When storytelling goes bad – a guest blog for PRmoment

(This blog originally appeared on 17 November 2014 as guest blog on PRmoment. Thanks for the platform, Ben!). On this coming Thursday, PRmoment is hosting an event on storytelling: “The role of public relations as a content provider”. And quite right, too. Storytelling is a craft whose time has come. Again. Stories rock. Storytelling is […]
Two dozen things I learned from #TEDxBrighton

Last week’s TEDxBrighton was my first TED event in the flesh. As an aficionado of the form, a passionate advocate of more impactful communication, and a corporate and brand storyteller, I had high hopes of a Halloween well spent. I was not disappointed. I learned a lot last Friday. About new ways of thinking and […]
#TEDxBrighton: a buffet for the brain and a curate’s egg

Long Beach was twinned with Brighton beach (not the nudist bit) on Halloween, as the TED roadshow rolled into town, annexed the Dome, and treated open-minded Sussex folk to a buffet for the brain. Truth be told, it was also the very definition of a curate’s egg. Good in parts – at times exceptional – […]
Why social intelligence matters – live!

Later this evening, I’m chairing the W2O Group’s Social Intelligence Summit. And I can’t wait. I like the W2O Group, and its agencies WCG and twist. A lot. I’ve worked for WCG, heading up strategic planning for EMEA, out of the London office. And I’m now lucky enough to count them as a client in […]
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 […]
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 […]