With a brand New Year already underway, it’s time to get cracking and adapt to the new normal. The trouble is, the new normal is not that new anymore and, to make matters more confusing, it was only an illusory buzz-phrase in the first place. No, this year is all about the – what shall we call it folks? Answers on a postcard…

How about the Unnormal? Whatever it is, the next 12 months will be a precarious balancing act. It will be beneficial to innovate and dream up new ways of operating while also returning to the marketing basics, like doing some good old-fashioned research. Flexibility is also needed to adapt to the demands of a capricious consumer, but a steely eye should be kept on long-term trends. The strategy of bothism we looked at last year seems more sensible than ever! Read more…

Christmas is all about the festive spirit, generosity and, of course, a guilt-free opportunity to have a very good time. Perhaps over-indulge a little. Enjoy an extra mince pie or two. Pour another glass of bubbly or three. And then hang about expectantly under the mistletoe… Read more…

Tags: Christmas, Content, COVID19, Grinch, Marketing, Messaging, Pandemic, Strategy, Viral Marketing

When it comes to marketing, contradictions are good. As long as we can successfully employ Bothism, that is, and find a valid middle ground between extremes. At least, that was the message at this year’s David Ogilvy lecture in the UK, named after the highly influential pipe-smoking advertising tycoon and founder of the agency Ogilvy & Mather. 

It was a very apt theme to consider as Ogilvy’s colourful life itself was a series of wonderful surprises as he unwittingly gathered experience to launch his own advertising agency. Born in 1911, he was an Oxford University scholarship boy, chef at the Hotel Majestic in Paris, a door-to-door AGA salesman, British Intelligence researcher, farmer in Pennsylvania’s Amish country… Read more…

Tags: Bothism, Content, David Ogilvy, Mark Ritson, Marketing, Ogilvy & Mather, PR, Rory Sutherland, Strategy

Have you seen him yet? In shop windows, on TV ads or billboards? The bearded fellow with an optimistic grin, rosy cheeks and a distinctive red and white suit? If not, it’s only a matter of time, as Christmas will come early this year with brands desperate to market their festive-season products using Father Christmas, the ultimate symbol of generosity. And sack-loads of spending. 

Choosing the right day to give Santa his debut this year will be a tricky call for marketers. Get a jump on the competition as fast as possible? Or, in the fall-out of a serious pandemic that has had an appalling affect on so many people’s lives, is that tasteless? Should they defer promoting the frivolity and financial pain of Christmas? Read more…

Tags: Branding, Christmas, Marketing, Messaging, Pandemic, social media, Strategy

Covid 19 and Greenhouse Gas Greta. Black Lives Matter and #MeToo. Digital disruption in general and the next unseen global shockwave. The world around us is changing faster and faster. And it’s mesmerising. All of us in marketing talk so much about our beloved brands that we can begin to believe the content and hype we have created. That we’ve got everything just right. But not any more.  Read more…

Ready. Set. Market. You may not have heard it but on July 23, exactly one year before the start of the postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, the pistol was fired to start one of the world’s top marketing races. It may be a seriously false start caused by the COVID19-based lockdown, but the quest for communications gold will perhaps be keener than ever. Read more…

Tags: Branding, COVID19, Marketing, Olympics, Strategy

Tweeting about serious issues like racism is easy. Creating content that positions a brand as ethical is also a (socially distanced) walk in the park. But making a real difference – the sort of difference that influences people’s day-to-day lives – is much harder. In the light of the George Floyd protests, it will be interesting to see whether or not brands follow up their social media excitement with real action. Read more…

Tags: Black Lives Matter, BLM, Corporate Culture, Movement, Protests, Revolution, Stand Together

In 1996, I interviewed Michael Jordan in the changing room at the San Antonio Alamodome as he prepared for the All-Star game. It did not feel like an interview with a normal human being. An audience with the Pope springs to mind, or some other deity with wings (those Nikes) and an unworldly hang-time.

At the time, “His Airness”, who had recently returned to the Chicago Bulls following a sabbatical spent swinging a baseball bat, was apparently the most famous person in the world. And every single journalist in San Antonio wanted a piece of him. Just one word. The word of MJ… Nike must have loved it. Read more…

Tags: Brand Reputation, Branding, Business, Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, Marketing, Sports Marketing, Strategy

It’s quiet on the local high street. Too damned quiet. The cash tills of the world’s greatest shopping streets – Oxford Street in London, Fifth Avenue in New York and Corso Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan – are eerily silent. Even the peep of approved contactless cards is a memory. It’s as though the credits are about to roll on the latest Zombie Apocalypse Netflix stream-buster… Read more…

Tags: Budgeting, Business Tips, Case Studies, COVID19, Marketing, Strategy

It’s never tasted quite so good. In fact, it’s never tasted good at all except when it has a slice of zingy lime squeezed into the top of the bottle. A Corona beer, that is. In the pub, my friend Dave, who wouldn’t normally touch the drink with a barge pole, was guzzling his down with gusto. We bought it because, well, the word Corona was everywhere. Sales crisis? What crisis? Read more…

Tags: Blog, brand image, Corona, Coronavirus, COVID19, Crisis Marketing, Marketing