYcA7M
TRANSLATE.COM
Short-form video, as previously discussed, is all
You could take a short video, wang it out as a
the go these days. And now PeekInToo is giving
âPeekShoutâ - then other âPeekersâ would get a
the format a further twist, by combining it with a
notification that somethingâs going on in an area
mixture of ChatRoulette-esque randomness and
theyâre interested in. Of course, whether or not this
geographical searching.
is a format thatâs a) necessary and b) something
Letâs say thereâs something happening on the
other side of the world that youâre interested in
- a gig, perhaps, or a speech or sporting event.
You can ping out a request for a 12-second video
of it - if thereâs a user there, theyâll whack up a
bit of content. No need to friend anyone, itâs all
anonymous....or letâs say youâre walking down the
street and suddenly an alien spaceship slams into
the side of a building.
people are likely to use remains to be seen, but itâs
certainly of interest. (Just bear in mind the anonymity
angle. ChatRoulette is anonymous, and thatâs
full of strange men showcasing their gentlemenv e g e t a b l e s . ) h t t p : //w w w. p e e k i n t o o . c o m /
9. February 2014 The Knowledge Centre
MOMDOMS
Ooh, cringe. Parents are so embarrassing, arenât they? Why do they have to try to talk to you about
âintercourseâ, instead of letting you learn about it yourself from the dirty mags you find in the woods like
normal people do? Honestly. They only had it off the number of times it required to create you and any
siblings you may have, so what possible advice can they have to offer you on the deployment of your own
fledgling genitals?
OK, from the parentsâ point of view itâs pretty hideous too. Iâm not looking forward to the day when I realise
that the small person I see as a source of dirty nappies and warming cuddles has morphed into an angry
little thing that wants to do gross stuff with boys. (Or girls, who knows how sheâll turn out?) So approaching
the subject with a smidge of humour is probably the best way to go. And thatâs where Momdoms come in.
Itâs basically a tin of rubber johnnies that you give to your freshly pubic offspring, bearing such tongue-incheek slogans as âwrap that package tightlyâ, âbe careful of the crabsâ and âbecause I said soâ. This, in theory,
will eliminate any awkwardness from the birds-and-bees chat.
...at least, thatâs what weâll have the kids believe. In actual fact, the whole ideaâs designed so that the thing
that presents itself at front-of-mind at the very moment your child is about to get nasty is an image of their
mumâs face, thus immediately putting them off and ensuring that no âintercourseâ takes place. Genius.
http://buymomdoms.com/
10. February 2014 The Knowledge Centre
THE HUMANE EATING PROJECT
Note that the word in the title is âhumaneâ, not
Itâs a brilliant concept - up until now, there would be
âhumanâ. âHumaneâ. Thatâs very important.
no way of knowing whether your local Utah Fried
The trend of consumers showing an interest in the
provenance of their grub has been growing for
years now, itâs not really anything new. Food miles,
Fairtrade, all that business. But weâre increasingly
finding that technology is being harnessed to check
up on ingredients while out and about. The Humane
Chicken was dressing the poultry up in medieval
costumes and making them joust in the kitchen
without jumping over the counter and checking for
yourself. Thisâll save you the embarrassment and
inevitable arrest. http://www.humaneeatingproject.
org/
Eating Project is one such idea - it helps restaurant
customers to choose where to eat by seeing
whether the eateries in question source their meat
from suppliers who have treated the animals fairly.
(Yâknow, before they went after them with the boltgun.) It also provides healthy conversation ammo if
youâre friends with vegans and feel youâre being left
behind in the chat.
LIVING WITH
Mental health issues affect a staggering number of people, although you may not always be really aware
of it. A lot of people who are battling such demons prefer not to talk about it. Unfortunately this means
that outsidersâ understanding isnât all that it could be, and the ensuing perception that itâs a minority thing
serves to stigmatise, meaning that the whole situation is a self-fulfilling spiral of not-wanting-to-talk-aboutit.
So, for those afflicted that might consider a more open forum, Living With offers an alternative. Theyâre
selling t-shirts that allow sufferers to wear their condition on their sleeve - well, chest - and fight stigmas
with openness. Four are available: depression, bipolar disorder, OCD, ADHD. Their designs are abstract
patterns rather than just signs that say âI have ADHDâ or whatever, inviting comment and allowing the
wearer to discuss it on their own terms. They also allow the acceptance of the condition to be worn as a
badge of honour, rather than the monster being hidden in the shadows. Which all makes perfect sense.
http://www.livingwith.co/
15. February 2014 The Knowledge Centre
Crunch is an Arc newsletter, highlighting interesting campaigns in the area of sponsorship and
brand activation, sharing these titbits with the wider group. Here are some snapshots from the
latest issueâŠ
UNCLE DREW
For those that havenât seen the Uncle Drew series - watch it! Itâs a great demonstration of a one-off viral
video turning itself into a full-blown campaign.
The Pepsi max team wanted to take a fresh approach and feature one of their newest ambassadors â
Cavaliers rookie Kyrie Irving - and use him to front creative based on the idea that âyou look at the product
and see one thing, but inside it is something differentâ. They disguised Irving as an old man and took him
to a real street basketball game.
The YouTube video received 27m views in 3 weeks and 80% of viewers watched for 5 minutes. The viral was
so successful that Pepsi Max created a story by adding 2 more episodes.
SQUAT FARES
In Moscow, subway commuters were able to get a
free ticket by completing 30 squats in two minutes
at a special ticket machine. It was used to generate
interest ahead of the Sochi Winter Olympics.
http://youtu.be/ojo9M1cPSPI
16. February 2014 The Knowledge Centre
ROCKET MAN
The stuff of science fiction no longer⊠watch
manufacturer Breitling worked with Yves Rossy
(aka JetMan) to produce a human jetpack which
allowed him to fly individually around Mount Fuji.
http://youtu.be/fnnOxRK_gc4
HANGOUT WITH MAN UTD STARS
2013 saw sponsors and rights holders exploit Google+ hangouts by bringing players closer to the fans.
Google+ Hangouts are a free video chat service from Google that enables both one-on-one chats and
group chats with up to ten people at a time. Manchester Unitedâs logistics partner DHL drove fans via their
@DHL_ManUtd Twitter handle to find further details about the first ever Man Utd hangout. The Hangout
was part of DHLâs âThe Journey From Good To Greatâ campaign, launched on Google+ in conjunction with
the teamâs new training kit. The event was subsequently promoted on Man Utdâs official website with a
press release that included more specific details and claimed the first-of-its-kind event was an innovative
platform to bring fans even closer to Manchester United and its first team players.
17. February 2014 The Knowledge Centre
Storebites is a regular in-house roundup of tangy titbits relating to shopper marketing and the
goings-on in the retail environment. Here are some highlights from the latest issueâŠ
AN INCREASINGLY VIRTUAL WORLD
Mobile internet has now firmly established itself as
For example, one of Russiaâs largest cosmetics
a sales channel and has changed the commercial
chains, Ulybka Radugi, has collaborated with
landscape.
more
marketing technology firm Syngera to introduce
affordable than ever before, the pool of digital
checkouts that read facial expressions and register
shoppers is growing daily. Tablet ownership has
emotions
more than doubled in the past year, rising from 11%
historical purchase data, Ulybka Radugi is able
Q1 2012 to 24% Q1 2013, and with the number of
to launch customised campaigns and targeted
digital touchpoints opening up, there are a growing
promotions.
With
digital
devices
now
of
shoppers.
Combining
this
with
number of ways to influence shoppers. They now
have access to so much more choice than ever
Beyond the store, German retailer Upcload has
before, whether itâs an everyday essential or a big
made it possible for clients to be measured via
ticket item; they can shop for anything, anytime,
their webcams, thus allowing them to try on
anyplace, anywhere.
any garment virtually before committing to buy.
Topshop also used technology to engage with their
This rise in online shopping has consequently
shoppers during fashion week. They gave models
transformed
showrooms.
front-facing cameras which enabled viewers to
Retailers are now merchandising less stock in a bid
watch the catwalk shows live on YouTube as well
to improve the shopper experience, giving rise to
as following the goings-on backstage in real time
omni-channel strategies that link online and the real
via Instagram and Twitter.
retail
spaces
into
world together seamlessly. Furthermore, the rapid
development of technology is allowing retailers to
After the show, viewers could use the âBe the
create fresh experiences for their customers.
Buyerâ app which allowed fans to create personal
outfits with the pieces from the runway collection
and get tips from the buyers on how to put their
perfect look together. Shoppers were not only able
to buy the clothes the models were wearing, but
also the nail polish they were wearing too!
In the grocery channel, digital mostly impacts the
âpre-shopâ when shoppers are comparing prices,
trying to save time and money.
18. February 2014 The Knowledge Centre
However,
shoppers
smartphones
to
are
receive
increasingly
using
Despite this, networking sites provide a platform
personalised
push
for
listening
and
interacting
with
potential
notifications from apps, navigate the retail space
shoppers. Coca-Cola joined Facebook in 2008 and
more efficiently as well as searching out offers
has generated 75 million likes in 5 years, focusing
across their favourite products in a bid to achieve
less on product and promotions but more on fans,
greater value. Other reasons shoppers leverage
leveraging âshareworthyâ content.
digital is to get a greater understanding on product
sourcing and guidance on how to achieve a healthy
lifestyle. By understanding shopper needs by
category, manufacturers can help make shopping
trips easier by focusing mobile messaging in the
right places.
Price transparency too has become increasingly
important with digital innovation.
IGD found the main reasons for using social
networks for food and grocery was to search for
recipes and learn what others are saying about a
product.
Shoppers can compare pricing and promotions
They also found that product endorsements via
from one retailer to another using sites such as
Facebook encouraged over 60% of people to visit
MySupermarket.com, enabling them to cherrypick
a brandâs page. Brands need to consider creating
retailers for different categories. And what about
content that is engaging and interactive; they need
virtual shopping communities? They are the next
to inspire, educate, entertain and provide the ability
step in the pricing revolution, where people join
to personalise to deepen the shopperâs level of
an online group to negotiate bulk discounts.
activity. Examples include Lidl, who use Facebook
Examples include âMilk, Please!â in Italy where local
in Belgium to let customers design cupcakes on
folk collaborate to buy groceries and even Tesco
their page, with the three most popular creations
is trialling âWine Co-buysâ where the price drops
going into development.
when more shoppers commit to buying.
Aldi also uses Facebook in the USA to invite
According to IDG, 8 out of 10 shoppers use a social
shoppers to take a âswitch & saveâ pledge, then be
networking site; however, only a third connect
entered into a draw to win $20 gift certificates.
with food/grocery companies through Facebook,
YouTube or Twitter.
But with digital continuing to innovate at such a
pace, what does the future hold?
19. February 2014 The Knowledge Centre
It seems there are two trends: âpredictive analyticsâ
Thanks to major brand partnerships, the virtual
and âgamificationâ. Predictive analytics is when
products correspond to the products currently
retailers leverage cognitive computing to learn and
available in real stores. Another example is GoldRun,
pre-empt individualâs shopping preferences and
a free iPhone app launched to allow retailers to
provide personalised promotions according to their
deliver virtual goods and user rewards through
future behaviour. This provides the opportunity
social media games, guides and loyalty programs.
to increase sales, reduce shipping, inventory and
Their partnership with H&M allows shoppers to try
supply chain costs. Amazon is one retailer already
on outfits virtually and post images to Facebook to
jumping on the innovation. Their model is based on
create personalised âlook booksâ. The app enables
purchase history, cookies, surveys and generating
fans to collect virtual items, snap a picture of them
geo-targeted sales predictions.
and receive a 10% discount off their next purchase.
This creates a constant flow of products being
pre-shipped towards their expected geographical
destination. The final address will then be confirmed
while in transit (from one hub to another). Whilst
this model is still in its infancy this could be the
future for pure play e-tailers.
Gamification in simple terms is leveraging gameplaying to encourage engagement. But why would
anyone do it? Well, because there are benefits
to be had, such as added incentives, plus itâs an
outstanding way to motivate consumers.
In
an
ever-increasingly
technology-fuelled
existence, companies need to understand how
their shoppers, brands and categories are affected
by technology and develop a digital marketing
strategy
accordingly.
Building
both
brand
differentiation and emotional engagement to
optimise the interaction will give the strategy that
will succeed in a virtual world.
Ultimately it aims to spark a competitive drive
amongst
consumers
that
makes
content,
behaviours and tasks more creative and appealing
The social game Retail Therapy currently pursues
the
furthest-reaching
concept.
Here
players
design their own virtual store, stock it with virtual
products, and hire employees. .
Sarah Leccacorvi
Board Account Director
20. February 2014 The Knowledge Centre
GROUP PR
We make ads. You know that. And we like it when people say nice things about them, as they
often do. Hereâs the recent chatterâŠ