The Strategy Blog.
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“Do not regret growing older, it is a privilege denied to many.” (Anonymous)
There is an online survey I occasionally get asked to fill in. It begins with two simple questions. The first asks gender (with a picture – there is a boy in blue and a girl in yellow – I normally get that one right). The second question asks your age…
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Advertising forms reputation. Reputation puts demands on companies to be more honest.
picture source: jeffjacoby.com Thom Dinsdale @thomdinsdale Thanks to Andy Walsh for forwarding me this Tweet. Interesting isn’t it? It reminds me of The 4891 Theory (the inverse of 1984). In Orwell’s dystopian masterpiece the general public was constantly watched by Big Brother and nothing went unremarked or unpunished. In reality it…
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“If you don’t get on this wagon now, you’re going to be left behind”
Which wagon now you’re asking yourself. The truth wagon. Martin Lindstrom, author of Brandwashed and Buyology, says that telling the truth to the consumer is the only real way forward in the current age. I of course agree with him in this respect (Tell the Truth – Honesty is your…
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The Innovation Axiom or the Innovation Trap.
There’s one question for which everyone will give the same affirmative answer at the moment. Do you need more innovation in your business? Imagine saying “No, we have more than enough innovation, in fact we’ve got more innovation than we can manage”. You wouldn’t be much of a manager in…
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This year, next year.
The latest Group M forecasts for 2012 for the UK arrived on my desk early last week. There’s been a bit of publicity for the headlines, although not much has changed since the summer edition. (http://www.groupm.com/pressandnews/details/733 , contact : publications.london@groupm.com) Despite the continued doldrums in which consumer confidence is mired…
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2012 IS THE YEAR OF … ?
It is not the Year of the mobile. Lots of people have smart phones, tablets etc. Nearly everything will be QR coded or the equivalent (yesterday I walked past a building site with a QR code the size of a window. My companion asked “How is anyone going to scan…
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First Day Back ?
“In her case intensity was heaped on intensity”. This is Spectator columnist Bruce Anderson’s comment on the portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in the movie Iron Lady. (http://www.spectator.co.uk/essays/all/7482693/projecting-thatcher.thtml). He makes the point that for most politicians, once the business of the meeting is transacted there is an appropriate moment to lighten…
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Tis the season for annual predictions.
At around this time of year Esteemed Media Pundits have been predicting “Next year is the year of the mobile” for at least 5 years. I was on a panel recently at the Mobile Advertising World Conference. My co-panellist Simon Andrews upped the game. He’s calling it the “Decade of…
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Winning the race for status, losing the race for the industry
Have you seen the YouTube video yet where a man is chasing his dog, chasing deer in Richmond Park? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GRSbr0EYYU. The nation seems divided over whether it is funny or not, but it gives me the excuse to talk about a deer related subject which has lessons for our business.…
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Does TV stop violence and what’s your prediction for 2020?
Penelope Keith says that young people bash up old people because families don’t sit round watching sit coms together in the way that they used to. Really she did say that.. in an interview reported in the Daily Mail : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2061599/Penelope-Keith-blasts-youth-cult-TV.html. In Keith’s heyday people had to watch what was…
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End the “Over-Cap”
I was watching a show last night about the Reunion of Fry and Laurie : Two national treasures according to the narrator. We’d Sky-plussed it ages ago and finally got round to watching it. We were looking forward to it. I got about half an hour in and then gave…
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What’s your Facebook “Friend” Number ?
I have found a new topic of conversation for Small Talk occasions. This is something I look for constantly because I have never found Small Talk to come naturally to me. Deep Intense Enormous Talk I find relatively easy to jump into. But this is clearly not always appropriate…
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