They say mistakes are the best way to learn. I’m not so sure about that, but mistakes definitely make for memorable lessons. Back in the late nineties, I began my first job in media buying. Essentially, learning how to spend a lot of money –...
Everyone in business knows the importance of a clearly defined strategy, even though it is often eaten for breakfast by culture, according to Peter Drucker. It sometimes seems like culture and strategy are polar. That the two can never coexist. That they are combative. Divergent....
John Lewis & Partners in the UK has declared 2018 to be the “year of shopping on the move”, citing in their Annual Report how smartphones now account for 42% of visits (up 17 percentage points year on year). Downloads of the John Lewis app...
We’ve talked in this parish before about the gap between promise and experience. Two years ago we called it the expectation gap. I believe that gap is widening and it seems the greater the promise in advertising, the worse the product experience. You may also...
There can be no doubt that programmatic media buying has the potential to change the way brands connect with customers. The promise of more relevant, timely and persuasive communication is intoxicating for a marketer. Coupled with a more efficient media buy and greater transparency, programmatic...
Chess masters don’t focus on the pieces on the board, they look at the empty space for potential moves. Professional footballers don’t look at the player with the ball, they look at the other players moving into position. Amateurs focus ONLY on the pieces, on...
In case you missed it, GDPR is now enforceable as of last Friday. You probably knew it was coming, because your inbox may have experienced an explosion of “We’re Changing our Privacy Policy” emails. Whilst GDPR will affect different business in different ways, all businesses...
The old truism that the company you keep says a lot about you is never more apt than when developing brand partnerships. People are quick to judge, so you have to get it right. Even when you get the brand fit right, there is still...
How do we know this? Well, he pretty much said it… “Know your worth! People always act like they’re doing more for you than you’re doing for them.” Putting aside social media outbursts, questionable headwear choices and odd political views, there’s genius in his words… Know...
In the 1975 classic Jaw’s, there is a scene where Roy Scheider’s character, Brody, has just witnessed the Apex Predator up close. Stunned, he say’s to Quint, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat”. Remarkably, the line was unscripted in the film, but it stuck nonetheless. It’s...