SD#10: creativity, the tale of two Henry’s and intellectualisation
March 20, 2022
Hi friends,
Welcome to the 10th edition of Seven Dawns. Your weekly newsletter on marketing, productivity, psychology and more. As the newsletter is still in it’s infancy I will try to experiment with the way I send you ideas. Do let me know if you like or dislike one way over another.
Our seven ideas this week:
1. (Marketing) Creativity is a bigger contributor to marketing campaign success than medium/channel Choosing the channels through which you will reach your target audience is a necessary step in marketing campaign strategy. Marketers like to think that choosing where you will find your audience is often crucial to your campaign success. Research has shown that advertising creativity can have a significantly larger multiplier effect to success than the channel or any other factor (apart from your company’s market share). It is still essential to use several channels, but what they are might be less important than we like to think. |
2. (Advertising) Advertising professionals are the least trusted people According to Ipsos research, advertising executives are the least trusted people by the British population. Less trusted than politicians or estate agents. Reading this as a marketer is daunting. Nurses, librarians and doctors topped the list of the most trusted professions. Marketing professionals being so disliked I believe has slowly led to our profession desperately trying to find ways of making it more honourable sounding, which led to things like brand purpose. |
3. (History) The tale of two Henry’s in motor car production Less than a decade ago, we marked the 150th anniversary of the birth of Henry Ford and Henry Royce. Two men who had a profound impact on motor car production, yet in vastly different ways. Henry Royce was a modest mechanic, who introduced remarkable standards of engineering excellence and the manufacture of internal combustion engines. He was known for relentless perfectionism rather than inventiveness. Henry Ford, on the other hand, developed a simple, economical car at the same time as he pioneered mass production and new manufacturing processes. The fact that by 1927, Rolls-Royce produced almost 8,000 of their most successful Silver Ghost models, and Ford produced over 15 million Model T, yet both companies enjoyed similar success speaks volumes. |
4. (Productivity) Make the best thing to do, the easiest to do. Make the worst thing to do, the hardest thing to do We all want to tick off our tasks quickly and efficiently. One mind trick to do so is to make the best things to do, the easiest. The worst thing to do, the hardest. Want to stop ordering takeaways all the time? Why not delete the apps and make yourself order through the web next time or force yourself to always pick up the food instead of having it delivered. Want to make sure you go for a run early in the morning? Why not prepare all your gear the evening before or, even better, sleep in your running gear? All you will have to do in the morning is get up and run. |
5. (Economy) Recessions tend to have a small rebound before going back down Also known as a double-dip recession or a W-shaped recovery, these types of recessions often have a recovery period that is quickly followed by another recession. Major economic shocks, debt, or new public policies affecting price, employment, or production can often lead to such a second recession. As we enter a period of uncertainty with inflation on the horizon, geopolitical events, and the after-effects of Covid-19, it will remain important to watch for how our economies will recover. |
6. (Psychology) Intellectualisation – using reason and intellect to avoid feeling our emotions Intellectualisation is a defence mechanism during which people use reasoning to distance themselves from emotional challenges at hand. A person who lost their spouse might focus all of their energy on funeral arrangements and logistics instead of acknowledging grief. In some instances, it might be completely fine to put off an emotional burden, but if not addressed over time, they can build up and interfere with our daily lives. |
7. (Copywriting) Express your most important idea in the shortest sentence In a book, article, or essay, filled with long sentences, a short one arrives like a gift. It surprises you. Almost slaps you in the face. Like a gunshot on a dreamy summer afternoon. It would be a mistake to call a short sentence a simple one. Although grammatically simple, they usually have complex ideas or sophisticated concepts. But they also have power due to their brevity and agility. Expressing your most important idea should be short but powerful. |
Fun things to click on:
A search tool for weird old books. RhymeZone is like Google for rhyming words, if Google went to the Apply the candor test to meaningless corporate jargon. An 8-year-old slid his handwritten book onto a library shelf, it now has a years-long waitlist. A relaxing, fun, single purpose website with ethereal sounds of water and music.
Thanks for reading! If you have any learnings you’d like to share with me, or disagree with any of the ones above then do drop me a message.
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Speak soon,
Tom