The Strategy Blog.

  • What have you done wrong lately?

    In reviewing Eels latest release, in the Sunday Times, Mark Edwards writes of its creative lead E: “In Everett, Eels fans have found someone who makes all the mistakes they do, but is willing to admit it…. Never more so that on his latest album, which lays out recent missteps…

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  • Secrets for Success in the Economy of Wishes

    This was the subject of my final panel last week at glorious Adweek Europe.   Adweek Europe.  Not much else was talked of in my (admittedly fairly narrow) professional circle last week.  The consensus was that the organisers excelled themselves in creating a true festival of advertising and media.  …

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  • What price innovation without strategy ?

    Innovation is much prized.  For good reason as the last two centuries have seen change at an unprecedented pace, a pace that seems only to be speeding up.  In the race for change some have gained, some have lost.  Some brands have thrived, some have died.  Surely the single most…

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  • Up close and personal, in more ways than one.

    In a dark hallway, I mean with no lights at all, waiting to go on stage at the IAB conference on RTA, I found myself being fitted for a mike in close proximity to Financial Times Commercial Director, Digital Advertising , Jon Slade.  He charmingly turned his back while my…

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  • More change, don’t relax

    “You could make a case that the interesting stuff the internet’s going to do to the media industry has mostly already happened.” So says thought guru, columnist, and creative director at GDS Russell Davies.  That’s not to say, as he goes on to say that you can just sit and…

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  • Prince William’s been stood up

    I don’t know how much interest you have paid to the recent royal outrage.  Prince William has been refused a visit, essentially stood up, by New Zealand’s Maori King.  King Tuheitia’s office rejected the offer of a visit from the Royal couple on tour down under on the basis that…

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  • Trust the data or trust your gut ?

    In my experience of management, the more senior Alpha males become in an agency, the more they are attracted to making decisions based on gut instinct.   It is one of the gender differences that I am prepared to generalise about that is apparent to me at that level.  Men…

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  • Newspapers and prosperity

    The business model for newspapers – newsbrands if you like – still troubles the industry.  It remains a subject for debate, despite the fact that the audience that they delivered in the good old days is easily obtained in other media.  Yet, and yet, a desire to see recovery in…

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  • You are what you are adserved.

    We all know that a postcode can seriously affect the price of property.  Proximity to a good state school means some postcodes have seriously inflated prices.   We know too about the various “postcode lotteries”, which can influence health and of course likelihood to be a crime victim.  If you…

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  • Would you have sacked Kevin Pietersen?

    “I bet Kevin Pietersen can’t believe he’s been kicked out of Kevin Pietersen’s All Star XI.” @mattwhatsit on Twitter   The cricket pundits are nicely split over the career of KP this weekend.   Hugh “the voice of sport” McIlvanney writing in the Sunday Times says he “should have been…

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  • “The strategy is delivery”

    This is the mantra of the Government Digital Service, the team charged with digital transformation of government service provision.  If you’ve recently used any gov.uk site and been pleasantly surprised at the ease and simplicity of the transaction then this is the team, led by Mike Bracken, under the auspices…

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  • Many ways to win

    Sir Ben Ainslie, sailing supremo and Olympic medal winner – the most successful sailor in Olympic history – was quizzed on Desert Island Discs this weekend about his famous battle with Brazilian sailor Robert Scheidt in 2000.  His tactics at the time caused condemnation including from that other sporting knight…

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For your bookshelf

Book cover: A Year of Creativity
Belonging Book
tell the truth book salem baskin unerman