Little girl with binoculars on SHOOK agency news page

SHOOK thinks

What SHOOK us this week?

Swap those sweats for a suit? A PHD researcher has been investigating whether the clothes we wear when WFH impact our productivity. Conclusion: Many people find they feel they’re more productive – and therefore are – when wearing smart clothes. But we guess it depends on how you feel about suits – pick whatever makes you feel more motivated.

How far below sea level?  A new underwater tunnel network connecting the Faroe islands of Streymoy and Eysturoy is set to open next week. But did they think engineering that was impressive enough? No, they’ve gone one further and also made them look incredible, with artwork by Trondur Patursson.  Our environment impacts how we feel and behave, so you love to see someone getting that on-point, especially 187m below sea level.

Ouch…but better than thinking: People would rather choose receiving a burning pain sensation than performing a harmless but “cognitively effortful” task according to research from McGill and Carleton Universities this week. Something to remember when you say you ‘just’ want your target audience to do….

One word to avoid: A story this week revealed CEOs are being coached to communicate with machine reading as their audience. A.I.s reportedly downgrade stock if words like “but” or “making a loss” are used. One CEO side-stepped the latter by saying “We said au revoir to profit”. Although we’re sure the machines will cotton on, it’s a reminder of the ever-changing context for communicators. (seen via Nigel Sarbutts).

K, Nigella: You can’t have missed Nigella’s, erm, unusual pronunciation of microwave this week. Even if you didn’t watch it. Apparently it’s whipped people into a frenzy (CNN) and is ‘a defining moment of 2020’ (ES). She is also now the 3rd most popular microwave-related search on Google. From fish finger recipes to saying the postman has never seen her dressed, Nigella certainly knows how to make it easy to get word of mouth.

See ya next week!