Master Planning - a conversation

Jeremy Brown

Working in people-centred consumer insight demands reflection on your own everyday experiences. It is this introspection that fuels the passion to change things around you and make a difference.

This week's kick for me came in the guise of a sore throat. Normally this means 48 hours of Lemsip, but then the words 'Swine Flu' popped into my mind, and the whole thing took on a new light. Despite the hype, I realised I didn't know what I was meant to do; I wasn’t incapacitated but should I be hiding away least I infect and harm others more vulnerable than me?

I turned to the internet and was for once deeply impressed with the NHS. Having typed ‘swine flu’ into google the relevant NHS page came up top, and I was directed through a series of clear hyperlinks to an 'Online Self Assessment' page where I discovered I didn't have the symptoms and, put in a clear, trustworthy language, simply told to Keep Calm And Carry On.

What this simple, Google-led bit of service design had achieved was to quickly and cheaply stream out the 'worried well' (i.e. me) from the system to free up resource to meet the needs of, well, the needy. It was a holistic bit of thinking which took into account everybody’s mindsets and motivations, understanding that the organizational challenge lay as much in dealing with the healthy as the sick.

Understanding people’s shifting mindsets and needs lie at the heart of Master Planning’s strategic thinking and right now there can be few more important things to deal with than the pandemic. I wonder how the NHS is ensuring it is getting under the skin (sic) of people? The speed of turning insight into action would need to be faster than the public sector is often used to working if it is to catch up with changing public opinion and fears.  A challenge indeed - but no different in essence, to one that any business or brand faces to stay ahead of the game.