Content Marketing & Service Design are the future of Branding

Buy One, Get One Free; Only $9.99 with free shipping; Washes whiter than ever. These are the ad slogans of the past, there is a major shift in the way that brands communicate driven by the digital revolution. Two major changes are driving this, the first is the proliferation of marketing messages through multiple channels…… Continue reading Content Marketing & Service Design are the future of Branding

Social By Design is the Only Filter

In a world of exploding choice, where technology and industrialisation mean that supply can vastly outstrip demand, social is really the only filter that works to get real answers to complex choices. A real life example from this week, that shows how much further we really have to go: a group of friends are visiting…… Continue reading Social By Design is the Only Filter

Why content marketing will be hard for agencies

  One of the major changes in online marketing for 2012 will be the rise of content. A brand’s content strategy will be a key weapon in breaking through the clutter of ‘old school’ advertising, engaging with the consumer and delivering a brand message. But moving from advertising to content will mean major changes for…… Continue reading Why content marketing will be hard for agencies

Marketing Predictions for 2012

At this time of year we see a multitude of articles about predictions for the year to come – some obvious and some less evident – I’ve tried to keep my list short and focussed this time around as we marketers have only a limited bandwidth to evolve our increasingly complex ecosystem. Some elements may…… Continue reading Marketing Predictions for 2012

Media + Advertising = Strategy & Execution Success

As the battle heats up in the advertising business and the friction between agencies, even those who are meant to be sister companies, grows even more severe the challenge laid out by Govindarajan and Trimble in their book The Other Side of Innovation: Solving the Execution Challenge becomes ever more obvious for our industry. It’s…… Continue reading Media + Advertising = Strategy & Execution Success

My Job is about Change – Agitating & Activating

Depending on who I’m talking to, I find it very hard to describe what I do – a lot of the time I talk about ‘digital strategy’ but I know that if I find it difficult to explain, that probably means that others find it even harder to understand – it’s a logical conclusion. What…… Continue reading My Job is about Change – Agitating & Activating

Sponge Bob Forever

#UsBlogs week 5 theme: “What Are You Afraid Of?” (and what are you doing about it)”   The world is changing, our lives are changing, business is changing – it seems like never in the history of humanity has change been so abound and so fast. Darwin made us understand the evolution of the species…… Continue reading Sponge Bob Forever

Hollywood 101 for Marketers

#UsBlogs week 4 theme: “What we learn from the movies” To understand what we can learn from the movies, we need to first break down a movie into its constituent elements; An idea – All good stories start with ideas and a movie is no exception, the screenplay is everything. Cast, crew & production -…… Continue reading Hollywood 101 for Marketers

Everyone needs skunkworks

In this day and age everyone, every company, every organization that believes in ideas needs skunkworks – not only agencies, but above all agencies since their whole business models relies on the creation of ideas. I have long been in awe of BBH Labs (@bbhlabs) founded by Mel Exon (@melex) and Ben Malbon (@malbonnington) in 2008;…… Continue reading Everyone needs skunkworks

Digital strategy is dead – Long live digital strategy

Today I participated in a Mirren Business Development session run by Brent Hodgins and one of the most interesting things he mentioned reminded me of the keynote from the BDW workshop I attended last week in New York – he said that in an increasingly competitive and changing market, the future for agencies was in…… Continue reading Digital strategy is dead – Long live digital strategy