The Strategy Blog.
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How smart are the smart systems ?
Walking down one of Hampstead’s bijoux roads recently I noticed a woman leaning out of an upstairs window explaining to a man at the door that her “smart” lock had locked her in and asking him to try different ways to open the door. If MediaCom’s strategy director Mark…
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Gaming the system
Back in the summer (can you remember the summer ?) Campaign shared some of my holiday reading. As it happened the weather in Devon was ok and the waves were suitable (not too gnarly, not too tiny). Therefore I didn’t get to my book about the end of civilisation…
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Driving word of mouth is a great ambition, but it can go too far.
I’ve got a packet of “repositional notes” on my desk. You’d probably recognise them as “post it” notes. I will probably use them in the same way as I would genuine post it notes, just as I will “hoover” my carpet with a Henry and chuck a “flying disc” in…
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HiPPO versus HiPo or why hierarchy can be bad for performance.
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…
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How many strategists does it take to create a campaign?
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…
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Forget mutual respect, a warm mutual disrespect is even better.
“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. …
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Slogans are not enough
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…
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Fine words and good looks are not enough
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…
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Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be.
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…
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World’s toughest job
Nice framing of a human truth
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Fewer cocks in the Cabinet.
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…
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“One night stand” or “Secret affair”?
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…
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