Call me King Canute if you like, but I think the digital tide may be turning. There’s definitely a groundswell of considered opinion that marketing’s pre-occupation with their shiny new toy might have been a little over-enthusiastic and maybe we should all sit down and have a bit of a think. Back in 2014, advertising legend Sir John Hegarty grabbed the headlines by saying “the new digital messiahs are like the Taliban – if you [...]
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 [...]
The horsemeat scandal and an aggressive piece by Mark Ritson in Marketing Week (Kill the Weak: It's the Marketing Way) has again highlighted exactly what’s wrong with modern business practice. A basic lack of responsibility and morality which has enabled companies to build and abuse extraordinary levels of power. I know Ritson loves to court controversy, but this time he’s stepped over the line. His ridiculous assertion, when we are knee deep in another breach [...]
Marketing Week’s Mark Ritson was at his provocative best last week in a piece entitled ‘Why Marketers Are Socially Stupid’, following Waitrose’s recent #Reasons campaign on Twitter. He makes a lot of valid points, although I strongly disagree that their “middle class shoppers will feel a little less enthusiastic about entering the store now, and store traffic will decline”. This was a storm in a teacup, which poked fun at what Waitrose is already known [...]