You feel, in your bones, something’s wrong with what communicators and marketers are doing, and we do too. The expansion of channels has made traditional 360°-planning obsolete. Your boss, your client, your brand, your budget, and your future demands more adaptable approaches. Humans respond to messaging and engage with media that fits the behavior mode they are in at any given moment. Tomorrow, more change. Introducing: Behavior Modes.

1. Behaviortising.com

2. 2

3. THE GAME has changed.
Have THE PLAYERS?
It’s no deep insight that the advent and rapid evolution of the Internet has disrupted
communications & marketing. Organizations, brands, and agencies are struggling
to grasp it all. Modern strategic communications have become a cacophony of
mediocrity. Legacy approaches aren’t working anymore. Media organizations are
crumbling and desperate. Snake oil cures are once again being sold to unwitting
communications and marketing managers, while other corporations and agencies
have chosen denial as their approach, ignoring the evolution altogether. Where do
you fit in? What is your approach? Are you evolving?
3

4. For media planning,
The status quo is failing.
Media planning is a series of decisions involved in delivering
messages to an audience, and it is built on three basic
concepts – reach, frequency, and continuity.
The idea is simple – you need to hit as many people as you
can with a message that is repeated a number of times. The
logic here is good, and achieving this goal is as simple as
executing a media buy.
4

5. The benefit of this approach?
Every question related to marketing
is reduced to a simple formula and
the units are easy to buy.
The problem with this approach?
The concept of Reach/Frequency
has started to break as attention has
fragmented. It still works if you are
doing a massive spend on a media
block where you have everyone’s
attention all at once (i.e. The Super
Bowl), but outside of these mass-
attention events, it’s time for new
thinking.
5

6. Media planning
used to be
easy.
With the advent of digital marketing and
agencies, brands could easily determine
where to allocate their marketing budget,
because the plan had to be Channel- and
Paid-based.
But this approach is rooted in pre-Internet
media planning & interruption marketing.
Earned media was secondary, digital was
tacked-on and yet to be understood, but it
worked, because publics had so little choice
where they spent their time.
IMC/360°
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6

7. Media was
simpler.
Our choices as marketers and
as media-consumers were
limited, and most of these
channels were completely
one-way monologues. Digital Direct
Broadcast
OOH Experiential
Print
7

8. And while we as humans and communities evolved our media
behavior to adopt new forms of social engagement, most brands
couldn’t adapt – bound by a pinhole view of the Internet and the
vast change in expectations that would come with it.
The first banner ad. Someone called this “interactive.” Could they have set the bar any lower?
8

9. A two-dimensional solution
to a complex world.
With only two dimensions to worry about—
reach and frequency, optimizing a campaign
means optimizing one of two levers.
Optimize reach when:
We only have a few competitors, we have a strong,
established brand, we have great creative, or for peak
sales season.
Optimize for frequency when:
We have a lot of competitors, we have low awareness,
we have a complex message or when we have an item
that we need to have frequent purchases on.
9

10. If only the world were this simple.
10

11. If we examine how people’s lives
have changed on a daily basis,
we can better understand
the new problems to solve.
11

12. A day in the life of
Jessica
Understanding modern media behavior
12

13. Jessica wakes upto her alarm, her favorite song on her
iPhone.
She tells herself she shouldn’t, but everyday she checks her work and
Gmail, and ends up on Facebook – but not much has happened in the
past six and a half hours.
She turns on Spotify, a streaming music app, to listen to music in the
shower before she gets the kids up.
As she gets them ready, fed and out the door for the bus, she has
Breakfast Television on in the background.
Jessica commutes by bus and is bombarded by media, some
controlled, some interruptive, all competing for her attention.
She’s listening to the radio app on her phone and reading Metro, the
global newspaper, as she’s surrounded by transit ads and billboards,
flashing by. From one of these ads, she’s reminded that she needs to
Google an arts camp for her kid when she gets to work–she’ll try to
remember. On the way, she gets two texts from her best friend and
quickly checks into some life-streams – Twitter and Instagram.
13

14. At work, Jessica makes phone calls, uses the web, and
searches for several different work-related and unrelated things.
All day, a radio station’s playing throughout the office in the
background.
She and a couple of co-workers go to lunch at a restaurant –
there are TVs all around, she can’t hear them, but they’re
competing for her attention – the sports channel, the news
channel, an infomercial. And through lunch she and her
coworkers are distracted by emails and messages popping up
on her phone, including one from her son’s medieval war game
beckoning to her that she needs to “Come back to the village
and save her subjects.”
When they talk, her friend talks about their new SUV–all about
it… and she thinks about how she may have to start
researching a new car, but probably next year.
Back at work, the radio continues in the background, and she’s
interrupted in a meeting by text messages from her friends, and
a localized text from Tim Horton’s, Canada’s ubiquitous donut
shop telling her to come downstairs for a break.
Come back to
the village, sire!
You must save
your subjects!
14

15. The rest of the day continues similarly to the morning, until she starts her
commute home. She uses her transit app to make sure she’s catching
the express, and she’s a little too focused to notice or engage with a
mobile ad in the app that wants her to get two hamburgers for two
dollars.
Jessica’s calendar app reminds her that she has a hair appointment; her
parents are picking up the kids tonight. She uses her taxi app and heads
quickly to her appointment.
On the way, the radio’s on, and she delves back into her device –
someone has tagged her on Instagram. She responds with a ‘Like,’ and
finds herself suddenly distracted and quickly invested in the headrest
screen in the cab. It’s clips of animals doing silly things surrounded by
local advertising.
The taxi passes dozens of billboards and ads on the way to her
appointment, but Jessica is occupied. She posts on Facebook her status,
that’s she’s ‘Headed for some me time!’ with a hair emoji. She checks
back in to her Facebook feed briefly before arriving at the salon.
15

16. While there, she grabs a magazine until her stylist is ready, and then joins her at
her station. A TV plays in the mirror as the stylist does her work. They chat about
their lives briefly until her Facebook Messenger app chimes and then takes over
her attention – her friends are planning the girls’ night (they’ve postponed twice
already) and they’re trying to figure out what to do. Jessica even ropes her stylist
into the conversation about potential venues and activities.
That evening, the kids have had dinner with her parents, and she arrives home to
all of them Facetiming her sisters’ kids. They’ve left a cartoon on the TV playing in
the background. She gives them fifteen more minutes and notes that they’re
getting a little wild on Facetime, so she makes them end the call and they all get
back on the couch to watch some TV together before bedtime.
Jessica puts her kids to bed and says goodbye to her parents. She tidies, then sits
to “relax” in front of “Stranger Things” on Netflix, while opening her laptop to finish
some work tasks. Jessica primarily watches Stranger Things to connect with co-
workers—she’s much more excited about how she’ll soon subscribe Shudder.tv
and watch some real horror.
Before bed, she checks again on her newsfeeds – Facebook, Instagram, and
Snapchat. Her younger sister uses Snap, but she hasn’t started posting… yet?
Jessica is starting to feel like she might have a few too many things to keep up-to-
date.
16

17. A day in the life of Simon
Understanding modern media behavior
17

18. Simon wakes to the soundof his clock radio, a song
finishes and the morning show hosts continue their banter. The voices
and music turn to mumbles in the background as Simon readies himself
in the bathroom.
He makes breakfast and coffee, distractedly swiping through the Globe &
Mail to finish an article he started last night while watching the game.
He then opens the MLB app, gets updates himself on the scores before
checking his work email.
Then he flips back to the Globe & Mail app, and then realized he forgot to
respond to a text from his assistant. Forty-five minutes have gone by, his
eggs are cold, and he is late.
Simon leaves his condo, and is in his car by 8:00 am. He prides himself
on not checking his email while he is driving, but today is different
because it is raining and traffic is bad. He sees two email newsletters and
a few emails he’ll have to deal with when he gets into work.
The radio is on—mostly news, weather, and sports, until the ads come
on and he flips to the next station. He’ll be back, but he’s not in the mood
for those all the time.
18

19. The first three hours of Simon’s day are spent in meetings.
The first meeting is phones down, but the temptation to look is
strong. Between meetings, he gets coffee and checks the
news, ends up on LinkedIn momentarily, more email. He
pretends to write notes on his laptop, but mostly he is
checking and responding to emails.
At lunch, Simon goes for a walk. While he prides himself on
not checking his smartphone, he is listening to a podcast
about the history of space travel and pauses once to take a
note writing a quote from an astronaut that he thinks might
make a profound opening to his next budget meeting.
19
He checks a few Slack messages but he’s just getting used to
the new communication platform and feels he can’t keep up.
However, he’s trying, and heads off to speak directly with a co-
worker about a link he saw on there.
Simon leaves the office by 6:30 and drives home. He grabs
some drive-thru, and eats it at home in front of SportsCentre.
Most of the evening is spent on he couch, with his attention
split between the television and more work email.
He is checking on Facebook to see what his daughter has
posted—she got him on Facebook to keep up with the
grandkids, but he never “likes.” He shares an account under
his name with his wife, who comments and likes often. He
finds himself scrolling through recipe, travel, and cute-pet
related content from brands that she has almost mistakenly
curated for the both of them.
The afternoon is a blur. Simon sits in the
middle of a large open office, and his work
is a cornucopia of calls and emails.

20. He suddenly and happily remembers to continue browsing for some travel plans. Simon and his wife
have been talking about going away again this year. What triggered this action? Was it the cruise shots
shared by a travel blog that a friend of his wife’s had shared in his feed? Or the last-minute vacations ad
on during SportsCentre? (Or was it that Corona ad that prompted it?) He doesn’t even think about it, and
he Googles “best quiet Caribbean resort” to start his research.
Soon, Simon’s wife joins him, and they discuss as they click through several resort pages, ending up on
both Travelocity and Expedia as they compare prices and reviews, narrowing their search. He’s excited
as it seems they really are going to make this happen.
This will take a while—they won’t book tonight, that’s for sure. And it may not even be via these websites.
But they’re on their way. Little does he know that in upcoming days, Simon will be bombarded by travel
ads online.
But that’s another day. Soon, he sets his radio alarm, hears half an ad as he does so, and goes to sleep.
20

21. Does the common channel-first
planning approach still apply?
21

22. With a traditional
channel-first planning
process, opportunities
are missed.
Why is video advertising on every platform so often the solution?
Why do we check-the-box on innovation when a “creative” agency
tosses in the newest trendy platform and talks about “disruption?”
This doesn’t reflect a media reality that is overwhelmingly
fragmented, it just pretends to address the strawman problem of
“traditional and digital media.”
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22

23. Facebook Live
ges
Here’s what has changed… in the last
year.
Longer Twitter Video
Ad Fraud Confirmed
AI takes over customer service
Podcasts explode
Smartphones explode
Pepe the frog is co-opted
Slack reaches 60,000 teams
VR goes in-home and in-store
1/3 of millennials are managers
Rise of the Alt-Right
Pokemon Go
Mobile traffic becomes dominant
Twitch reaches 55MM
#OscarsSoWhite
Netflix reaches 90MM subscrib
zzagate
Consultancies open/buy agencies
Vice worth $4B
YouTube > most cable networks
FBI trying to access phones
Socially-ignited protests
Instagram Stories
1000s of journalists laid-off
League of Legends final viewers >
NBA Finals & World Series combined
Agencies are brought in-house
Gawker lawsuit & shut down
Snapchat Discover
eCommerce opens physical stores
Magazines shut down/go digital-only
Wikileaks normalized
Rest In Peace #Prince
Alibaba Singles’ day = $17.8B in GMV
Fake news
AT&T merges wi
Microsoft buys Linke
23

24. It’s keeping you (and
us) up at night.
Advertising and PR are still trying to solve
those problems ways we are used to, applying
traditional channel thinking to new channels
and experiences.
While many things still work, and while many
of the same rules apply, in many ways, the
world has moved on.
We know that things don’t quite work the way
that they used to.
24

25. Let’s reorient planning.
Our ways-of-being have changed.
Human behavior has changed.
Daily media engagement has changed.
Yet our goals haven’t changed.
So, how do we change?
25

26. Let’s reimagine “channels.”
Starting with Behavior.
We want to make people know something new, change
how they feel about something, or act differently.
These are behavior changes we want to make.
26

28. We use behavior-based thinking.
Instead of asking the question,
“In which media does our target demographic spend time?”
We look for the maps that ask:
How does this market respond to information?
What behaviour mode are they in when they respond?
What is the opportunity to deliver information while this audience is in this mode?
If there are no maps, we get to work.
Instead of channel-based
thinking.
28

29. What are the Behavior Modes?
We’ve identified five modes in which all audiences—all humans now operate.
They consume and engage with media in these five different ways.
Now, in order for messaging to be understood, messages and engagement tactics
must be adapted to the mode in which the audience finds themselves.
Otherwise, plans are flawed. The messages fall flat. Engagement is null. Objectives are unmet.
1 52 43
29

30. Let’s start simple.
Using a legacy model, we would divide these by TV, digital, radio, and print.
And then by Paidvs. Earned.
It made sensebecausethere were cleardelineationsbetweenthese channels
and the skillsrequiredto driveour messagesthrough thesechannels.
30

31. But now, in Facebook for example,
there is Paid, Earned, Shared, Owned, and now,
Live…
This single “channel” is actually a multi-channel unto itself. So what agency or department should manage it?
Similarly, other legacy channels have evolved to offer all of these opportunities as well.
As an alternate example, if we earn coverage by a news outlet or print magazine, we also can show up on their site,
in their social feed content, and amplify this coverage through paid, shared, owned, and perhaps even live tactics.
31

32. So we reset—and group these media by behavior, instead of by legacy concepts.
What do the following have in common?
They are all primarily one-way curators of information.
We consume them passively, and expect generally compact packets of information to be streamed to us.
24-hour news channels Facebook newsfeed Radio Newspapers
(andnottherest ofFacebook)
32

33. FLOW
BehaviorMode.These “streams”of informationand
contentare primarilyone-way. Our behavioris
passiveand superficial– we’re not divingdeep in
any particularsubjector toward anyreal goal.
Therefore we consumeand retain informationthat is
headline-driven,bite-sized,andstory-based.
With these types of media, we are in the 1

34. • When our audiences are passively engaging with
their feeds online, on their smartphones, watching
TV, or listening to the radio. These are primarily one-
way/push channels with many inputs and ideas.
• Flow is resistant to deep information, and should be
seen as as a gateway to warm up audiences to more
comprehensive content.
• Key to entry into Flow is content with a strong
emotional or identity-based tie.
Facebook Feed CP24 The Globe & Mail Instagram Mall-screen headlines Metro Reddit CHUM FM CBC News Podcas
FLOW
BEHAVIOR MODE 1:
34

35. And when we’re in the flow, or doing other things,
media-related or non-media-related,
Often we’re interrupted.
The informationdeliveredhere can range from topicsabout and sourcesby which we always want to
be interruptedby, to thoseof whichwe aren’tyet aware or havea negativeopinion.
Texts/Messages Notifications Bots TV/Video AdvertisingBillboards
35

36. SWITCH
Behavior Mode. The billboard catches our attention
and mainlines its message; the text message or
calendar event or the Twitter alert we’ve set up
rings and vibrates our phones, and our focus shifts
from whatever else is going on; we’re grocery
shopping and a display of chips makes us
suddenly crave some salty snacks.
With these types of media, we are in the 2

37. • Switches are set off on the periphery to support
overall engagement and awareness tactics.
• Switches are everywhere, and our audiences
consume them “at-a-glance,” everything from email
subject lines, evocative or shareable headlines, to re-
targeting with display ads to individuals who have
visited your site.
• These include many OOH media and retail, as well
as emerging “Beacon” apps and personalized
smartphone settings that alert individuals based on
proximity and self-selected relevance.
witter Alerts Starbucks App Alerts Billboards Telemarketing Direct Mail SMS Transit Ads Newsletters Facebook BotsRetail Display
SWITCH
BEHAVIOR MODE 2:
37

38. In contrast to the Flow Behavior Mode,
where content is curated and grouped, where our behavior is passive,
Sometimes we are spending time or wasting time,
entertaining ourselves with media designed to help us escape.
With a legacy media model, we would never think of these channels together.
But this junk-food media all shares the same ability to feed us an escape.
Interactive Content Streaming Video Video Games MagazinesPodcasts Television Content
38

39. ESCAPE
Behavior Mode. We want to pass the time binge-
watching a series or waste time maintaining a digital farm
while we wait for the bus. In this mode, we want to fully
invest our faculties and immerse ourselves in the
experience. Interruption tactics, or Switches are futile or
abhorred. Instead, we should ask: “How can we make
our messaging a part of the experience?”
With these types of media, we are in the 3

40. • Escapes are casual, low-stakes distractions. Think
games, TV & video streaming, magazines.
• Our audiences try to fit a lot into their day, and they
are carrying around smartphones. We have an
opportunity to bring them into our conversation by
providing meaningful distractions.
• Marketing communications are one of the things that
we’re trying to escape when we enter this mode –
tactics that respect this work best.
Netflix XBox Candy Crush Buzzfeed Magazines Podcasts
Taxi
Screens
YouTube Entertainment Breakfast TelevisioTV Entertainment
ESCAPE
BEHAVIOR MODE 3:
40

41. Taking a behavior-based approach to planning, Flow, Switch, and Escape
makes it much easier to plan our audiences experience when they are researching.
This is when we’re on a mission.
We’re leaning in.
We have specific information we’re looking for and we try to stay focused until it’s found.
Search How-to .coms
Live
Expertise
Whitepapers
41

42. EXPLORE
Behavior Mode. We’re devoting time and energy to
solving a problem, making a decision, or just seeking
understanding.Abrand or organization that can meet
this need builds trust very quickly. However, since we’re
searching and not always where the answer will come
from, there is an opportunity to disrupt this search and
lead an Explorer toward alternate sources and
solutions.
With these types of media, we are in the 4

43. • The deep focus is found when our audiences are
seeking out specific information – what is the
meaning of life, what is the trendiest weekender bag
for 2017, what is an RRSP or 401k?
• When our audiences are triggered to seek out
deeper information about our messaging and
programming, they will look for it on owned websites
and other online properties, in information-packed
articles, in whitepapers and documentaries.
YouTube How-tos .com Wikipedia Microsites Review sites Books Whitepapers & Studies Documentaries eCommerceRetail Cust. Service
EXPLORE
BEHAVIOR MODE 4:
43

44. And the final Behavior Mode encompasses
the most human of all our behaviors: Live interaction.
One could even argue that all media’s goal is to create human interaction.
It is all too easy to suggest that media doesn’t want to create human interaction –
that Netflix wants us to binge alone in our basements – but Netflix, and Houseparty,
and political parties do best when word-of-mouth spreads and humans interact around their content.
Hence, as communicators, we must be aware and leverage and incite these behaviors.
Live Experiences Live Chat Messaging Conferences
Asynchronous
Live Events
44

45. CONNECT
Behavior Mode. We want the immediacy and unpredictability
of the live event, be it truly live or via digital channels. We want
to be able to say that “we were there,” and tell the story to
others who weren’t. Because of this, we value unexpected
gifts the most – this provides social currency for our other
experiences; and we value what we’ve seen first-hand, what
we’ve touched, smelled, tasted, and felt – it makes it real and
truthful to us.
With these types of media, we are in the 5

46. • The need to consider socials is the drive to
make deep personal connections with our
audiences, both through credible
spokespeople and influencers, but also in
events and small gatherings.
• This area is growing in impact and
opportunity as digital channels and spaces
are quickly evolving along with Canadian
behavior on mobile devices.
olitical Rallies Facebook Live Festivals Kik Trade Clubs Experiential Events Houseparty Reddit AMASlack Facetime
CONNECT
BEHAVIOR MODE 4:
46

47. These are the Behavior Modes.
And if we use these as our starting point for planning how we engage with our audiences,
sanity and success will return to our marketing & communications programs.
FLOW SWITCH ESCAPE EXPLORE CONNECT
47

48. Their days have changed.
Their behaviors have changed.
Their worlds have changed.
Our goals have not.
48

49. Why Behavior Modes?
IN CONCLUSION
You feel, in your
bones, something’s
wrong with what
communicators and
marketers are doing,
and we do too.
The expansion of
channels has made
traditional 360°-
planning obsolete.
Your boss, your
client, your brand,
your budget, and
your future demands
more adaptable
approaches.
Humans respond to
messaging and
engage with media
that fits the behavior
mode they are in at
any given moment.
Tomorrow, more
change.
1 2 3 4 5
49

50. To learn more…
Arkalgud,Ujwal,andJasonPartridge.WebTrue.0:WhytheInternetandDigitalEthnographyHoldtheKeytoAnsweringtheQuestionsThatTraditionalResearchJustCan't.LuluPress,Inc,2017.
Bloor,David.Knowledgeandsocialimagery.UniversityofChicagoPress,1991.
Edelman,DavidC."Brandinginthedigitalage."Harvardbusinessreview88.12(2010):62-69.
Graber,DorisA.,andJohannaDunaway.MassmediaandAmericanpolitics.CqPress,2014.
Latour,Bruno.Reassemblingthesocial:Anintroductiontoactor-network-theory.Oxforduniversitypress,2005.
Latour,Bruno."Beware,yourimaginationleavesdigitaltraces."TimesHigherLiterarySupplement6.04(2007):2007.
Law,John.Aftermethod:Messinsocialscienceresearch.Routledge,2004.
McLuhan,Marshall.Understandingmedia:Theextensionsofman.MITpress,1994.
McNiff,Jean.Youandyouractionresearchproject.Routledge,2016.
Rust,RolandT.,ChristineMoorman,andGauravBhalla."Rethinkingmarketing."Harvardbusinessreview88.1/2(2010):94-101.
Vaughan,Diane,HarryCollins,andTrevorPinch."TheGolematLarge:WhatYouShouldKnowaboutTechnology."(2000):277-279.
50

51. In an information-rich economy, we propose a new way to approach
marketing and communications that sets the bar higher for strategy,
execution, and measurement, and for results – all of which is rooted in
understanding and changing behavior. We call this Behaviortising.
• Behavior – “the way in which one person acts in response to a
particular situation”
• Tising – literally means to “turn one’s attention to”
Behaviortising introduces a new way of developing campaigns capable
of causing a response or measurable action. It moves beyond conveying
ideas to consumers and moves toward building communications that
compel action.
Paul Lawton and Craig Ritchie are creative and strategic communications
and marketing experts at Weber Shandwick, sharing ideas at
Behaviortising.com.
Join us. Discover, debate, and share these ideas.
Paul Lawton
@quartermass
Craig Ritchie
@craigritchie
51

52. Behaviortising.com