Carrying on from last week’s post on the subject of Great (New) British brands, I’ll turn my attention this week to a couple of British brands born on the other side of the millennium. The received wisdom is, these days, that it’s all about ‘Experience’ and ‘Story’. Something the brand Colman’s Mustard did, I feel, most […]

I always admire the organisation Trendwatching for their breathlessly optimistic tone of voice, something that old cynics like me would do well to take heed of. Back in 2016, in the light of Brexit and the rise of Mr Trump, the agency suggested that brands might like to join the backlash against globalism in a positive […]

Advertising in the past (especially from the likes of Procter & Gamble) frequently featured a format known as Problem – Solution. The Problem would be dramatised in a way first to get heads nodding – oh-yes-I-have-those-stubborn-stains-too-but-never-dared-mention-them. Then, in a starburst of glory, the Solution would enter the screen in a heroic pose, possibly accompanied by […]

I’ve had the pleasure of working on several alcohol brands throughout my career – Courvoisier, Harvey’s sherries, and Lanson champagne, to name a few. The 80s and 90s of the last century were something of a golden age for drinks advertising in the UK. Who could forget this glorious commercial? Working on alcohol brands today is […]

There’s not a lot more dreary and self-congratulatory than a ‘bloggoversary’ crammed with statistics about post views, page views and your audience from Outer Mongolia to the Inner Depths of Brexit Island. Unless it’s a Facebook anniversary – look-at-this-awesome-video-that-I-didn’t-put-together-myself-with-pictures-of-silly-monkeys-and-sickly-cakes (oops.) No-one cares. So, to mark 10 years of this blog, I’ll direct you to my […]

Last week we explored how critical it is for a business to have a clear idea of who they are and what they’re all about –  mission, vision and values. My worry is that few owners have ever taken the time to actually articulate what their business is all about or made the effort to […]

“What if everything we know to be true about marketing is actually what’s holding back our business?” And in fact – “what if we realize we’ve invested the shipwreck of marketing?” An interesting way to start a marketing book, eh? I just finished a fascinating new book, Killing Marketing: How Innovative Businesses are Turning Marketing […]

It’s vital to every business that they have a clear idea of who they are and what they’re all about. Few owners have taken the time to distill it down or made the effort to weave it into the fabric of the company. What do the mission, vision and values for your business look like? […]

One of the most under-utilized social networks, from a business and marketing perspective, is LinkedIn. Despite boasting over 396 million users, the truth is that most of the users have no idea what to do with their LinkedIn account besides collecting connections in a random fashion. It’s actually a very robust business tool that you […]

If every dollar looks the same, how do you know which dollars are “good” dollars for your business? The reality is – every dollar is not created equal and doesn’t serve your business in the same way. In fact, some dollars actually cost you money. Let’s say prospect #1 wants to buy something you don’t […]