Welcome to the MarketingMog Blog
The MarketingMog is my Blog and Twitter alter ego – a marketing ‘agent provocateur’ who is happy to put the cat amongst the pigeons. See my most recent tweets below, or follow me on @marketingmog.
The inconvenient truths
I recently watched a programme where a group of obese people shared their stories and sought to understand each other’s points of view whilst staying together in a house. Amongst the group was a [...]
Authentic brand purpose? You bet it is
Gillette launched their new ‘The Best a Man Can be’ campaign yesterday and it’s brave and brilliant. Some have criticised the marketing wisdom of this and the overt display of ‘brand purpose’. It’s fair to [...]
Wunderman Thompson? Am Really Wundering Why…
WPP's recent decision to merge the J.Walter Thompson brand into Wunderman, to create Wunderman Thompson, has prompted much consternation in the ad community – especially amongst alumni like me. Discarding such amazing brand heritage [...]
M&S. The writing’s on the wall
It’s rare that I write a follow-up piece to a blog, but this one seems to be writing itself. The willful deafness of M&S is a business-failure case study in the making. Back in [...]
Diversity + Inclusivity = Profit
Ah, the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. Unbelievably, it’s autumn already. Always a funny time of year – the leaves may be going brown and the nights drawing in, but it’s also [...]
Time for a more level playing field
Last week, I went along to an agency-hosted panel discussion, which posed the provocative question, ‘Is the business of sport business as usual?’. The event had a great line-up and was really well [...]
Can M&S turn things around? Only if they start listening
Poor old Marks & Sparks. Rarely out of the news, although these days it’s more often gloom and doom in the business pages than a glowing piece in the fashion supplements. Their latest set [...]
Think the ‘Pink Princess’ culture is just harmless fun?
What do you see when you look at the picture above? (Let’s ignore the lipstick and blusher for a moment). Sweet little girls in dress-up outfits? Or the dangers represented by early gender stereotyping? [...]
Kevin Roberts – Don’t Hate The Player, Hate The Game
So Publicis Groupe have suspended Saatchi’s chairman for claiming that the talented women who work in his agency reach a certain point in their careers when they actively turn down a promotion, as they “don't [...]
Live life online? How ‘unconcerned’ are you?
I recently posted a blog about how poor digital marketing practice risks damaging our industry. With new legislation coming down the pipe, and both Apple and Microsoft recently facing down the US Government over data [...]
Sex only sells sex. Let’s hope the tide is turning in Cannes
Many years ago, I was driving through Rome, admiring the scenery, when I was suddenly confronted by the enormous billboard image of a naked, reclining woman. Perched proudly on her tanned bottom was… Let’s [...]
Disruptive. But not always in a good way.
The ‘on demand economy’ and the 'disruptive' brands that are creating and supporting it is the current buzz in the marketing world. In the last week, I’ve attended two presentations where the likes of Uber, [...]