Posts in ‘We Think’ Category

When Gordon Brown shot the starting gun on the election last week, there were many questions and few answers surrounding the campaign, as Paul Lindsell, our managing director, noted in his blog.

One talking point that has emerged so far is that just about everyone involved in the UK election industry – you know, those politicians, party activists, journalists, PRs, ad agency mad men, pollsters, quiz-show comedians and assorted pundits who live for the big campaign...

So election fever has begun in earnest today.  Given the way vulnerable seat boundaries now lie, it may well go to the wire on May 6th, with the Conservatives having more of a battle than they'd originally thought.  Personally, I won't be deciding which way to vote until the last minute.  But Labour certainly seem to have missed a trick in one respect - the business vote.  We'll are in the process of launching a new piece of national business...

The new Marmite campaign, that is.  This is a brand that has managed to inspire and harness both negative and positive brand associations to its advantage.

Since the '90s, consumers have associated Marmite with the love it or hate it tagline thanks to their ever successful above the line advertising. Today, they have very cleverly extended it to everything they do, including their web presence and CSR activity by offering consumers...

The news last week was full of headlines about how conventional advertising media agencies have been hit – and hit hard – by the recession.

Campaign magazine’s table of the biggest UK media agencies showed eight of the top 10 suffered a drop in billings between 2008 and 2009 – including a more than 10% slump by number one agency MediaCom, a 16.5 % fall by number four Mindshare and a 22.5% plunge by...

Most industries are well organised to have their interests effectively represented to parliament, government and the EU.  Chemicals, pharmaceuticals, utilities, retail, telecoms, the much vilified banking sector...  it is difficult to think of an industry that does not have its trade association robustly ensuring that its collective voice is heard in the halls of power.  Except, that is, the marketing industry.

Our sector seems to have an extraordinary propensity for internicine squabbles, and a...

Since the demise of IDMF, the Technology for Marketing show has become the trade show to be at – and not just because it seems to be the only truly direct marketing event in the UK at the moment.

Last year saw a turning point in its organisation. The organisers stepped up their game in terms of thought leadership, and this year are offering up to 80 sessions and keynotes from leading industry organisations like...

If the ‘noughties’ were the decade of celebrity endorsement, might the ‘teens’ herald a reversal?

The trend has already started with companies turning to everyday employees to promote the brand rather than expensive famous faces. High street banks are an obvious example (although, ironically, the gurning Halifax Howard has now become a minor celebrity in his own right).

Then, of course, there have been the major brand embarrassments. Tiger Woods, John Terry, Ashley Cole – all previously lending their name and...

Right now unfolding before our very eyes is a classic example of a major PR and customer communications disaster that is spinning out of control largely because the company in question, Toyota, waited until it was far too late before admitting that there was any problem at all and taking action.

First there was the issue of the apparently defective accelerators that led to lawsuits in the US and, splashed across the global media, the heart-wrenching...