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Who

I’m Mark Earls, the Herdmeister: an award-winning writer, thinker and speaker obsessed with how humans really behave, how it plays out at scale, and how to put that to work.

I got there early. I was the first to publish the System 1/System 2 model of the brain that Daniel Kahneman later made famous, and the first to call out the Me-bias of Anglo-American business. We are a We-species. I said so long before social media made it obvious.

I’ve advised the very big (Unilever, Merck, Experian, DHL/Deutsche Post), the very small like Modern Habitat Tech, and the very determined (Greenpeace, Humane Society International, World Clean Up Day and Art for Social Change), all around the world.

Wherever I go, I poke the ‘givens’: the assumptions our organisations and our thinking quietly rest on. Most turn out to be far less universal than we’d like.

My roots are in advertising and marketing, but the herd turns up everywhere: from the enduring appeal of Myers-Briggs to the social technology of the uniform, from boardroom antics to our odd habit of building shrines and pilgrimages to people we’ve never met (hello, Dobby the House Elf).

The toughest problems in business today are human-shaped. Customers, users, colleagues, stakeholders: I help you understand what lies behind and beneath what they’re really up to. And help you develop strategies, products and programmes to change things.

Who

What

What

Most change programmes are expensive theatre.

No one ordered it. Too many end up with it.

It starts with the best of intentions: a big announcement, a shiny new set of values, a programme with a snappy name. Then Monday comes round and things carry on much as before.

That’s where HERD comes in. We help with the classics: innovation, culture, customer orientation. And with some newer, stranger ones, born of Mark’s thinking on Time: how not to get blindsided, how to break free of the past, and how to stop this darned thing happening again and again.

The usual suspects (none of them villains)

The re-engineers. Lovely diagrams, big promises, small results. Humans are not a technology.
The trainers. Essential work, but on its own it will never move the dial fast enough to make a commercial difference.
The outside experts. Bright ideas, rejected on sight. Not invented here.
The enthusiasts. A really exciting shiny new thing. Until it’s not, and the crowd moves on (or back).

Most of us mean well. It just doesn’t work on its own.

What actually works

Your people. Solving your real business problems, learning new skills and creating new cultural norms, all AT THE SAME TIME. Not one after the other. Together, now.

What we bring

Better maps of human behaviour (check the bookshelf). An archive of better solutions. Plenty of scar tissue from change programmes that worked and ones that didn’t. And the trick: putting it all to work in a way that’s fun, engaging and rewarding. Yes, fun. Change shouldn’t feel like a root canal.

Fancy a chat?

Get in touch to find out what HERD can do for you, your colleagues and your challenges.

theherdmeister@gmail.com

STUFF

Advertising to the HERD

Big Data, Not Magic Data

Come and Have A Go If You Think You’re HERD Enough

TESTIMONIALS

Mark Earls has dedicated his life’s practice to making sense of the wonderful mess that is human behaviour. I don’t know anyone who knows people like Mark knows people. Over the fifteen years we have known each other and worked together, Mark been a key catalyst for my own thinking and career, both when we work together or I am inspired to put his words of wisdom into practice. He is an inspiration, a dry wit and a true gent.

John V Willshire, Founder of Smithery

When I have a conversation with Mark it feels like I’ve become instantly smarter and more curious about the world than I was 10 minutes before, with a desire to be talking to him next to a roaring fire as we put the world to rights. His books are iconic in our industry and he’s hugely respected but his natural habitat is speaking as he comes alive on stage and pulls in the audience in a way that’s always fresh and exciting. I’m honoured to call him a friend.

Tamara Littleton, CEO and Founder of The Social Element

HERD Is a must. Once you have read it you will understand why Mark Earls is regarded as a marketing guru. And you will feel as though you understand the world a great deal better. And the other reason you have to read it? Everyone else is.

Danny Finkelstein, Journalist, Advisor and Author.

Mark has presented at a fair few of our conferences and he’s one of the very best speakers I’ve ever seen, and I’ve probably seen several thousand over my career. He’s also a brilliant thinker and strategist, and has been involved in many famous marketing initiatives, not least being part of the Unilever/Ogilvy team who created and launched the Dove Real Beauty campaign that propelled the brand to billion-dollar brand status. Kudos Mark and thank you for also being a delightful human being and a great collaborator.

John Kearon, Founder and President of System1

One of the smartest people I know. Particularly his thinking around human behaviour and what makes us tick had a huge influence on my work on Behavioural Economics and it’s impact on consumer insight. An inspiration.

Steve Phillips, CEO at Zappi

Mark is one of those few individuals who can change or channel the way you think. You might disagree with him, but that’s fine, because it’s part of the fun. Along with other thinkers like Robert Heath, Mark’s ideas helped me to formulate my own theories of how brands and ads work, and develop products that tap into emotional and implicit response. What’s ironic though, is that Mark spends a lot of time emphasising the importance of copying in creativity, yet I’ve never met anyone quite like him!

, Founder and CEO at Emotive Insight Consultancy

I met Mark many years ago, he was a visionary leader within the Planning Department at Ogilvy & Mather and I had a brief to ‘bring them into the 21stC.’ We instantly connected and have stayed close ever since. Mark brought ‘behavioural economics’ to Ogilvy with his book, Herd. He was my go-to ‘speaker’ or facilitator for events and workshops, or meeting to discuss all things over coffee or lunch. He was always helping others learn in fun ways and always understanding strategy with great insights into human behaviour. You don’t often come across such an enormous brain, mixed with such kindness, empathy, and support for others.

Nicole Yershon, Founder and CEO at The NY Collective

There is a shortlist of a few people in the world who have changed my worldview and changed my career. There is an even shorter list of those people who have not only changed my worldview, changed my career AND are really smart, great to talk to and are a spectacular writer and presenter/keynoter.

Mark Earls is on that (very) shortlist. Without Mark’s insights, I simply would not have had any forms of the same success or ability to be creative. Mark literally changed the course of my life – albeit, he might not know it!

Colin Lewis, Marketing Guru and Columnist

I first met Mark when he was still at St. Lukes – a wonderful creative thinker, with a voracious appetite for culture, media, books, research, anything and everything means Mark will challenge your thinking, put a new spin on your existing thinking and generally enrich your life in ways that only a superb intellect can.

Cecilia Weckstrom, Head of Marketing Innovation at The LEGO Group

Mark and I created Campaign Underground, an award-winning series of immersive events for Campaign magazine. As host, he effortlessly captured the attention of the audience. Whether leading 250 top marketers to (dance to ) Viva Las Vegas or injecting humour into the proceedings, Mark has a remarkable talent for keeping everyone engaged and entertained. Moreover, his skill in simplifying complex concepts and connecting different themes, while providing insightful narrative throughout the events, was invaluable. (He is) clever without making others feel inferior…a rare and wonderful skill.

Jennie Meynell, Campaign Magazine

Mark and I have done some amazing things together, from client projects to talks and co-authoring our book on creative superpowers. He’s an incredible collaborator, incredibly smart but with the rare extra that he’s also so deeply attuned to people and human behaviour. He helps take the most lofty hypothesis or left field strategic starting point and make it simple. Working with him is not just fruitful, it’s playful, fun and challenging in all the right ways. He’s a brilliant speaker, communicator and inspires those around him. And most of all, as an expert in human behaviour his work works.

Laura Jordan Bambach, Co-founder of SheSays