A difference between strategic ideas and creative ideas

With ‘ideas’ being a dominant currency and in fact something that agencies are able to sell as a separate offering to execution; more thought and clarity is needed around the distinction between a strategic idea (a strategy, a strategic direction, etc) and a creative idea (creative territory, creative platform, etc). Having read and enjoyed this, [...]

What’s in a strategic idea?

Nicolas Moerman’s deck on ‘Why Planners and Creatives should become best friends’ brilliantly explains the difference between a strategic idea and a creative idea, with loads of perfect examples.
It’s great, you should have a look: http://bit.ly/eGDhps
Moerman offers a definition of a strategic idea, what it always is, always has, what it can do (seriously, it’s [...]

Olympic Marketing on a shoestring… Really?

According to Oxford Economic Research (Sept, 2007), hosting the London 2012 Olympics will cause a number of economic displacement impacts. As such, due to overseas visitors staying away because of the perceived expense (160m), domestic tourists heading abroad as a result of the games (124m), and Londoners leaving the capital due to overcrowding fears (91m), [...]

Insight is king, even in social media

[Originally written for and published on The Headstream Blog]
Here’s a question: is there any other channel where a sound working knowledge of the tools involved can compensate for a poor understanding of the audience?
I’m not entirely sure what it takes to be labeled a social media ‘guru’, ‘expert’, or ‘ninja’ these days; but I’m willing [...]

Ford pioneer the ‘social reveal’

This time last week I would have confidently asserted that although some have dipped their toes in the water, no other car manufacturer is more deeply embedded in social media than Ford. On Wednesday, (July 28th), however, Ford well and truly became the mayors of their market. They are now the first car manufacturer to [...]

Swan dives & diamonds: My take on the Old Spice campaign

(Originally written for and published on the Headstream Blog…)
Yes, it’s a great concept, yes, the simplicity is genius, and yes, it demonstrates sound channel selection and a smart approach to engaging with celebrities, influencers and the likes of you and me in equal measures. Loads of ticks in loads of boxes, but if I had [...]

Cultural branding & social media: say some stuff about some stuff that means stuff.

People look to brands as identity resources – as bits and pieces that all contribute to building a sense of themselves and how they wish to be seen by others. People also tend to align themselves with brands that stand for similar values as them, or, of course, values that they aspire to stand for. [...]

Simple guide to running your own focus group [on a budget]

In an era characterised by evolving communications, brand research is vital. Qualitative research and focus groups in particular can be extremely useful strategic tools for businesses of all sizes. You can read why in this previous post. It goes without saying that in commissioning a research agency to plan, manage and conduct a focus group [...]

[Disclaimer] If a brand is sh*t offline, it will probably be sh*t online.

Reading back over my last couple of posts with a mixture of pride and recoil, I realised that my perspective so far on the relationship between brands and digital media has been a little bit rosy. Inspired in part by a brilliant post from @Tom_Messett, I concluded that if I’m going to be blogging about the [...]

Is the future of online, offline?

Many aim for true integration when it comes to advertising campaigns. Some might argue that this is becoming harder with the increasing number of effective and measureable online channels available; others maintain that the best online campaigns will include an element of offline activity. Here’s my two cents…
Consider senses: Online only calls upon two senses [...]