Julian Saunders

Spot inevitabilities:advice for budding entrepreneurs

I went to a reception last week at Wayra- a Telefonica funded incubator -” a digital start up accelerator with a global network of 13 academies in 12 countries” is how they describe themselves).It was courtesy of the kind people at The Foundation who hosted the evening (Telefonica have put seed funding into 20 startContinue reading “Spot inevitabilities:advice for budding entrepreneurs”

A ferment of debate in China about the way ahead

My fourth visit to LSE SU The China Development forum and the most interesting yet The change in leadership has resulted in a ferment of debate about the way forward Much of this open and enabled by Weibo. Public intellectuals (and not just the people) now use Weibo to air their views and get aContinue reading “A ferment of debate in China about the way ahead”

how to write advertising copy that people don’t mind reading

Robert Levenson ( legendary DDB copywriter) was asked how he wrote such good copy for ads I like his answer- “I always started by writing ‘Dear Charlie’, like writing to a friend. And then I would say what I had to say, and, at the end I would cross out ‘Dear Charlie’, and I wasContinue reading “how to write advertising copy that people don’t mind reading”

Coding and creativity

To RSA to see an empassioned and excellent talk by Tom Armitage as part of BBC radio 4’s For thought series. His argument – teach code in schools But not because as Michael Gove has it – to “stay competitive in the global economy” But because code is one of the unpinning grammars of life now.Continue reading “Coding and creativity”

Starting a movement

To the RSA for an excellent talk by Jeremy Heimans of Purpose He is one of a new breed of “Movement Entrepreneurs” – who brings practical knowledge and insight about how the radical democratisation of the web is changing politics and campaigning. Now more than ever you can start a popular movement – not justContinue reading “Starting a movement”

what are 5 important themes for brands in 2012

I was asked this question by Aurora magazine ( which is a cross between Marketing Week and Campaign in Pakistan- edited by the excellent Mary-Lou Andrew). It set me thinking. If you ask this question now you are no longer just asking about the narrow question of winning and retaining customers – you are inContinue reading “what are 5 important themes for brands in 2012”

Islam simply has better marketing

When the history of the 21st century comes to be written one big theme will be the rise and rise of Islam. A complex issue of course but to a marketers eyes there is a simpler truth: Islam is based on much better brand marketing principles. By this i means it has much better ideas aboutContinue reading “Islam simply has better marketing”

Do consumers really have a choice

This kind of concentration of power is not really healthy It is, of course, a response to growing retailer power and the desire to have more buying power Thank heaven for social media which can scrutinise these companies because national governments don’t stand a chance with these global power houses.

What to watch for as new leaders take over in China

To the China Development forum at LSE for the second time ( I went last in 2010) And it has both grown and become “more Chinese”- 50 % of the talks were in mandarin. This helped – many of the speakers were very funny in their own tongue- so unlike the rather pompous business eventsContinue reading “What to watch for as new leaders take over in China”