I missed a message from a client a few days back.Thankfully it wasn’t urgent, but it led me to question whether we are benefiting or being besieged by the multiplicity…
A few thoughts on B2B marketing
B2B marketing is a fiendishly complex puzzle: here’s how to solve it
It’s been said that if consumer marketing is a game of draughts, then by comparison B2B marketing is 3D chess. That’s because B2B marketers have to overcome a myriad of…
How creating an emotional reason to purchase can trump a rational one
Insurance is dull, no matter how marketers try to dress it up. Renewing your annual insurance policy is a grind akin to queuing at the bank, or filling the car…
How to get better, faster, cheaper work from your creative agency
Imagine a client that wants to launch a new product that helps cats sit on mats. The Marcomms Manager at the client briefs their agency. After two weeks of locking…
Why you should always make the logo smaller
Many years ago I used to run graduate recruitment for an ad agency. As a warm up exercise on recruitment day, I asked each of the participants to write on…
How to crystallise your proposition
Your proposition is the single-sentence answer to the question: “Give me one good reason why I should buy your product”. Remember, you’re only allowed ONE reason. It’s the elevator speech…
Pay your creative agency by results? Be careful what you wish for…
It's over 21 years since the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers published a report that claimed that “Payment By Results will form 75 per cent of advertising agency contracts within…
“You say it best when you say nothing at all?”
In Professor Byron sharp’s recent piece in Campaign (“Why the best response to Covid-19 was to stop advertising”) the Prof rails against the endless hand-wringingly earnest advertising many big brands put…
The secret of Sam Walton’s billions
At one point in his life, Sam Walton – the founder of Walmart – was the richest man in America. Once a week, every single week, even at the height…
Why account managers shouldn’t just do as they’re told
Many years back – goodness me, it was almost in the last century – I was a Senior Account Director at a long-gone London integrated advertising agency. For my sins,…