The document outlines a consultancy's innovative approach called 'nerve networkstm,' which seeks inspiration beyond traditional consumer insights by engaging a diverse range of experts to tackle business challenges. Through co-creation, the method has yielded successful strategies for various clients, including the Royal Voluntary Service and Durex, by providing fresh perspectives that resonate with modern audiences. Ultimately, this approach aims to unlock new growth opportunities and revitalize brands through collaborative and unconventional thinking.

1. Isn’t it time we looked beyond
the consumer for inspiration?
“If I’d asked people
what they wanted
they’d have said
faster horses”
Henry Ford

2. We are a
brand consultancy Blogger
Nurse
Journalist
Cabbie
If you keep asking the same old people, the same old
questions, guess what? You’ll get the same old answers.
To make a genuine step change in your business, you need
breakthrough thinking. But you won’t get that from
conventional insight methods.
There’s a big, super-connected world out there full of brilliant
minds. We go beyond consumers to connect to the wider
world for inspiration and insights, to solve difficult business
challenges.
Nerve Networks™ is our bespoke co-creation process.
We take brilliant brains from relevant, lateral worlds and
crash together their unique perspectives to create genuine
breakthrough thinking that makes a positive step change
to your business.
They could be bloggers, journalists, academics, psychologists,
comedians, cabbies, celebrities, staff, stakeholders. They might
love you or hate you but their contrasting experiences inspire
solutions where traditional consumer insight methods fail.

3. Nerve NetworksTM
RoyalVoluntary Service
When theWomen’s RoyalVoluntary
Service (WRVS) asked us “How do we
reinvent ourselves to appeal to modern
Britain?“ we recruited experts likeWayne
Garvie, creator of Strictly Come Dancing
because he took something as outmoded
as ballroom dancing and re-imagined it
for a modern day audience.
He said “Focus on the optimism and
happiness thatWRVS volunteering brings
and shine a positive light on age”.And tell
the story of the relationship between a
volunteer and the older person they share
time with.
We created a brand essence “sharing time
changes lives” that inspired a new name,
strapline, identity, comms and branded
content, and galvanised the entire
organisation. RoyalVoluntary Service has
sincereversed20yearsofdecliningvolunteers.
“Nerve Networks is a uniquely
collaborative and innovative way
of working. It’s an approach that
felt instinctively right for reinventing
WRVS, a 75 year old brand with a
strong desire to make itself relevant
to modern Britain. It’s a different
approach that produces different
and exciting results.”
David McCullough, CEO,
RoyalVoluntary Service

4. Nerve NetworksTM
Durex
Durex asked “How do we grow when we
have 85% share?” We approached the likes
of Mark Shalin, a teens holiday rep and
Sara Land an NHS community matron.
They helped us to identify that young
women presented a huge potential
for growth.
Young men carry condoms but rarely use
them, whilst young women are more likely
to use one but don’t like to carry them
for fear of giving out the wrong signals.
We created a strategy to make carrying a
condom as natural as carrying a lipstick,
including the Velvet Revolution, a
community of young women taking
control of their sexual health, and
partnership strategies for the NHS
and high street retailers.

5. Nerve NetworksTM
Bespoke to every client
Oxfam:
“How do we get young people to give regularly?”
Steve Brown, Scottish Bible Society inspiring
young people, because if you can sell the Bible
to teenagers you can sell them a charity.
BBC Worldwide:
“How do we get the best out of our creative agencies?”
Cary Cooper, Professor of Organisational
Psychology and President of Relate, because
Relate know how the best relationships work.
RNLI:
“How do we create an early teens proposition?”
Lucy Kirkwood, Channel 4 screenwriter for Skins,
because she understood what modern teenagers
share and aspire to.

6. Multiple applications
Simple, rigorous process
Challenge
your market
conventions
Future proof
your brand
and business
Innovate
new products
and services
Unlock
an audience, market
or sub-brand
Revitalise
your brand,
essence, potential
Galvanise
your staff and culture
Understand
Brand audit
Solve
Brought to life
Co-create
Nerve networks
Evaluate
Against KPIs
Bridge
To roster agencies

7. Nerve NetworksTM
Nerve Networks takes your brand out
of its comfort zone beyond its immediate
sphere of reference
Strategic connections around lateral insights
from the real world.
Relevance and context in a world that’s much
bigger than your brand.
Brand Inspiration: Thinking brought to life so
you can touch, feel and see your brand’s potential.
Consumers
(Comfort zone)
Marketers
The World out there
(where the magic happens)

8. Nerve NetworksTM
I’m really excited by Nerve’s approach
to unlocking insights through Nerve
Networks. Not only is it innovative,
it also makes a lot of sense! Inspiration
at last a way to make it happen.
We want new thinking, and that’s
why we are working with Nerve.
Rebecca Jones
VP Marketing Effectiveness, BBCWorldwide
The definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and
expecting different results. Nerve’s approach to getting under the skin
of brand challenges is far from insane, enabling them to address each
challenge from a unique and lateral perspective, produces results
which are a healthy mix of the thought-provoking, the unexpected
and the illuminating.
Gavin McGrow
Head of Strategy, Starcom MediaVest Group
Nerve Networks brought fresh creative thinking and a truly collaborative
approach to answering our challenge, leading to a solution that was different,
brave and highly motivating for the teenage audience. For any client who wants
creative ideas rooted in exciting but robust strategy, Nerve Networks has to
be the way forward.
Cathy Ferrier
Director of Fundraising and Marketing, Oxfam GB

9. Who we are
The management team
Stephen Mooney
Managing Director
Euro RSCG KLP,
Digital Marketing Group
Joanna Bamford
Lead Strategist
RKCR/Y&R, Lowe
Christian Clark
Creative Director
Joshua G2, IMP, McCann
Erickson
We are a highly experienced management team who know
how to get the very best from Nerve Network experts
by working closely with our wider team. We are collaborative
and hands on so you’ll see a lot of us.

10. If you’ve got a difficult
business challenge,
let’s talk
Stephen Mooney
Managing Director
07545 529 539
stephen@thenerveagency.com

11. Breakthrough
thinking
thenerveagency.com