Study Proves: Yes, Money is the Root of all Evil.

Mai 7th, 2012 • Allgemein, Experimental
Tags: biology, Business, Creativity, crime, ethnology, Experimental, Experiments, Funny, Money, monkeys, science, World

Marketing would only be half the fun if people were not as greedy as they are – even though the world would be more fun I guess.

One of the funniest most interesting research pieces in this field was conducted by Dutch primatologist and ethologist Frans de Waal. He and others (like M. Keith Chen and Laurie R. Santos) taught Bonobos and Capuchin Monkeys the value of currency to better understand moral behaviour and sharing. And they behaved quite human-like:

The monkeys learned how to gamble, and showed a human preference for bets with an apparent upside. They tried counterfeiting the money with cucumber slices. They stole coins. And when a riot broke out, one enterprising female found a way to capitalize…

How? That’s simple.

As soon as they learned that coins had value, one of the male capuchins gave a coin to a female in exchange for sex.

So yes: Essentially money is the root of all evil. It turns peaceful primates into criminals with a clear preference for bitches and bling exchanging food for sex.

Oh…and then there is greed. The following clip, which is by Frans de Waal, shows two different monkeys eating two different foods. The first monkey, is given cucumbers and the second monkey is given grapes. After the first monkey sees that the other is getting grapes guess what happens next? Exactly: they essentially turn into members of the board of the Bank of America in less than 5 seconds.

Good news is: we may not be so bad after all. According to de Waal monkeys and apparently even us show some sign of morality and a sense of sharing if they perceive injustice. Read more about his study results here.

Planner Survey 2011. The State of Marketing-Strategy Worldwide.

September 18th, 2011 • 1 comment Strategy
Tags: Agencies, Jobs, Money, Planning, Report, Salary, Strategy, Study, Survey, Truth, World

I have to admit I am a bit late with this post. But I have been travelling so please forgive me if you know about the ‘Planner Survey 2011‘ already. Many of you know this survey which my colleague Heather LeFevre conducts annually. Heather is Head of Planning at Strawberry Frog Amsterdam and for the seventh time she has tried to shed some light on the state of Marketing-Strategy worldwide – a remarkable effort for such a niche ‘industry’ within a ‘niche industry’.

I don’t want to say anything about her research. Just check out the 2011 document below. But I really want to thank Heather for her continuous curiosity in this topic. Great insights. I particularly the more localized character of this year’s survey compared with 2010′s data.

By the way: If you want to follow Heather on twitter, do it here.

Survey. How much can you actually earn as a Planner?

August 18th, 2010 • 1 comment Work
Tags: Agencies, Jobs, Money, Planning, Report, Salary, Strategy, Study, Survey, Truth, World

Finally! An interesting analytical paper about the status quo of planning salaries in planning. My colleague Heather LeFevre from the colleagues at Strawberry Frog here in Amsterdam has just published her Planner Survey 2010. It tries to compare salaries of strategists worldwide to bring some light into the dark. The data was collected via an online survey with 1570+ participants from all over the world.

The effort definitely was worth it. You get a pretty good understanding about what you can expect to earn in NYC in comparison to London. But as usual – salaries don’t say much as long as you don’t integrate real costs of living. Earning and spending 100$ in Frankfurt is a very different thing to earning and spending 100$ in Amsterdam or London.

Anyway, great work, Heather. Thanks a lot.

Social Media. Say R, say O, say I.

September 9th, 2009 • Business
Tags: Business, Money, Presentation, ROI, Social Influence Marketing

Social Media ROI explains how to generate an economic benefit out of limited resources (time, money, technology) while you’re doing social. Great presentation by Olivier Blanchard of @thebrandbuilder (thx for the link to @viereckigerhai). Do also check out Brandbuilder’s blog…

Social Media ROI by @brandbuilder from Kipp Bodnar on Vimeo.