January 2011This edition covers: •Data Visualisation•Gamification•The Power of One•Food Security

DIGITAL/DESIGNDATA VISUALISATIONInfographics are big ➔ Regardless of the medium, PR professionals are still essentially in the business of creating compelling ways in which to get their client’s messages across.

➔ One of the key trends in this area is Data Visualisation or Infographics.

Impactful ➔ A study at the University of Pennsylvania

showed that in presentations, when information is conveyed orally, people retain only 10 percent of the content. But when a presentation includes visuals and words, that number increases to 50.

➔ In an era when we are inundated with news and media stories that have to fight for space amidst this deluge, infographics can make a real difference in helping a client stand out from its competitors.

Not just a pretty picture ➔ Infographics are much more than a pretty

picture. ➔ They provide users with 4 distinct elements:

1. same mental model2. attention-getting mechanisms3. content retention4. engagement from start to finish

Many Eyes “living laboratory” ➔ Data visualisation is something that IBM –

one of the most innovative companies in the world – is taking a keen interest in.

➔ They have even launched a website called Many Eyes which they see as a “living laboratory” allowing you to upload data sheets and see them be transformed into a variety of visualised formats.

Best practice ➔ You are sure to remember the story of the Chilean miners. There were 33 Chilean miners trapped in a mine who were not going to be able to be freed for months. Although this was headline news when it first broke there was an element of compassion fatigue over time. To counter this Newsweek produced this amazing infographic called “Think of the Miners” showing how small the bore hole was that was used to send them all their daily needs. As you can see, it’s a very powerful medium for getting your narrative across.

➔ Take a look at these stunning examples of creative infographics and these data visualisations.

➔ This video is well worth taking the time to

watch – journalism in the age of data: http://bit.ly/idY8ki

➔ The New York Times and the BBC websites are also good reference points, as they are both at the forefront of data visualisation.

HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF INFOGRAPHICS:

➔ Ideas should be topical ➔ Research is key and data needs to be

accurate ➔ Design is critical to take you on an

entertaining visual journey ➔ The title is important and needs a

recognisable theme ➔ Spread the word aggressively among

key online and offline influencers ➔ Promote your content/Infographic on

social media e.g.. Digg, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and StumbleUpon,etc.

➔ Establish metrics to measure success ➔ Make sure you have the URL of your

firm and the research links embedded in the image so that you always get the credit for your work and in return, credit those whose research made it possible for you to create a visual representation.

READ: 10 Awesome Free Tools To Make Your Own Infographicshttp://bit.ly/hwQmx7

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ENGAGEMENT/HR/MARKETINGGAMIFICATIONGamification is the use of game play mechanics or non-game applications, particularly consumer-oriented web and mobile sites, in order to encourage people to adopt the applications.

➔ Gamification works by making technology more engaging, and by encouraging desired behaviours, taking advantage of humans' psychological predisposition to engage in gaming. The technique can encourage people to perform chores that they ordinarily consider boring, such as completing surveys, shopping, or reading web sites.

Facebook at the forefront ➔ The phenomenon of gaming , particularly

Farmville, on Facebook has been something of a surprise success.

➔ The statistics speak for themselves:• 53% of Facebook users play games• 19% say they are addicted• 69% of Facebook gamers are women• 56 million people play daily

Crossing into business ➔ It’s a phenomenon that has inevitably been

latched on to by marketers who have seen the potential benefits of tapping into the growing “gamification” of our lives.

Big brands getting in on the act ➔ Big brands also understand the need for

game-like connections. Traditional advertising continues to lose effectiveness with younger consumers, and customer acquisition costs remain stubbornly high.

➔ Interestingly, 30% of gamers “like” real world brands. Some of the world’s biggest brands have taken notice of how game mechanics can help their strategies. Airlines, hotels, and credit card companies all understand our desire to be rewarded and to achieve status and have recognised that gaming is just making it more of an adventure, and more social. The scale of the social gaming is such that, according to TechCrunch, Google has invested US$100M in the social gaming behemoth Zynga and is preparing to launch Google Games in the very near future.

The next frontier ➔ In 2011, watch out for major media

companies and consumer goods brands launching gamified experiences. Expect to see the most innovation in finance, travel and TV.

➔ A Farmville equivalent will become a useful teaching and/or business simulation and learning tool in the enterprise; perhaps a user-powered cooperative. Companies like www.wisestep.com [Beta] are also pushing the boundaries of traditional business networking sites like LinkedIn by adding a gaming element that encourages and rewards interaction.

➔ 2011 will be a very exciting year for gamification and customer engagement overall. From small start ups working on energy consumption to the world’s biggest media properties, tools like points, badges, leader boards and challenges will be increasingly deployed to create emotional and brand loyalty.

HOW TO USE GAME MECHANICS: ➔ Integrate games from the outset

Start with your vision and work backwards. Define your end goal: what do you want to accomplish, what’s the big vision?

➔ Make a list of required user actionsWhat behaviour patterns do they need to adopt in order to sustain your business model? Think in verbs, not nouns. What do you need people to do? Once you have this list, rank the items from most to least critical and from most to least plausible. Now you know where to focus your game-based psychology experiment.

➔ Motivate the most important behavioursGive users a series of meaningful choices. Layer tasks over time to create a share sense of past, present and future to make the experience “sticky.” Pull them towards the most critical behaviours with rewards.

➔ Evaluate and adaptSuccess lies in evaluating and adapting both the game mechanic layer & the behaviours that are critical to motivate. Both change as you learn about your customer & they learn how to play your game.

READ: 5 Predictions for Game Mechanics in 2011:

http://on.mash.to/fIjzZV

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MARKETINGTHE POWER OF ONEIt’s a lonely planet – or is it?

➔ The rise of social networking over recent years and the internet over a longer period, has seen a concurrent rise in lone communication. Keeping in touch with friends does not necessarily need to be made face to face or in groups - each user is alone with his or her computer.

➔ The mobile phone has perhaps been the prime modern cause of this solo communication, however. Texting and the ease with which conversations can be cut down to ‘txt spk’ has meant that the need to physically interact with others has been dramatically reduced.

➔ We are becoming more and more accustomed to being alone – but with the rise of digital entertainment and the ease with which we can travel the world in our second lives online, being lonely does not have to mean being bored.

Socio-economic drivers ➔ The slowdown in growth of the global

population has been matched by a growth in the number of households - meaning that more people are living alone.

➔ According to the UK Office for National Statistics, as people marry later and live longer, the number of single person households is expected to increase by over 2 million within the next 10 years - on top of the seven and a half million who are already living alone.

Gender divide: the Freemale ➔ A new label - Freemale - has been given to a

certain type of woman - those who are happy without a man. According to the ONS, only 25% of women live with a partner.

➔ There is also the seemingly unavoidable fact that women outlive men. The widowed demographic is one that should not be ignored - with men in the West dying around four years earlier than women, on average. This female-heavy market is ripe for brands and companies to tap into.

Lifestyle Choice ➔ Overall being single is no longer perceived as a depressing fate - a la Bridget Jones - but as more of an active lifestyle choice. ➔ A group called Quirkyalone has been set up in the US for Singletons or people with “singleton attitudes”. The members of the group are not opposed to being in a couple but they are happier alone than in an unhappy relationship. ➔ The media agency Carat did some research on the topic of Singletons. The research revealed that when asked what one thing would improve their lives, only one in six Singletons said “finding a partner” compared to a third who answered “a large sum of money”; 60% of those surveyed believe that single people are as happy as couples. Respondents mentioned the following upsides to being single : having more time to spend on hobbies (76%), being more spontaneous (62%) and having more close friends (53%).

HOW TO TARGET THE “QUIRKY ALONES”:

➔ Brands can sensitively target singletons, emphasising the bachelor or bachelorette status (rather than emphasising loneliness) and underline the social status of such a demographic.

➔ This target group is ripe for the luxury category, having more disposable income and more liberty to indulge themselves.

➔ Individual holidays are no longer confined to the gap year student. There is plenty of scope to tailor independent adventures to explorers of all ages, especially in the area of health tourism.

➔ Singletons acknowledge experiencing some feelings of loneliness at certain key times such as Christmas, Valentine’s Day, New Year and sometimes on Saturdays when there tends to be a heavy media focus on families and couples. These times may create an opportunity for brands to play a role in Singletons’ lives and create an emotional tie with them.

READ: The Singleton Societyhttp://bit.ly/fTXdM4

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CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITYFOOD SECURITY

The world we eat in is changing ➔ Close to a billion people in the world are

hungry and there is growing poverty, unemployment, and displacement in the rural sector. Conditions have rapidly been getting worse for families globally as they are battered by surging food prices. Rising costs are dragging more people into poverty, fuelling political tensions and forcing ever more people to go hungry.

➔ Food is now costing up to 70% of family income in the poorest areas of the world. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization’s food price index — which covers 90 countries — was up 22% in March 2010 from the previous year.

From credit crunch to food crunchA deep-rooted set of factors is destabilising the

world food market:➔The US, once the world’s greatest exporter of

grains, is now diverting 20% of its cereal harvest to biofuel. The grain needed to fill the tank of a typical American SUV would meet the annual needs of one person in developing countries.

➔ The rising demand for animal feed for intensive meat production. This has given rise to a campaign for Meat Free Mondays.

➔ Poor harvests from traditional cereal exporters, such as Australia and Russia, which have been linked to climate change.

Global land grab ➔ The world community is in widespread

agreement about the urgency of more investment in agriculture. The food crisis, partly characterized by unstable markets and low reserves, has led governments to seek measures to meet their food security needs more directly than through global trade.

➔ Governments and corporations, looking to outsource food and energy more directly themselves, are promoting a new wave of land acquisitions, known as "land grabs." Persian Gulf states are working out land deals in Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe. India has set up agricultural projects in Brazil. South Korea recently tried to buy up nearly half of the island of Madagascar.

Longer term food supply problems looming ➔ Currently, the world’s population stands at

6.8 billion and is predicted to rise to between 8 billion and 10.5 billion between 2040 and 2050.

➔ In 1996, the World Food Summit set a goal of halving the number of undernourished people by 2015. The Food and Agriculture Organization says that target is not going to be met: World Agriculture towards 2030/2050.

➔ The UK government, in consultation with the EU, has put together a strategy around 6 core issues: healthy diet; resilient food system; sustainable production; reducing emissions; reducing waste; increasing impact of knowledge & technology: Food 2030.

➔ There are some signs of a move to build resiliency. The Forbes 2020 team of experts predicts that by the year 2018, 20% of all food consumed in U.S. cities will come from rooftop and parking lot farms.

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE:➔ Improve smallholder productivity➔ Link smallholders to markets➔ Keep trade open➔ Promote productive safety nets➔ Integrate climate change into strategies

at all levels➔Reform global food governance system

READ: Achieving Sustainable Food Security: New Trends & Emerging Agendahttp://bit.ly/i4iAZO

To request further information, give feedback or suggest a future topic for the newsletter, please contact:Elaine CameronStrategic Research & Trend Analysis, EMEA elaine.cameron@bm.com

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