The New Creative Revolution

THE NEW CREATIVE
REVOLUTION
How To Turn Human Understanding Into
An UnfairAdvantage
Behave.LONDON | BEHAVELABS.CO

“It can help us improve marketing effectiveness and prevent millions being wasted
on activities which run contrary to human nature.”
“This can be applied to virtually every area of business, from governance and
employee relations to marketing and customer service.”
“The behavioural revolution is in full swing.”
“Brands and agencies have been watching closely to see how they can apply
the science of persuasion to their own challenges.”
“Behavioural science is bigger than we thought, and more creative than
we could have imagined"
“The new science of selling.”
“Where policies have been designed to reﬂect behavioural science insights they
have substantially improved outcomes for individuals, families, communities, and
businesses.”

CHANGING behaviour has always been crucial to success.
But over the past two decades breakthroughs in behavioural
science have fundamentally altered our understanding of why
we do what we do.
Today, in the right hands, these new insights are providing
businesses with an unfair advantage and kick-starting a new
creative revolution.
At Behave, we have experience in four continents using
behavioural science to do more with less.
Here are 14 practical and proﬁtable lessons we’ve learned.

- Stewart Butterﬁeld, Founder Flickr and Slack
“The best - maybe the only? - direct measure of
innovation is change in human behaviour”

How to win over more
friends in less time

Create calm out of chaos
1

HOW does an product gain traction? Why are
some companies admired and others despised?
What is it that causes changes to decisions,
habits and lifestyles?
In this age of distraction, mass media has become
a blunt and expensive tool to change behaviour.
But there is hope.
The new toolkit offered by the behavioural
sciences gives you the means to navigate this
new world by creating frugal innovations -
innovations that turn resource constraints into an
advantage.
After all, personal and professional success
requires being able to move others to action -
customers, colleagues, investors, the media etc.
Has there ever been greater pressure to achieve
more with less? Has there ever been more of a
need?
By understanding the means to inﬂuence and
change behaviour, you can break through the
noise and create calm out of chaos.
Is human behaviour random? Or are we “predictably irrational”?
Now we have a toolkit that explains why we do what we do.

Anew musical theory for the
mind
2

BEHAVIOURAL insights shouldn’t be viewed
as scientific in the lab sense.
They’re scientific in the sense that use is based
on definite knowledge drawn from direct
observation of human behaviour.
They’re scientific in the sense that applications
are based on consistent principles which have
been demonstrated through repeated
experimentation.
They’re scientific in the sense that outcomes
can be achieved through a repeatable process
that gets results without risks.
Think of it as a new musical theory for the
mind. Now you can find the right notes to play
to create change - rather than relying on
imprecise methods such as surveys or focus
groups.
Those able to turn insights into actions are
already beginning a new creative revolution
within business and society.
How to make the stairs attractive - understand the notes that
create change and you may find a creative solution.

Small things make a big
difference
3

THE difference between a no and a yes is often very
small. Because we now know that decisions are made in
systematic and predictable ways, the impact of “trivial”
things can be dramatic.
WE’VE SEEN:  
 
A simple check-list half the rate of fatalities from surgical
procedures.
A new form design increase organ donation rates from
less than 10% to over 90%.
23% more patient’s take their medicine correctly as a
result of a lottery incentive.
An SMS reminder result in 2.6 times more savings.
A clearer process result in 50% less violent and
aggressive behaviour in hospitals.
A public pledge increase healthy eating decisions by
9.5%.
These were all from small interventions. And are a
fraction of the 537 case studies we’ve collected and
worked on around the world.
NEXT STEP >
CHECKOUTAS GUEST
A “Guest Checkout” button, like this one, added
$300M per year to a US retailer’s balance sheet.

Change perceptions
before reality
4

DIAMOND and moissanite are virtually
identical stones. One “lasts forever”, the
other is virtually unknown.
The ASUS X550CA and Apple’s Macbook
Pro have similar designs and are
assembled in nearby factories. One sells for
£540, the other starts at £999.
Many business decisions are taken to
make the reality better - lower price, higher
volume, faster delivery etc. But why
improve the food if the restaurant smells
bad?
Focus on raising your perceived value and
you will change your business reality faster.
Which is which?
One will cost you £800. The other £8000.
Based almost entirely on perceived value.

Context matters as much as
(maybe more than)
motivation
5

DECISIONS are not just based on
motivation. The context of the decision
plays a huge role, often subconsciously.
Timing, mood, the layout and environmental
cues all influence behaviour.
A supermarket has found they can sell more
German wine when they play German
music. And more French wine when they
play French music.
A shoe company found sales of one product
went up by more than 10% when they
sprayed the sole with an attractive scent.
A school found they can shift 18% more
healthy food by making it the first choice
children see.
Try changing the context before trying to
increase motivation. You’ll find it much
easier.
Want to get children to eat their greens?
Don’t nag them, nudge them by changing
the choice environment.

How to make your marketing
budget work harder

With a behavioural objective
you can do more with less
6

MARMITE’S “End Marmite Neglect” campaign has a
behavioural objective: get people to take the product
out of the cupboard and use it more frequently.
How much has the campaign cost? A few million?
This problem could have been solved for much less
and in a way that permanently shifted the sales curve
up.
How?
Well, the fridge is the most looked at place in the
kitchen. So add a sticker to the label saying “keep
me fresh in the fridge”.
The product goes in the fridge, gets seen more and
used more.
Sales of Marmite go up, sales of rivals go down.
When you start thinking about a problem in terms of
behaviour, you can ﬁnd ways to out-think your
competition rather than out-spend your competition.
At Behave., that’s how we deﬁne creativity.
KEEP ME FRESH 
IN THE FRIDGE
Is creativity making a multi-million campaign?
Or is it making a sticker that gets the job done?

Measure behaviour, not
attitudes, to find out what
people really want
7

ON May 6th this year the UK’s leading
pollsters and experts all concluded the
election would result in a hung Parliament.
On May 7th the Conservatives won a 12
seat majority with 331 seats.
What people say and what people do are
two very different things.
Putting your trust in focus groups or
attitude surveys is risky business.
And data, however big, can only tell you
what people do. It can’t tell you why or
what to do about it.
Only data plus behavioural insights can do
this.
Put them together and 1 + 1 = 3.
“No need to pray, David. The pollsters had it wrong.”

Make your advertising an
involving and evolving story
8

HOWARD Gossage was the Ad Man who set-up the
ﬁrst behavioural science practice, Generalists Inc., back
in the 1960’s.
Unlike the Mad Men of the era, he understood how to
create advertising that changed behaviour without the
need for big budgets.
He, and his clients, became wildly successful.
His secret?
He created ads that talked to the audience, not at the
audience. He involved them. When they responded,
and they did in their thousands, he evolved the story.
And his ads were so interesting they became the news,
so they spread far beyond small paid media space he
required.
Today, with social media and inﬁnite online earned
media space, this approach is more powerful than ever.
But so overlooked.
Last year £19.4BN was spent in the UK on advertising.
Research shows 89% of it was completely ignored.
That’s £17.27BN that could have been put to better
use.
Likability: How Gossage sold Fina, the petrol brand,
to the American people.

Three “Irrational”
Roads to Success

– Jeremy Bullmore, WPP Advisory Board Member
“People differentiate instinctively and rarely
on a rational basis.”

Emotion beats reason
9

HOW do you sell a charge card with an
annual fee, that requires full payment each
month and isn’t widely accepted?
In 1974 American Express tested a two-
page letter opening:
“Quite frankly the American Express Card is
not for everyone. And not everyone who
applies for Card membership is approved.”
It worked.
That same letter was mailed over 250M
times over the next 25 years and brought in
over $2BN in new business.
All because it appealed to the prospect’s
emotional desire for status and
respectability.
How can a two-page letter be worth $2BN?
With emotion.

Shape beats size
10

HOW do you sell a drink that’s 24% smaller
by volume and costs 75% more per ml
than the market leader?
Red Bull may be known for the tagline “it
gives you wings”, but their can design is
their genius.
On a shelf it makes a Coca-Cola can look
short and fat.
Hardly desirable when your customer is
thinking about what the product may do to
their waistline.
Taller and thinner: An irrational (but effective)
way to compete

Personality beats price
11

HOW do you sell an identical product for
more than a larger rival…who’s just one
click away?
Economists predicted that the internet
would mean the cheapest retailer would
always win.
Clearly nobody told Zappos, the online
shoe retailer. They outsold Amazon on
many product lines and at higher prices
too.
Amazon’s efﬁciency is impressive. But their
service is impersonal.
Zappos differentiated themselves with
friendly customer service and human
touches to surprise and delight.
Their success forced Amazon to buy them
out for $1.2BN.
Why deliver efﬁciency when you can deliver happiness?
How Zappos beat Amazon at their own game.

Want better results now?
Here’s where to start…

Start at the end.And work
backwards.
12

801 online conversion rate experts were
recently asked where they found the
biggest wins when making changes.
Their answer?
The checkout.
This thinking applies across your business.
Work backwards from the purchasing
decision. The checkout. The menu. The
order form.
Remove any barriers to “yes” and you will
see a better ROI from every penny spent
beforehand.
After all, what use is it spending money on
advertising if the rest of your funnel is
leaking?
TOP OF FUNNEL
BOTTOM OF FUNNEL
Why apply more force if the bottom is blunt?
Start at the end. And work backwards.
We call this Corkscrew Thinking.

Re-think how you present
choices
13

WHEN offered, “Red or White?” have you
ever responded, “Dry Martini”?
The way choices are presented to us can
have a huge impact on our decisions.
What’s the default option?
What’s the most popular option?
What do people like your prospect do?
How many choices are you offering?
How do they compare with each other?
Are you presenting a “yes or no” or a “this
or that” decision?
In what order are the options presented?
All of these matter.
Present them right and you unlock hidden
wealth immediately. Present them wrong
and you make a costly mistake.
“Red or white?” An example of a “this or that” choice.
Difﬁcult to say no to. Or “dry martini” to.

Make it easier to do business
with you
14

THE manager of a New York City mattress made a
mistake. Rather than ordering their usual monthly
stock from the wholesaler, he ordered more than his
warehouse could hold.
To make room fast, the store began offering to collect
people’s old mattresses. Within seven days they sold
more than in the previous seven months. They soon
became the No. 1 mattress company in New York City.
The decision to buy isn’t just about your product. It
involves a series of decisions (and how difﬁcult these
are perceived to be).
Every decision involves cognitive effort. The simplest
most attractive choice will always win. Take Amazon
One-Click as an example.
In fact, research published in the Harvard Business
Review found that companies that were easier to buy
from sold 58% more than their competition.
Whether trying to sell a product or trying to persuade
people to do something, it pays to start by making it
easier for them.
You may ﬁnd you hit your targets in days, not months
and leave your competition for dust.
Are your customers looking for a better night’s sleep?
Or an easier way to get one?

Is this all we know?

THERE is only so much we can reveal here.
There are dozens of practical ways behavioural
science can provide you with an unfair advantage.
But only when implemented with care.
At Behave, we’ve developed a comprehensive
approach that applies across business functions.
This special information is shared exclusively with our
clients.

hello@behavelabs.co
Curious to learn
more? Get in touch.

The New Creative Revolution

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