NORTHERN PLANNER

 

I'm going to the APG evening meeting tomorrow, since I'm in London anyway and it should be interesting .

It might sound like hell on toast for many, but it's also nice to be amongst lots of planners talking about planning stuff. Not too often of course, planners need to mix with others at all costs – or it gets a bit like this:

 

Anyway, I've a bit if free time late afternoon. If anyone wants coffee etc let me me know.

The APG Panel Debate: Head, Heart or Herd – how do we best understand consumers?

Science and consumer thinking evolve. New models emerge explaining how and why consumers do the things they do, and new techniques arise to better understand them. But there's still no real consensus: if anything, there are more views than ever as to what makes us all tick.

We've assembled a panel to discuss the ins and out of the various ways to understand consumers: 
 
John Kearon – Chief Juicer at Brainjuicer
Gemma Calvert – Founder of Neurosense
Mark Earls – Herdmeister
Rory Sutherland – IPA President
Nick Southgate – IPA Behavioural Economics consultant

The issues that will be debated include…..

• Should we believe that humans are rational and know their own minds? Or are they 'differently rational' and need to be observed to be really understood?
• Should we take learnings from neuroscience and look literally inside their heads? Or go the other way, forget the individual and look at the herd as a whole?
• Does the answer lie closer to home with a little more empathy and self-awareness?

Date and time: Wednesday 6th October 2010, cash bar opens 6.30pm, debate 7pm. 
Venue: Holiday Inn London Bloomsbury, Coram Street, WC1N 1HT (Booker and Turner Suite).