The Strategy Blog.
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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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What’s your best interview question ?
Google are famous for the intensity and rigour of their recruitment process. It’s not easy to get a job there, and those who have done so are rightly proud of their Google-hood. With their reputation for use of data, you would expect there to be science behind how this…
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When you can you don’t.
This May Mark Zuckerberg is turning 30. The average Facebook user is around 40. In 1980, before Facebook creator was even a twinkle in his father’s eye, when the average Facebook user was playing happily in the school playground, an obscure academic at the University of Aston in the Midlands,…
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I’ll take that as a compliment – how to progress in 2014
I watched TV for Britain on Christmas Day. I spent hours sofa bound doing my best to improve my average hours viewed to somewhere near the UK average. I didn’t manage to watch the all the UK’s biggest shows however. I missed Strictly (don’t understand it at all) and…
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Becoming a legend takes more than measurable performance
One of the most moving presentations at the APG judging this year saw several of the industry titans, who were judging, wiping a secret tear away. Evan Kearney from O&M Memac explained the thinking behind the Sprite Cricket Stars competition in UAE. Designed to drive penetration amongst immigrant labourers, Kearney…
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What do you want from media research, and what can you expect?
I’ve been invited to give the key note speech at this year’s MRG conference in December. If you’re going I look forward to seeing you there. I’m flattered to be asked, and the organisers have given me an open brief, what an opportunity! The theme of the conference is…
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Physics in the workplace
Entropy never decreases. This is the second law of thermodynamics. Entropy is the idea that everything tends to drift into chaos or disorder. This is certainly true of my desk. And kitchen. The classic example from the kitchen is a dropped cup. It will smash into pieces and however long…
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Alex Ferguson could turn off the hair dryer
The commentators are buzzing about Ferguson’s new autobiography. Of course most of the comments are about hair dryer treatment, rifts and acrimony. Henry Winter, the Telegraph’s football correspondent says “The main victim of Sir Alex Ferguson’s new book is Roy Keane, who receives far more than the hairdryer treatment. He gets savaged.” In…
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“The young are a different species”
Mark Earls thinks that this is nonsense. In fact “The young are a different species” is Mark Earls’ number 2 nonsense thing in his recent Twitter compilation of top marketing nonsense. The brilliant author of “Herd” has compiled a list of marketing ideas that are doing the rounds that he thinks…
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