Pictured from left: Patrick Norrie, Michel Dubery and John Perkins
A new London-based agency has launched with the aim of using neuroscience-based approaches to create people-centred marketing strategies and communications campaigns.
Wethepeople has been set up by Michel Dubery, former managing director of inVentiv and Grey Healthcare; Patrick Norrie, former executive creative director of the same businesses; and John Perkins, former MD of Rapp, where the three first worked together.
Dubery will take on the role of CEO and strategy lead, with Perkins as partner, responsible for client services, and Norrie as creative lead.
Digital and design strategist Joseph Hoyle has also joined the agency and will lead brand experience and design.
The agency is launching, its founders said, “in response to the need for more creative and engaging content that doesn’t simply rely on an algorithm, but uses an understanding of what drives behaviour to move people along the purchase journey”.
Wethepeople describes its offering as reflecting recent writings in neuroscience, which have shown “how human beings, and the type of attention they bring to the world, have an enormous impact on how they perceive and behave in it”.
Dubery said: “At Wethepeople, we use the latest findings in neuroscience to craft strategies, branding and integrated campaigns that get noticed and acted upon. We are working to bring humanity back into the way we develop communications by using our understanding of why people behave the way they do in the world. By harnessing that human understanding we help to build better, more interesting and ultimately more profitable brands.”
Norrie added that healthcare, like many other sectors, seems to have moved too far into visual expression, and finds itself “far removed from the way people talk and, more importantly, actually think”.
“As communicators, we shouldn’t be satisfied with simply delivering content. We need to create ideas, experiences and assets that accurately represent and reflect people’s worlds and motivations. It’s the least brands can do when asking people to think and act differently,” he added.
Wethepeople will offer the full range of marketing and communications services, including brand and campaign strategy, story and message development, and advice on local roll-out.