A knock at the door of a hotel in Amsterdam.  Mick Jagger opens the door and bamm Charlie Watts punches him in the face. Journalist Bill German says during a meeting where the Stones were discussing splitting up Mick Jagger said to Charlie Watts: “None of this should matter to you because you’re only my…

Just the one.  No joke. People love a strategy.  Before a campaign reaches the public it may well have been through the rigour of a creative strategy, a media strategy, a content strategy, a direct response strategy, a digital strategy and a mobile strategy. There is just one strategy and I’d like us all to…

“We often hate each other, but it’s the kind of hatred like flint and steel – the sparks that come out of it make it worth the while”, Penn on his magic partner Teller.   One of the hardest fought categories in the Media Week Awards judging was Large Collaboration.  This was a strong shortlist,…

Ian Katz, editor of gladiatorial Newsnight, wrote recently about an impasse in journalism suggesting a deal to allow politicians to get their point across in traditional media and to be less defensive. As the general election approaches I think that politicians should focus on their direct channel to the public – social media.   Presenter…

In 1946 Bedouin shepherds stumbled on a huge archaeological discovery.  In caves near the Dead Sea they found a series of scrolls housed in jars.  By 1951 a full excavation was under way and in the end nearly a thousand documents were discovered.   The documents were dated to the time of Jesus – around…

Can we stop with the nostalgia for what media used to be about please?   Some say: the art of the media agency used to be to find the perfect spot for a TV ad.  I say : this is targeting the right audience at the right time and in the right place and media…

Nice framing of a human truth  

Comedian Andy Hamilton summed up how most of us feel about the injection of women into the new Cabinet when he said :”it’s nice that Cameron has discovered women so near election time.”   The reshuffle, which means that there are now 5 women in the Cabinet again (back to the level in 2011), seems…

News breaks this week that Air New Zealand is withdrawing its safety video after thousands signed an online petition claiming it was “culturally insensitive”.  What could possibly offend in a set of bikini clad Sports Illustrated models telling you to keep your safety belt fastened !? It’s still available at You Tube for you to…

If you haven’t spent half an hour in the company of brilliant and charming, Controller of Commercial Digital Products at ITV, Jon Block, then I suggest you do so at once.   He’s got a list of user needs from the second screen while watching TV which is well worth contemplating.   How we exploit…

At our conference this week we heard case studies of two connected partnerships which truly use TV to its full advantage.   Both Iceland’s sponsorship of I’m a celebrity and WKD’s association with TOWIE make the most of ITV and every kind of second screen.   They also both had a massive impact on the…

The ex-chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks tells a story that when he was appointed he discovered that he shared a love of Arsenal with the Archbishop of Canterbury. They decided to have their first official meeting in the box at the next game.  Where Arsenal lost, and lost badly.  The papers picked up on the story,…