Marketing isn’t like other fields. Its transient landscape means the names of channel champions are lost to capricious winds. It’s not like there aren’t experts, but the lack of go-to marketing mentorship serves to illuminate a single irrefutable fact: marketers aren’t in control, not really. The steadfast expert of today is the foolhardy amateur of tomorrow – wisdom blossoms into madness and experience into ‘oh, is he still here?’ ...
Read MoreOur attitudes toward success and failure can be quite debilitating. Disney isn’t entirely to blame; we all perpetuate the idyllic fiction, that any outcome must be clearly etched in terms of success and result. We have a toxic view of failure because it’s the converse of success, and too often we consider the relationship in binary terms: win and loss, victory and defeat, yes and no. We either emerge on top or sink into the ceaseless void of anonymity and shame. But success and failure are muddy terms, and they reside at non-opposing points in a very open space of interpretation...
Read MoreHierarchies, titles, talk of synergy, unscrupulous practices and team building seminars are the stale crusts of the 20th century. Corporations now masquerade under a new image; offices are bathed in colourful furniture and edifying wall slogans and the spin and squeak of chairs is no longer the only fun to be had. It’s less austere, more playful, or at least disguised to be...
Read MoreWe now have the tools to dictate our value – which has a far longer shelve life...
Read MoreIn our turbulent, unstable, querulously rebellious society, it’s no longer cool to be seen shaking hands with big business. By channelling the voice of business interests, Cameron did himself few favours – even if his words and warnings were on the mark. The irony that eludes many spectators is within what Trump currently represents versus his personal history. Whilst being an infamous businessman himself, the blusterous equivalent of our Alan Sugar, his movement symbolises a distinct detachment from a world controlled by the business elite...
Read MoreTrump's visceral, pithy speeches, wordplay, catchphrases and general lexicon are engineered not to manoeuvre himself around a political contest, but to pitch his own brand of politics. Anybody watching his first presidential debate will have seen two contenders each playing their own game; the two halves of the stage are divided by more than political party allegiances. It is the division between new and old politics. We’ve seen something similar in Britain...
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The business landscape is a hunting ground. Small start-ups hungrily seek the market share of big players, whilst big players desperately look to absorb start-ups’ entrepreneurial agility. And thus traditional understandings of the employee role are slowly lost. The workers of today must be entrepreneurs, innovators and inventors, with the elusive talents and traits normally allergic to the corporate environment...
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Modern storytelling can be better seen as story craft – of constructing an image and/or recognisable identity around a product, service or thing...
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There’s something outside the window, the sound of the hoover downstairs, or that bird that just doesn’t know when to stop chirping. Everything out there is vying for our attention. As 21st century individuals, our attention is our most valued commodity – yearned for by every commercial entity, requested through each and every advert and sales pitch...
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Marketing Morality; what science fiction tells us about the consumer relationship. Marketing has changed. It has become a limitless form, free of constraint, contained only by the available hours in a day. And within this evolution, something sinister awaits...
Read MoreA new year means something to all of us. Hope, doubt, a chance to start again – a whole slew of thoughts and feelings triggered by little more than the tick over of a number. When that five became a six, the impossible became possible, and certainties were once more set in motion. As far as marketing goes, it’s also a convenient opportunity to categorise failure and success...
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Companies, like nations, require soft power. Their efforts of persuasion and influence, within the minds of customers and shareholders, are equal to their capital or buying power. The parallel between these processes of branding is obvious: each seek to establish a name and an identity which illustrates and purports a position of strength, through an engaging product or service...
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