I’ve got to the stage in my career where I expect there are far more planners who have come after me than have come before me. But one planner who came before me and is still active thinking, writing, strategising and planning is Paul Feldwick. Paul was one of the early BMP Planners in the […]

Last week we talked about these facts in terms of mobile technology in our world today: 95% of all text messages are read and read within 90 seconds of receipt 65% of all email is opened on a mobile device versus a desktop or laptop Mobile is now the first screen worldwide – eclipsing screen […]

The Cluetrain Manifesto first surfed onto the internet (as you did then) in 1999, meaning that this famous piece of business literature has now come of age. A somewhat Lutherean piece, with its 95 theses, the manifesto explored the impact of the internet on marketing and corporate communications. The idea running through is that online conversations […]

The truth is, we live in a permanent technological revolution. Remember when you didn’t have a cell phone because no one did. Granted some of you may be too young to remember that – but the majority of readers are not. That’s a pretty short window. We’ve gone from not knowing what a mobile phone […]

Back in the 20th century, Ogden Nash wrote a parody of Joyce Kilmer’s famous poem, ‘Trees’ in which he stated: I think that I shall never seeA billboard lovely as a treeIndeed, unless the billboards fallI’ll never see a tree at all.  And in a recent article in Campaign, writer and director Paul Burke also […]

Last week, we explored the idea that email marketing is about earning the audience’s permission to keep talking. I suggested that there were two equally important elements – intent and content – that had to be in sync if you want to stick around in someone’s in-box. Now it’s time to talk about being helpful. […]

Weird as it sounds, with all of the new technologies, email seems almost old school today. It’s been around for decades and much like other mature mediums, we value and loathe it at the same time. Part of the loathing comes from the daily experience of being barraged by emails we didn’t ask for, don’t […]

Three cheers for Sheryl Sandberg!A while ago, I wrote about how the harmless qualitative market research technique of ‘brands as people’ seemed to have erupted into a full-scale industry – ‘people as brands.‘ I let out a quiet ‘hooray!’ as I read this article which quotes Ms Sandberg’s answer to the question of how business people […]

Procter & Gamble are still sending me Victoria magazine, with its yoga for the over 50s, handy household tips, myths about bladder weakness, menopause horror stories and patronising advice on how to use Facebook. I’ve blogged before about how dreadfully depressing this all is. As a complete contrast, here’s part of a smashing brand campaign from […]

In the “good old days” when a neighbor or work colleague told you how much they enjoyed a nearby B&B, movie or restaurant, it mattered.  Word of mouth has always been one of marketing’s most potent weapons.  Today – we have word of mouth marketing on steroids with online reviews. Interestingly, in a wide range […]