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In a recent musing from Claire Beale, the editor of Campaign argued that brands spend “millions on a campaign idea after exhaustive research and testing … with little return” and that it runs contrary to a commercial environment where brands must act faster and more decisively than ever.
It’s tempting to dredge up famous quotes from WARC when trying to justify the value of research to advertising agencies and their clients. David Ogilvy, for example, has a particularly juicy one: “Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy sig...
Throughout history the ad business has been almost schizophrenic in its ability to build meaningful and respectful customer relations with its clients. Admittedly there have been some long lasting and mutually beneficial strategic relationships - but mostly it is a rather unedifying spectacle of mistrust and mismatched agendas played out over time.
Most of this can be traced back to a simple fact: clients tend to measure success in entirely rational ways - usually quarterly and financial, whereas agencies tend to measure success in more emotive ways - once a year at a creative awards ceremony. We simply celebrate and invest in our differences ...
There may be no studio lights, no live audience and absolutely no auto tuning, but there is great music, and it’s coming from Jon Earl’s shed in the small West Country town of Cleveden Somerset.
Songs from the Shed, which can be seen at www.songsfromtheshed.com or by searching on You Tube, invites live musicians to come in and perform acoustically in front of a hand-held camera. It’s already attracted musicians such as David Rotheray from one of my favourite bands The Beautiful South, who...
Don’t make them ask for directions.
Your customers are exposed to your brand messages long before they ever step in-store. But how do you maintain this momentum to guarantee sales? The number of touch points along the shopper journey is vast, from outdoor print and promotional events to in-store radio, POS and retailtainment. Great...
What's the occasion?
Increasingly, we tie our product and promotion to an ever burgeoning events calendar that still doesn’t satisfy our need for a constant sales curve. The requirement for the next ‘big event’ has seen the growth of invented occasions. The most important factor about this trend is not the prod...
I went to an interesting conference last week on Social Media in London. With some good quality speakers lined up from the likes of Microsoft, HP, moneysupermarket.com and Diageo, I expected to come away with all the answers. Unfortunately I didn’t!
What I did take out of the conference though is that pretty much everyone in all different industries and sectors are grappling to find the right approach for their company/brand when it comes to social media and that there is no one-size-fits all strategy. What works for Microsoft and HP doesn’t ...
Over the last 10 years, we’ve been told that TV is dying. Everyday, news of its demise has been expected – especially by the more hysterical breed of digital zealot. Tivo, YouTube, Hulu – it was all going to kill TV like Bobby shot JR.
So how come we’re watching more of it than ever? TGI recently showed that 99% of ALL video was watched on traditional television. That’s ALL video – including YouTube, virals, Hulu et al. What’s more, viewing figures in general have risen 3.79% year-on-year since 2005 – especially amongs...
The world has now seen the unveiling of probably one of the most over hyped (and overpriced!) pieces of technology in the world.
Apples iPad (bad choice of name Steve – have you no women in your Marketing Department?) has been hyped as the next best thing since sliced bread – the greatest technological advancement since James Watt wondered whether he could turn pressurized steam into mechanical energy – the second comin...
Does the nation want to cook like Raymond Blanc?
Not according to the latest IGD report*. Although we might find TV celebrity chefs entertaining to watch — not many of us have the tools, the time, or the patience to recreate their recipes in our own kitchens. Weekday meal preparation has changed, with 4 out of 5 of us now favouring so-called ...
I had a meeting with the guys from Google the other day and they where telling me that the volume of search in retail areas such as electricals and fashion have gone back to pre crisis levels and the key words used are more around range and features and not around price, discount or money off.
Logic says that consumers should have filled their boots before the rise in VAT in January, but as ever logic and the consumer are never good bed fellows. The City and the economists are all still very gloomy about the chances of a double dip recession and slow growth, or not growth, but they are re...
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