The importance of breaking patterns of thinking. Remember the white-gold/blue-black dress controversy?   Exactly ten years ago, the mother of a bride who was about to get married in Scotland, was planning what outfit to wear.  It was an important decision of course.  Every mother knows that this is her moment as well as her daughter’s and…

In season 4 of Welcome to Wrexham, the Disney documentary about the renaissance of Wrexham FC under the ownership of two Hollywood stars, Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool) and Rob McElhenney (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), there is a crucial match on the calendar.  In previous shows we have seen team talks given by the potty mouthed manager.  For…

For marketing campaigns, for career progression, and for fox encounters, it’s good to have both. We’ll start with the fox.  The archetype of the fox as a trickster is ancient, global and lasting.  From the ancient people of Peru who believed that the fox was a warrior who used his wits to fight,  Kuma Lisa…

It’s been a controversial Cannes, as Campaign have pointed out. The Economist was also in Cannes and gave this headline to its report from the Croisette: “Creative destruction: The new age for admen.” Although most of the activity in Cannes takes place in a very small, very hectic town centre, it is no longer just…

Absolutely agree with Mark Evans.  Mark, my former client when he was a CMO, is now an advisor, coach, trustee and plural NED.  Mark has focussed on leadership for many years now, and it is always worthwhile to read his blogs and listen to The Places We’ll Go podcast on marketing. Less than great leaders…

Is it all lies?  Everyone lies, everything lies, sometimes. Meta have announced the use of AI to check if children are lying about their age to get onto their social media platforms.  Ofcom in the UK estimates that one in three kids has a fake media age of 18+. So there are millions of kids,…

There may be no better place to discuss the impact of creativity on business than the Eden Project, where the Anthropy 2025 conference ran in early spring.   The debate was convened and moderated by Dave Allen from Brandpie, who asked “Is creativity the key that unlocks growth?”.  John Rudaizky, Global Chief Brand and Marketing Officer/…

2000 delegates recently gathered in Cornwall at the Eden Project to discuss and debate the future of Britain.  Dubbed by the founder John O’Brien as “The Davos of Britain” the Anthropy gathering was diverse.  Representatives from government, NGOs, charities, marketing, advertising and youth leaders congregated to discuss a wide ranging agenda in the cold spring…

“AI will be the most profound shift of our lifetimes” Sundar Pichai; “The largest change to the global labour market in human history” Dario Amodei; “all workers are going to be ceos of AI agents” Jensen Huang;  “In a decade perhaps everyone on earth will be capable of accomplishing more than the most impactful person…

WARC’s recent report, The Multiplier Effect, argues that many brands are missing out on significant revenues and profits because of an incomplete approach that means there are “false choices” leading to an ineffective marketing and media plan rather than a multiplier effect from real integration across the media and marketing mix.  Getting the best people…

The psychologist and social scientist Jonathan Haidt has stated that human beings are part bee.  As well as the established habits we have hung on to from our ape ancestors, of wanting to stand out and be recognised by the alpha in the group, we also have the bee habit of collaborating and doing what…

I’m inspired by Tom Whitall’s 52 things learnt in 2024 (I found number 35 particularly interesting), but one a week really is a lot of lessons, and so, here is my shorter list, just a dozen things – so one a month – I have learnt in 2024.   And to make it a “Baker’s Dozen”…