Do you know how your TV or phone actually works? Have you studied how people choose cereal in the supermarket? When did you last ask someone why they truly love a particular brand? Just because we’re human doesn’t mean we naturally understand people and let’s be honest, homo sapiens isn’t exactly a rational creature.…… Continue reading He’s on TikTok 7 hours a day, so we hired him for our social content strategy
Category: Traditional vs. Digital
The Biggest Challenge in Marketing Today Isn’t What You Think. It’s not AI. It’s not data. It’s aspiration.
We all seem to be commiserating about the state of our industry, the death of agencies, the loss of creativity, the impending doom of GenAI but what is really going on? If we start from those in the industry today, all the way to the next generation of marketers about to join us, the…… Continue reading The Biggest Challenge in Marketing Today Isn’t What You Think. It’s not AI. It’s not data. It’s aspiration.
When Don Draper Met the Modern Marketing Machine: Creativity in the Age of Pace and Scale
Imagine Don Draper, the suave, cigarette-wielding ad man from the golden age of Mad Men, waking up in 2025. His smooth pitches, once delivered in smoky boardrooms, now collide with AI dashboards, creator collectives, and rapid-fire multi-asset campaigns all happening in real time. Instead of a single brilliant idea, Don now wrestles with dozens of…… Continue reading When Don Draper Met the Modern Marketing Machine: Creativity in the Age of Pace and Scale
From Job Hopper to Strategic Advantage: Why My “Squiggly” Career Was Actually Perfect Training
“Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know.” – Lao Tzu For years, I carried this quote as both shield and sword. But sometimes, those who’ve traveled many paths have stories worth sharing – especially when those paths were once criticized as unfocused, inconsistent, and lacking commitment. The Case Against Generalists…… Continue reading From Job Hopper to Strategic Advantage: Why My “Squiggly” Career Was Actually Perfect Training
Stuck in the Measurement Trap: Why Our Obsession with ‘Easy’ Metrics Is Killing Real Marketing Effectiveness
The Measurement Conundrum: Why ‘What Gets Measured Gets Managed’ No Longer Means What You Think There’s an old joke among marketers: “The best thing about the internet is you can measure everything. The worst thing about the internet is you can measure everything.” Today, this quip feels less like a joke and more like a…… Continue reading Stuck in the Measurement Trap: Why Our Obsession with ‘Easy’ Metrics Is Killing Real Marketing Effectiveness
SHEIN – a lesson in marketing
Digital is not an expertise, it’s just the way business is done today. I’ve written about SHEIN before as one to watch, and yet again as analysts dig deeper into their model we can see that this company is really setting the benchmark in running a data-driven, direct-to-consumer, business – using all the tools of…… Continue reading SHEIN – a lesson in marketing
Why you don’t need a digital strategy, but you need an HR strategy
What’s the point in having a different strategy for your digital world than the rest of it? Does your brand offer different products and services online than off? Are your consumers split into those that only go to stores and those locked in their basements on a laptop? It doesn’t make sense – yet we…… Continue reading Why you don’t need a digital strategy, but you need an HR strategy
Thoughts on the Publicis Groupe reorganisation
Maurice Levy, CEO of Publicis, made a major announcement about the organisation of the Publicis Groupe yesterday – see the video below: There have been a swath of article and opinions over the last 24 hours regarding whether this is the right or wrong move, comparing to Martin Sorrell’s organisation of client teams at WPP…… Continue reading Thoughts on the Publicis Groupe reorganisation
What’s going on with Uber in France? A lesson in economics and global brand management.
Uber France is an amazing study in brand management and economics. From it’s launch in 2011 at LeWeb growth has been tremendous but also fraught with challenges. So what’s happened so far: Launch of Uber in Paris in 2011, followed by UberX in 2013 Taxi Violence in 2015 Legal block of UberPop Rate drop of 20%,…… Continue reading What’s going on with Uber in France? A lesson in economics and global brand management.
Knowledge workers, the future of jobs and the Taylorism of management
We are at a fascinating point in the history of organisational development – probably more dynamic than the industrial revolution but equally critical for organisations to understand. A recent economist article put it beautifully, on clutter in management and how tiers of managers, meetings and emails and killing our productivity. Office politics, management dysfunctionality and complex…… Continue reading Knowledge workers, the future of jobs and the Taylorism of management