Auditel Consultant:
James Bury

Brains are expensive

03 Mar 2010 | Filed under: Cost reduction

There was a fascinating programme last night (BBC, Horizon) that put forward the theory that learning to cook food was the critical step that allowed early man to evolve into the most powerful creature on the planet.

This isn’t to suggest that Delia will become a cat-stroking Bond villain, or that Mr Ramsay can solve all our economic woes in his own effing way. Instead, the theory is that when early man learned to cook, it allowed him (or more proabably her) to evolve a much shorter and less energy demanding gut, releasing spare energy to support an increasingly large brain.

Remarkably, the brain uses up to 20% of the body’s energy, and has the equivalent energy output of a 20w bulb. Now we all know a few folk for whom this may be closer to a 1W fairy light, but the important thing was that an innovation in one area released resources from another, which could then be invested where they really add value – brain power.

Cue Auditel. We effectively provide a free service that enables our clients to reduce the demands of their boring but important ‘digestive processes’ and divert this valuable time and money into more strategic areas that can help grow their business. We can’t promise this will turn them into the most powerful creatures on the planet, but they should see benefits remarkably quickly. Certainly a lot sooner than 3 million years.