The Thinkbox conference last week was a riot of sacred cow shooting. Professor Byron Sharp from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute of South Australia took aim at segmentation noting that for big brands it is not only unnecessary but potentially harmful.  He called talking to loyalists “marketing in retreat” and as Maisie McCabe explains here views Facebook…

Not me claiming this but Rory Sutherland who was speaking at the Economist Summit in early March (The Big Rethink), after Jonathan Salem Baskin and I presented on our new book Tell the Truth (www.amazon.co.uk) Sutherland explained that we discount extravagant claims for good evolutionary reasons.  We like trade-offs, they make sense to us.  We’re…

I love Converse.  Back in the 90s I worked on the account and got to know a great deal about its authentic roots.  The company was founded in the early years of the 20th century making winterised rubber shoes originally and then athletic shoes.  In 1921 the basketball player Chuck Taylor joined the organisation to endorse…