Category: Advertising

Can agencies really play nicely together?

I’ve had a few conversations recently about the changing remit of the advertising agency and the growing inter-relationships between different agencies, be they pure event/activation groups, web development or even media agencies. The question that always comes up (on both sides of the table) is whether the agencies will be able to get along. The…… Continue reading Can agencies really play nicely together?

The contradiction of agency recruitment

There is a growing contradiction in recruitment for the agency business, one that is potentially driving us faster into the chasm that I described last week rather than across it to the safety of the other side. The advertising industry through the 80s and 90s (and even early 2000) was seen as a very glamorous…… Continue reading The contradiction of agency recruitment

Top 3 of Top Trends for 2011

Too many articles about trends for 2011 to read and digest – the top 3 in my opinion: 1. JWT Intelligence JWT: 100 Things to Watch in 2011 View more presentations from JWTIntelligence. 2. ClickHere 10 Digital Trends for 2011 from ClickHere Anytime, Anyplace – Digital Is Everywhere in 2011 Is Social Media Killing the…… Continue reading Top 3 of Top Trends for 2011

When clients ask for bread, give them cake

Too often I hear account directors and those in client service complain that their clients are not ready, not mature enough or not open minded enough for us to deliver true integrated, multi-channel thinking against their briefs; and for this reason the briefs that are delivered to creative tend to be driven towards more traditional…… Continue reading When clients ask for bread, give them cake

Getting ready to ‘Make Digital Work’

In a couple of days I’m taking the 14 hour flight to head to New York for Colorado University’s, Boulder Digital Works Executive Workshop – Making Digital Work. This is the first time the programme has been run outside of Boulder and promises to be a hotbed of ideas and learning. The programme ran first…… Continue reading Getting ready to ‘Make Digital Work’

Treating creatives like adults

For far too long this industry has treated creatives like the goose that lays the golden egg – a mysterious creature that must be locked away, waited on hand and foot, and generally treated like a jewel that must pandered to and protected. But times are changing. Times are changing both for the industry as…… Continue reading Treating creatives like adults

Marketing services should have acquired advertising

I’m slowly coming to the firm conclusion that marketing services (and all that it comprises) should have acquired advertising – and not the other way around which is what seems to have happened in the industry. Marketing Services (despite their appalling name) agencies had one of the most interesting remits of the late 90s and…… Continue reading Marketing services should have acquired advertising

Data is the new marketing drug

The title of this post is confusing, because data isn’t really new, but maybe we haven’t thought of it as a drug before. Data has been around in marketing as long as P&G and J&J have been developing new products and running focus groups, whether the data is quantitative or qualitative it has always existed,…… Continue reading Data is the new marketing drug