#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 […]
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 […]
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 […]