Nigel Oakes

Nigel Oakes was educated at Eton College and UCL, where he studied Psychology.
In 1982 he joined Monte Carlo TV as a producer and in 1985 became the Head of International Production.
Two years later, Nigel joined Saatchi and Saatchi as a Senior Producer.
In 1989, he established the Behavioural Dynamics Working Group at University College London and in 1990 the Behavioural
Dynamics Institute (BDi) was formed as a centre of excellence and a research facility for strategic communication. 
In 1993 Nigel set up Strategic Communication Laboratories and using the new communication methodology from BDi, ran election
campaigns and national communication campaigns for a broad variety of international governments.
Published clients include South Africa, USA, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Antigua, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Grenada,
Nepal, Pakistan and Switzerland.
Nigel Oakes has a deep understanding of the issues affecting Agency/ Client relationship gained from his time as a Client, a Senior 
Agency Manager and a Consultant.
He began his career in Agency Account Management, after which he joined Unipart as Marketing Communications Manager, working
with a broad range of agencies. He returned
to the Agency world joining Cogent to handle major National and International Clients including Esso, GM Europe, Vauxhall,
ICI, Milton Keynes, COI, Mirror Group and Rolls-Royce.
Most recently he ran his own consultancy providing advice and guidance on Agency Management and Evaluation for clients such s
Volkswagen, Calor Gas and National Express.
on January 24, 2012, Nigel Oakes, CEO of the Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL) Group and Founder of the Behavioural
Dynamics Institute (BDI), spoke at a Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications (CSCC) seminar on “The Most Common 
Mistakes in Designing Influence Campaigns.
Nigel highlighted four very common errors made in designing influence campaigns, especially if one is trying to induce
significant behavior change:
• Attempting to change attitudes, not behavior
• Focusing on individuals or audience segments, not groups
• Using broadcast messages, instead of leveraging existing motivations
• Using survey methods for audience analysis instead of group diagnostics.