Samantha Ford
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A reflection on a partnership journey

18/12/2020

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To end a challenging 2020, Anthony Tattum, CEO of Big Cat Agency, summarises the journey we've been on since 2015 - with academics and advertisers coming together to tackle issues in theory and industry - and looks forward to 2021. We'll be going full tilt into combining linguistic academic theory, behavioural science, and marketing to measure and improve effectiveness. I'm looking forward to continuing on this journey. Read the article or find out more about the partnership here.
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Health and Fitness Insight - White Paper #2 published with Big Cat Agency

6/10/2020

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Access the full paper below; also see Publications.

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"There have been some significant changes across all sectors, none more so than Health, Wellbeing and Fitness. Whilst physical gym brands have experienced considerable revenue loss and reduced capacity, other areas of the sector have seen unprecedented levels of demand. The one thing that’s common is the rapid rate in which consumers are changing their behaviour. This white paper helps to understand these behaviours and offers brands new ways to navigate the changing landscape." - Aaron Wells, Marketing Director, Big Cat Agency

The white paper built on a previous study Identifying the behavioural habits of gym-goers to inform an emotional ‘hook’ campaign for boutique gym classes that analysed the attitudes and behaviours of 68 gym-goers and the impact the gym has on their lifestyle (i.e. diet, sleep, and spending), both before and during the national lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic. In further research, linguistic and thematic analysis was used to examine the responses of 143 participants and five in-depth interviews (conducted by Big Cat Agency) to establish whether attitudes and behaviours had changed during lockdown and in a post-lockdown society. The white paper brings together the two primary studies and considers secondary research to contextualise these primary findings. Big Cat followed this with interviews with a number of well-known industry players about how they have adapted their businesses through the pandemic. 

The research revealed that exercise is still an important part of people’s lives. Yet, lockdown has had a considerable impact on people’s lifestyles with regards to their exercise, eating, and sleeping habits. While the experience of lockdown has encouraged some people to improve their diet and spend more time cooking healthy homemade meals, for others it has blurred and broken down the boundaries of the working-living day, resulting in increased snacking and drinking, an increase in anxiety, and a poorer quality of sleep than before lockdown. People’s motivation for returning to the gym after lockdown was more focused on helping them restore their physical health. Despite being aware of the impact of exercise on their mental health during lockdown, few participants were motivated by their need to improve their mental health to return to the gym. 

The research concludes in 6 take-aways for health and fitness brands, moving forward:
  1. Facilitate a strong digital connection with customers through online community hubs and on-demand content.
  2. Promote the positive impact exercise can have on people’s mental health, and how they can use exercise to manage their mental health in addition to their physical fitness.
  3. Have a ‘hybrid’ health and fitness experience combining bricks-and-mortar with digital will appeal to a larger customer base
  4. Expand your product and service offering to meet new consumer demand
  5. Position your brand as a reliable source of health information
  6. Subvert category norms by being distinctive – a scientifically proven way to get noticed
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Health and Fitness White Paper (2)
File Size: 4106 kb
File Type: pdf
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Insight paper published on Creative Brief

9/6/2020

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Update: You can download the full report below. Also see Publications.

In March, I worked with Big Cat Agency on a new project investigating the reasons why people go to the gym. The report of this project is featured on Creative Brief.

The report assessed the experiences and behavioural habits and preferences of gym-goers who have or have had gym membership. Free-text responses from a survey constituting 68 gym-goers were analysed to gain an insight into how they feel about gym accessibility, their emotional and physical reactions to gym classes, 
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Identifying the behavioural habits of gym-goers to inform an emotional ‘hook’ campaign for boutique gym classes
the impact the gym has on their lifestyle (i.e. diet, sleep, and spending), and their preferences for types of training formats and fitness classes.
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I used a thematic analysis approach to identify the common concepts, thoughts, and opinions gym-goers had in response to the questions posed. From this analysis, I was able to draw key behavioural practices and emotional reactions to attending the gym and fitness classes.

Health and Fitness Insight Paper
File Size: 502 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

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Talking taboo using metaphor in a sexual health campaign

9/10/2019

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Watch this video to find out how I worked with Jeannette Littlemore, Paula Perez-Sobrino, and David Houghton, and Big Cat Advertising Agency to effectively implement metaphor into a campaign that talked about sexual health. For more information about the campaign and the EMMA project, click here. 
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EMMA and Big Cat launch sexual health campaign in Birmingham

4/9/2019

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In June and July 2019, Big Cat and EMMA launched their collaborative campaign for Umbrella Health, an NHS sexual health trust, across Birmingham and Solihull. EMMA tested the effectiveness of metaphor use in a sexual health campaign advertising an STI home-testing kit for Umbrella Health. Measures for effectiveness included consumer understanding, appeal, and reported engagement of the campaign when metaphor was used as an innuendo for places in Birmingham, United Kingdom (e.g. Popping in his Mailbox?, Exploring her Botanical Gardens?).

​With a regional Qualtrics survey, EMMA
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The campaign featured across Birmingham and Solihull, including the Grand Central Station, near the Bullring.
examined whether participant responses varied according to: (a) participant age, gender, sexuality, and ethnicity, and (b) the figurative nature of twelve campaign adverts, in order to establish which figurative factors shape the extent to which consumers report that they find the adverts funny, appealing, and say they would engage with the campaign’s call to action (i.e. to order an STI kit) or its presence on social media. The figurative nature of the adverts varied three-way: (1) the level of conceptual work required to decode the adverts’ meaning; (2) the progression of the sexual conquest narrative (i.e. where in the progression of the sexual act from dating to sexual intercourse was referred to via metaphor); (3) the level of creativity (conventional to novel) in the adverts.

To read the full article, click here.

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