Adam Ferrier
Thought leader for motivating change through the science of behavioural economics and creativity
Adam Ferrier is the founder of Thinkerbell, an agency that creates ‘measured magic’, and was ranked 2021 number one Creative Agency in the world by industry publication BestAds - the first time awarded to an Australian agency. Leading Australian publication Mumbrella also lists Thinkerbell as Full Service, Creative, and PR 2021 Agency of the Year (the only time an agency has ever won all three titles in one year).
Adam is one of Australia’s leading consumer psychologists, a brand strategist and an authority on behavioural economics. He’s the author of The Advertising Effect: How to change behaviour (Oxford) and Stop Listening to the Customer: Try hearing your brand instead (Wiley). No stranger to the TV screen of Australia, Adam is a regular panellist on the Gruen Transfer, 7's Sunrise, and 10's The Project.
As the creator of the idea behind the WARC World Innovation prize (2013), and winner of the rare Cannes Gold Lion and Gold Effie double, Adam has won at all of the world's major advertising shows. He created the successful board game The Analyst (translated into four languages), space; an unconference where 'ideas meet influence’, and the social cause agency DOA (Decade of Action). Adam also co-hosts Black T-Shirts, a podcast that delivers XXL creativity for marketers.
An unstoppable force in the Australian advertising landscape, Adam's hands delegate the keys to embrace evidence-based creativity – whether to buy, perform or change - through cognitive behavioural psychology, hardcore creativity and a deep understanding of behavioural economics.
As a speaker, Adam brings his experience working with many of Australia's and the world's top brands to introduce unconventional award-winning, and effective ideas - all created by combining his passion for creativity and expertise within behavioural science.
Adam's unique thinking and consumer insights had a massive impact on our delegates. His quirky presentation was a breath of fresh air that was amazing and thought provoking.
His message cuts cleanly through all the noise, and is quickly and deeply absorbed.
B&D Group
Adam was outstanding and his presentation was relevant and thought provoking.
Australian Restructuring Insolvency & Turnaround Association
Adam’s session was a great mix of taking people out of their comfort zones, impactful thinking, humour.
Chief Executive Officer SOCAP Australia
He has the ability to make people who are not used to thinking differently, do so! Australian boardrooms need more Adam Ferriers.
IFAA - Independent Fund Administrators & Advisers
100% of delegates rated Adam Ferrier’s presentation “How to change people’s behaviour (yes really)” at Mumbrella360 as either ‘Excellent’, or ‘very good’.
Mumbrella
My speaking topics...
The Role of Reinvention
Embracing Evidence-Based Creativity to Transform business
In these crazy and off-kilter times, some businesses will flourish, others disappear and many will struggle. Brands that have the ability to draw on their resources and reinvent themselves to take advantage of new conditions are off to a good start.
Adam has transformed his own businesses as well as helped his clients transform during the past few years. Recently Adam has
- Taken his experiential festival company s p a c e, and turned it into Australia’s largest virtual dinner party
- Transferred 13cabs from a cab business to a courier business called 13things
- Helped to launch a new streaming service called Binge with Inactive Wear (perfect for lounging around the house in).
- Helped Bega launch a new honey business called B Honey off the back of some purpose-led technology that will keep Australia’s bee population safe from the deadly Varroa mite.
Adam takes a brand-led approach to business and an evidenced-based approach to creativity. Adam breaks transformation down into 3 things; a) clear brand meaning, b) clear brand codes, c) and as much fame as possible.
Building Brands with Creativity
Creativity is often the competitive advantage that makes all the difference but how do you capture and apply it?
For years marketers were obsessed with understanding ‘the boardroom’ however, the worm has turned and now businesses and boardrooms are obsessed with understanding marketers and their weapon of choice ‘creativity’.
Adam has helped many organisations, including some of Australia's most iconic brands embrace and apply creativity for brand growth.
Adam can, with real-world examples, and evidence-based applications, show how to apply creativity to build brands via:
- Creating a clear brand meaning and ensuring everyone is clear on what the brand stands for (marketing from the inside out)
- Creating clear brand codes: Ensuring that the brand turns up looking, sounding and acting like the brand always should. Thus ensuring that everything the organisation does is always heavily branded
- Creating as much fame and attention as possible: Attention is the new consumer currency, and brand fame is the highest correlate with business success so time to get famous.
Adam will also give tips and advice on how individuals and organisations can increase motivation for creativity, and create environments to make creative solutions easier to happen.
Stop Listening to The Customer
In today's data swamped world we are at risk of being blindsided and taking our attention off our companies most valuable asset - our brand.
Understanding the customer, and their needs and wants has always been a part of building a brand and growing a successful business. However, in today's 'customer-obsessed' world the more you listen to the customer the more you're at risk of forgetting what your own point of view on the world is.
In this entertaining and informative keynote, Adam Ferrier looks at the role of the customer in building a business, what drives a customer's decisions, and how to use this information to build your brand or business.
Peppered with his signature wry humour and wit, Adam tackles the issues head-on by combining marketing science with case studies, acute personal observations and insights from around the world to deliver a truly unique perspective that is thought-provoking and makes a whole lot of sense.
In this keynote you will learn:
- How to embrace customer insights - the right way
- Brand first thinking
- Rules for strong brand building (building brand intelligence)
Watch me...
If Batman Owned Your Business
Whether it be your business, your brand or your people, everyone seems to be obsessed with finding and communicating their strengths. Seems like the right thing to do, the problem is everyone else is doing it too. Our strengths are very likely to be generic. There is an alternative path to growth - we can learn from Batman, someone who gets his strength paradoxically by embracing (and amplifying) his weaknesses. Adam Ferrier will talk about the science behind this counter-intuitive approach, and why it's already working for many businesses around the world.
This talk draws on the fundamental drivers of human behaviour, and explains why we are all more attracted to businesses, brands, and people brave enough to be vulnerable. In this talk Adam will
- Encourage delegates to explore a new path to growth - embracing weakness
- Demonstrate the body of psychological and cultural evidence why this is such an effective path to growth
- Provide tactics and tools people can apply
- Use, and draw upon a number of case studies he has personally been involved in.
The Advertising Effect
How to Change Behaviour
We all want people to change; whether we want consumers to buy more, employees to work more or colleagues to think more – if people did exactly what we wanted them to we would all be happier… and richer. In this provocative presentation, based on his best-selling book, Adam Ferrier, the man driving consumer engagement for brands such as Levi’s and Pepsi, arms delegates with a new way of thinking around, and inspiring, lasting tangible change using a potent blend of human psychology and advertising know-how.
Sharing his understanding of the fundamentals of why humans do what they do and buy what they buy Adam will:
- Encourage delegates to utilize the behavioural science behind motivation theory
- Shed light on the key factors that must exist to create lasting change
- Provide tools and techniques to put this new knowledge into practice
- Flip everything you thought you knew about why we do what we do on its head
See me...
https://www.odemanagement.com/speakers/adam-ferrier#sigProIde4eb98540e
The branding of agriculture
April 27th 2021 An unstoppable force in the Australian advertising landscape. Adam Ferrier hands delegates the keys to skyrocketed motivation. What kind of product stories can you tell and how can you create… Read more +
The language of brands
July 31st 2019 It’s often said that the marketers need to learn the language of the board. I’m not so sure this is right. From what I see it’s more the case that… Read more +
Why creativity is the new strategic frontier
January 28th 2018 There is a delicious irony in business at the moment. Many businesses are trying to humanise themselves - but they are hell bent on doing it through robotics and artificial… Read more +
Stop Listening to the Customer
Build a better, more distinctive, more valuable business or brand
If you want to stand out from the crowd, develop a clear and consistent brand voice, and ultimately build a fruitful business – listen to your brand. Stop Listening to the Customer offers insights into how consumers are driving homogeneity in brands, and shares the proven strategies you can implement to amplify your uniqueness.
The customer is not always right. In fact, our obsession with the customer is devaluing brands by making them generic and forgettable. Brands have become consumer-led, where they are driven by journey-mapping, customer-centric design, and an excessive focus on consumer-driven data, instead of brand-led, where brands and businesses can truly become unique, interesting and highly profitable.
Multi-award-winning brand strategist and consumer psychologist Adam Ferrier shares his counterintuitive approach to building a strong brand in Stop Listening to the Customer. Backed by science, real-world examples and extensive industry experience, Ferrier explores the dangers of listening to the consumer too much, shares lessons from successful businesses who prioritise their brand, and reveals the brand-building secrets of their success. With insights from Jules Lund, Lisa Ronson, John Newcomb, Rory Sutherland, and many more, this invaluable book will enable you to:
- Establish a strong, brand-led business
- Develop a unique brand by embracing and leveraging your weaknesses
- Define your brand using Ferrier’s brand-building formula
- Get your customers to pay attention to you by strategically creating weakness
Stop Listening to the Customer is ideal for those looking to grow their brands and businesses by defeating consumer-driven mediocrity, standing out from the crowd, and listening to their own brand.