The summer of the comeback
Nostalgia Blackmail
Image courtesy of Old School Paul
One of the defining features of this recession is the number of brands immersing themselves in utterly self-indulgent nostalgia trips in a desperate attempt to curry favour with increasingly cynical consumers.
Reasons to be cheeerful 1 2 3
Image courtesy of Max Ferguson
Gripped as we are by the bloody teeth of recession and now with conclusive proof from ICM that Britain, of all leading nations is the most miserable and pessimistic about its economic future, it is perhaps peculiar that the most potent...
Context is king
Out of context is viewing online commercially valuable? Image courtesy of papa'rocket.
As we career head long into the economic car crash that is destroying jobs, crushing consumer expenditure and ripping the confidence and profitability out of both client and agency organisations, one performance metric has emerged above all others...
r-e-s-p-e-c-t
Image courtesy of badjonni
I have a very cruel, but accurate, joke about why planners have adopted social media with more enthusiasm than others in the advertising business. In advertising only planners blog, account handlers have nothing to say and creatives have better places to say it.
Great ideas can come from anywhere, my arse
Telephone research must stop. Full stop.
Image courtesy of Old Telephones
Let's agree this now everyone. There are some things marketing and communications should steer well clear of and the telephone is one of them. So lets have no more telemarketing spam, lets have no more political parties ringing people up with an automated message and...
Problems wanted
Mad Men, a simpler time of real men, real problems and lots of sex on mid century design classics. Image courtesy of Slate.
Unfortunately much advertising is self indulgent nonsense that simply serves to waste the client’s money and the consumer’s time.
Are our start ups a let down?
Image courtesy of Fiat Luxe
The start up plays an almost mythical role in the world of advertising. Start ups are not simply an outlet for the professional and material ambitions of the best in the business, they are absolutely essential to the health and vitality of the industry. If...
Fast Strategy
Image courtesy of Combined Media.
This is a little piece I did to publicise the
Be careful what you wish for
Image courtesy of
I owe my career in advertising to an ad.
Not to an ad that inspired me but one that I responded to. It was placed by a long gone and deservedly forgotten direct marketing agency trying to find graduate recruits many months after the above the line shops...