Twenty lessons from 2020 – Part One: Marketing

Well here we are, the start of a brand new year, although for many of us the only evident change is the number on the bathroom scales…  Ever the optimist, I wanted to look back at some of the events of last year and see what lessons we can learn as we head bravely into 2021.  So here’s part one of my 20 Lessons from 2020, starting with a game on my home turf, marketing. 1. [...]

By |2021-01-11T15:04:35+00:00January 11th, 2021|Advertising, Digital Marketing & Social Media, Management, Marketing Strategy, Customer Service & Experience, Interim Management, Brands & Branding|Comments Off on Twenty lessons from 2020 – Part One: Marketing

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 disruptive ‘body positive’ woman who literally closed her ears to the painful truths the group shared.  Not surprisingly, her business model was based on denying the significant medical evidence that obesity had a detrimental effect on health. Also not surprisingly, [...]

By |2019-11-04T13:28:14+00:00November 4th, 2019|Brands & Branding, Feminism, Sexism, Gender Equality, Advertising, Marketing Strategy, Corporate Social Responsibility|Comments Off on The inconvenient truths

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 say that brand purpose has been used and abused in recent years (see Pepsi’s Kendall Jenner fiasco for just one terrible example), but here it’s completely appropriate.  Ads for male grooming products have traditionally celebrated a mild form of toxic masculinity and sexism.  Something [...]

By |2019-01-16T13:05:55+00:00January 16th, 2019|Marketing Strategy, Corporate Social Responsibility, Brands & Branding, Feminism, Sexism, Gender Equality, Advertising|Comments Off on Authentic brand purpose? You bet it is

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 want to manage (the) business and people, (they) want to keep doing the work." Hmmm. In the interview, he also spoke about how ‘millennials’ (gah) want careers based on creativity and collaboration, and how the old rules of hierarchy and [...]

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 guess, shall we?  Some sunscreen?  Perfume, maybe?  An anti-cellulite gadget?   No.  A packet of pasta. I was a bit taken aback by the level of nudity on a 48 sheet, but more astonished that her bum was deemed to be [...]

By |2017-02-25T19:05:00+00:00June 22nd, 2016|Corporate Social Responsibility, Feminism, Sexism, Gender Equality, Advertising|Comments Off on Sex only sells sex. Let’s hope the tide is turning in Cannes

Marketing’s not just dumbed down, it’s in need of some tough love

Great minds think alike. Mark Ritson’s article decrying the dumbing down of our discipline arrived in my inbox just as I was writing this piece. He’s absolutely right. The basics of good marketing practice haven’t changed despite the industry’s current obsession with the Emperor’s New Clothes, or all-that-is-digital. His recent piece on the ‘death’ of the sales funnel, is a prime example, and something I’ve been saying for a while now. It [...]

PR and Marketing. Time to Bury the Hatchet.

The November issue of Business MK featured a piece by the owner of a PR firm which was entitled “Good Cop, Bad Cop: Why PR and Marketing Must be Kept Distinct”.  It so exasperated me, I immediately wrote this reply to the paper… Painting two complementary disciplines of the communications industry as polar opposites is at best, utter nonsense, and at worst, damaging to the industry as a whole. The writer seemed so rooted in [...]

By |2017-01-04T19:51:29+00:00November 25th, 2014|Advertising, Marketing Strategy|Comments Off on PR and Marketing. Time to Bury the Hatchet.

Good News! There Are Only 3 Golden Rules for Pitching*

* But both sides must follow them... I was writing a follow-up to my Top Tips for Chemistry Meetings piece, talking to agency directors about New Business and their frustrations with the pitch process, when, in a spooky bit of timing, up popped a couple of client/agency surveys from the intermediary FindGood and ISBA. Clearly this topic remains high on everyone’s agenda (although I do agree with some of the the IPA's criticism of the [...]

By |2017-01-04T19:51:29+00:00November 25th, 2014|New Business Pitching & Agencies, Advertising, Marketing Strategy|Comments Off on Good News! There Are Only 3 Golden Rules for Pitching*
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