What can we learn about building a compelling and distinct purpose for a brand or business, from organisations as diverse as Google Creative Labs and Choccywoccydoodah? Well, thanks to the Lost Lectures mini-phenomenon (“enchanting talks from secret locations”), a big dose of inspiration was received last week from six eclectic 20min talks packed into one interesting evening. And the…
Soviet Union – bastion of communism, communal good, anti-competition? Well it certainly was in 1942 in the midst of WW2. But as I’m learning from a long overdue re-watch of ‘The World at War’ (Thames Television 1970s triumph), some astonishing marketing genius emerged from the heart of the Kremlin that we can learn from even today. So in a…
Thanks to the Marketing Society for an interesting evening – a combination of ‘what makes great marketing’ and ‘how to win a marketing society award’. For those of us not entering, we were there to hear any gems from the 4 esteemed speakers – Fiona McAnena of BUPA, Chris Macleod of TfL, Sarah Speake of Google, Ian Armstrong of…
It occured to me in discussions with a client yesterday that social media, that big scary/cool exciting world (depending how far along you are with embracing it for your brand), is currently the brand equivalent of discovering alcohol as a teenager. It makes you feel like you are the coolest dancer at the party. It’s not until much much…
Another great evening with the Marketing Society last night; this time an audience with Sir Terry Leahy, the maestro of Tesco’s phenomenal success, who started out as a Tesco marketer and worked his way up to the top. It’s so easy to take Tesco for granted, but in the 14 years of his reign as CEO, he took it…
We all know the mantra ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’…. What this is meant to mean is firstly reduce your materials and impacts by changing your product/service, then try reusing your finished products (straight reuse or value added upcycling) then when all else fails, recycle into something else. Somedays it seems folks only think about the last one, but sadly we’re…
The last month I’ve seen so many articles and news items on green/sustainable claims – even the One Show (hardly the cutting edge of journalism) got in on the act last week and did a spot on greenclaims in household cleaners and how misleading and unregulated they are. The comparison was drawn with Fairtrade, which everyone understands and which…
Creativity. Its the cornerstone not just of innovation, but of all good problem solving. And yet it can seem so elusive, so hard for us to switch from our usual analysis, judgement, decision making thought processes into a more lateral state where we make fresh connections. Maybe thats why we seem to get out best ideas in the shower,…
In a world of decaying trust, where…
A fascinating panel discussion of experienced Chairmen…
