Category Archives: innovation

What’s not going to change

Here is my counter-blast against the (much promoted) idea that everything in marketing is changing. It is just published in the new issue of Market Leader – the strategic marketing journal for business leader. It is reproduced with their permission. Subscribe at http://www.warc.com/bookstore Saunders final  

Predictions you can make with confidence (1st of a series)

  We will be eating a lot of fruit and veg in the next 10 years  The forces that will make even more of us “demi-veg” (or even vegetarian) are a powerful combination of the personal, environmental and economic. Plus, anything that Jamie Oliver champions is likely to go mainstream. “I’m going vegetarian 3 timesContinue reading “Predictions you can make with confidence (1st of a series)”

“Knowing what’s important”

Was how Charles Handy defined “wisdom” at a recent event- it has stayed with me It is particularly needed at the moment – as many in marketing are transfixed by new technologies and have persuaded themselves of two things a) change is pervasive and b) change getting quicker. This second statement has been taken axiomaticContinue reading ““Knowing what’s important””

My favourite Christmas campaign is not John Lewis

The Columbian govt used Christmas trees to persuade FARC guerrillas to give up the fight.Nine 75-foot trees along paths the insurgents used were decorated them with Christmas lights and a message encouraging them to come home. The operation was deemed a success; 331 guerrillas demobilized while the campaign was active, a 30% increase from theContinue reading “My favourite Christmas campaign is not John Lewis”

The march of the matchmakers.

(Book review published in Market Leader: September 2016) Here are a few hours in the life of a modern everyman I picked up my IPhone and Googled the location of my coffee meeting. Then I summoned an Uber and, on the way, planned my holiday on Airbnb. At our meeting we checked out a YouTubeContinue reading “The march of the matchmakers.”

How China is changing the internet

This film is worth a watch to show how WeChat-which started as a messaging app- is evolving into a one stop killer app for search,social and shopping. (And you thought Google and Facebook were too powerful.). It’s success is due not to Chinese govt support but innovation to make the user experience a) very easyContinue reading “How China is changing the internet”

Throwing Stones at the Google Bus- Douglas Rushkoff

This is a (slightly extended version)of a book review I have just published in Market Leader (the Marketing Society’s quarterly journal : It all started with such high ideals. The web was created as a kind of commons with the promise of a radical democratisation of power. As Rushkoff puts it – The distributed natureContinue reading “Throwing Stones at the Google Bus- Douglas Rushkoff”

APG Strategy V Robots

Another excellent conference and excellent value Here are  a few  things i took away Steve Hilton may sound modern (took his shoes off in public/wore T-Shirt etc)  but his ideas are really a reworking of ideas launched by the levellers in the 16th Century, and developed by Romantics in the 19th century- he wants thingsContinue reading “APG Strategy V Robots”

How Getty could have predicted Trump and Sanders

Getty sell their images to agencies who are designing campaigns and so what buyers search for reveals something of the zeitgeist.Agency creative teams have well developed instincts for what is fresh and current. Forget the focus groups, analyse Getty search tends. “Stand out from the crowd”,”rebellious” and “bold choices” have spiked in search on theirContinue reading “How Getty could have predicted Trump and Sanders”