Category: Marketing, branding, advertising & design
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Delivery is not success – activation is
Back in the day I had a client who we produced and designed a magazine for. At the end of the year I sat in the stakeholder presentation on the years marketing successes. The magazine was a key part of the communications mix. It was, I heard, successfully delivered to over 200,000 customers. The objective…
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Covid-19 has changed everything, but has it really?
The future landscape of the global economy is still shrouded in the fog of uncertainty. That might sound a bit dramatic but in reality, it means that any sort of future planning is as predictable as the UK weather. It will remain a highly competitive world for the foreseeable future and those left in the…
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Covid: The good, the bad and the budgets
I’ve found a number of things heartening in these trying times. Especially in the way that many clients and suppliers have all rallied around to support each other. A reaffirmed sense of purpose, transparency, respect and communication has helped get us through the last few weeks. This I not just in the sense of positive…
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Brexit vs agencies
Yes, we’re all tired of Brexit and it’s not even really happened yet. We’re still trading and living under the previous rules of the UK’s EU membership. It won’t be until a the transition period is over, in December 2020, that we truly exit and are left to our own devices. So, at the moment…
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Looking to 2020
Update: this was written in December 2019 – who knew! Going into 2020 I have a number of recurring themes that I think will dominate the new year. The continued blurring of lines between disciplines, success factors, staff welfare and how what we do has an impact on unsustainable growth. Blurred lines When I first…
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Client vs Agency
What is the future of the client and agency relationship. The purpose of creative agencies has always been to communicate singular thoughts to a mass group of people. And this is for two reasons. One, a singular message has more chance of getting through. Secondly a singular action has more chance of being carried out.…
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Only humans can improve machine learning and artificial intelligence
Advertising has always been a bit of a numbers game. From a targeting and creative point of view. Like all good marketing it builds on what it learns. The famous quote that half of all ad spend is wasted but no-one knows which half still holds true for many activities. However, with technology, artificial intelligence…
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Don’t fail on brand purpose
It has never been easier to connect with people and potential customers and there has never been a greater focus on the formats and mediums that help us do this. From the relatively new kids on the block like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube and Instagram to the old guard of content makers, newspapers and magazines,…
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What do brands really mean now?
In 2016, a US National Football League quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, decided to sit during the national anthem at a televised game as a protest against police brutality. He then sat or kneeled at every subsequent game too. He was hailed a hero in some quarters and a villain in others (including by Trump); he didn’t…
Making brands more distinctive 