IPA launches new behavioural economics thinktank

The IPA has launched a new behavioural economics thinktank to help understand brand choices.

“What consumers do when making choices about brands is often different from what they say they’ll do, and the decisions they make are complex and unconscious,” according to the IPA.

As such, the industry body has set up a thinktank in a bid to change the way the industry operates and to challenge current thinking about brand decisions.

The thinktank will be led by IPA’s president Rory Sutherland with other members, including COI’s Mark Lund, the Work Foundation’s Will Hutton, Agency Assessment’s David Wethey and Saatchi & Saatchi’s Richard Huntingdon.

Sutherland has backed the idea of behavioural economics since becoming president of the IPA, believing it explains human behaviour and as a result “transforms marketing effectiveness”.

The IPA is expected to publish a full report based on the findings of the thinktank in January.

Sutherland said: “Behavioural Economics provides a floodgate of inspiration to our industry. Our challenge is to ‘chunk’ it down, and apply it in ways which make a meaningful difference to client agency dialogue and communications planning and execution. It’s just the sort of breath of fresh air we need to stimulate our intellectual juices and rise above conversations about time sheets and schedule. It gets us back to the core of what we do and why we do it.”