What’s the point of Tesco?
On 5 Live last night, the BBC’s Business Editor Kamal Ahmed gave a very pertinent judgment on the latest chapter of woe for the tallest, wilting poppy in British retail. He said, quite simply, “People are no longer clear as to what Tesco is for”. His implication was that its executives no longer understand its […]
Why should we measure communications? It all starts with why
The spirit of Simon Sinek was hovering around Russell Square on Tuesday morning. As part of its contribution to AMEC’s Measurement Week #amecatwork, the PR industry’s professional body the CIPR convened a roundtable bringing together the great and the good of measurement and evaluation (M&E). We spent far too much time talking about advertising value […]
Should brands stand for or against something?
It’s often said that, to cut through the clutter, brands need to develop and articulate a clearly differentiated point of view on the issues that matter to their customers. Many brands have found that, by taking a deliberately provocative, campaigning stance, they can generate a stronger reaction from their constituency. Sure, they’ll alienate some and […]
Active understanding and the art of Anglo-Chinese insight
I met the co-founders of an inspiring new agency, Comms8, today. Sally Maier and Carol Chan have built what they’re calling London’s only integrated communications agency to help brands in the UK and Greater China build business locally and in one another’s markets. The trilingual duo has a powerful and complementary offer, straddling marketing and […]
Enlightened self-interest
A long time ago, in a career galaxy far, far away, I was Director of Public Affairs for The Portman Group (TPG). At the time (1992-1995), TPG was a world-leading social aspects organisation for the UK drinks industry. Promoting sensible drinking, reducing alcohol-related harm, and tackling alcohol misuse. I can’t remember the order we listed these […]
Visual schizophrenia, verbal multiple personality disorder
In a recent profile on the splendid Drum – source of so much more light than heat in the hinterland of marketing communications – Coke’s VP of global design talked of the need to avoid “visual schizophrenia” in the creation of its World Cup design. I read the article with interest, and it prompted a […]
Jam tomorrow
There’s great value in putting research at the heart of communications planning as well as using it to justify the impact of last year’s campaign. In the first in a series of blogs about insight – leading to the publication of my new book Insightful in 2015 – welcome to the world of predictive analytics. Scientists do research to test their […]