- Page 21 of 35 - Radical thinking for the brand advice business

29/03/2008Uncategorized

Three years young

Image courtesy of Below Zero.

Forgive this self indulgent post but I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that has helped adliterate stay the course for three years this month, whether commenting, linking or reading. Self evidently I couldn’t do it without you.

In particular your comments that offer a thoughtfulness and intelligence often lacking in the original post! And at best they not only get the debate going but take us somewhere new and far more interesting.

Incidentally looking at the 2420 comments so far, the first was from Rob Mortimer as was virtually the last. That deserves the blogging equivalent of a carriage clock.

24/03/2008Provocations

Loyalty my arse

by Richard41 Comments

Image courtesy of Simon Lord

Every morning as I meander to work in Charlotte Street I fortify myself for the day ahead at the Caffe Nero on Tottenham Court Road.

And every morning as I hand over the cash they parrot the same old question ‘do you have a loyalty card’. And every morning I mumble a ‘no’ and move onto the next question which is about muffins or other items from the pastry selection.

21/03/2008Planning

The four I’s

by Richard9 Comments

salt.1.jpg

United London’s anti-salt campaign from last year. The four I’s in action.

I have been giving a bit of thought to a planning approach recently. Something that reflects they way I do it at the moment but nothing too heavy and contrived.

Naturally it involves alliteration and specifically the words ‘interesting’, ‘instinct’, ‘insight’ and ‘idea’..

20/03/2008Advertising, Saatchi & Saatchi

New work from new home

by Richard17 Comments

Charlotte Street, spiritual home of London’s ad land. Image courtesy of Chas Folkes

Thought I’d put up two new bits of work from Saatchis in London. Visa is hot out of the edit suite, you may have clocked Carlsberg already.

12/03/2008Articles and columns

Be careful what you wish for

by Richard11 Comments

Image courtesy of mytopography

I owe my career in advertising to an ad.

Not to an ad that inspired me but one that I responded to. It was placed by a long gone and deservedly forgotten direct marketing agency trying to find graduate recruits many months after the above the line shops had employed all the good ones. The ad read ‘By the year 2000 90% of marketing will be direct marketing’ and I was sold.

29/02/2008Planning

Naked briefs

by Richard41 Comments

La Danaide by August Rodin. Image courtesy of Jahsonic.

It is one of the least edifying characteristics of planning directors that they spend a lot of time creating a new briefing format for the agency or network. It is what my old boss Jim Kelly would call “displacement activity”.

26/02/2008Brands

Ecosystems update

by Richard4 Comments

wind turbine Hans van Reenen.jpg
Image courtesy of Hans van Reenen

A while ago I introduced the idea of brand ecosystems. These are a group of mutually reinforcing brands, usually from different sectors that co-exist and often co-operate with a high likelihood that a customer of one part of the ecosystem will become a customer of the rest of its members.

Well I have been thinking about this a little more recently.

16/02/2008Planning

Advice for young planners – Skunk Strategies

by Richard7 Comments

Never surrender to lacklustre thinking, always know you have a better idea. Image courtesy of asboluv

I like Skunk Strategies.

Or rather I like them in the absence of anything else. And you might find the approach useful especially if you are working in a difficult sector, on a difficult piece of business or at an un-inspiring agency.

15/02/2008Inspiration

The Workers Plea

by Richard31 Comments

workers plea.jpg

My father and I were talking recently and he suddenly produced a note he has carried in his wallet for the last 30 years. And this is it, ‘the workers plea’, in all its typewriter written glory.

I thought you might be interested in it whether you are an employer or an employee. It seems to encapsulate a basic code of conduct between people and hell it might even work in other relationships. For what it is worth the conversation we were having was actually about the relationship between the governed and the state.

24/01/2008Articles and columns

Boring people know the most interesting things

by Richard8 Comments

This is my first NMA column for the year and its about measuring the effectiveness of digital campaigns. Obviously there is quite a tongue in cheek theme about bringing the digital geeks and the research geeks together but the serious points are about looking beyond intermediate metrics, the folly of accountability and need for greater ambition in digital campaigns.

As ever, enjoy.

20/01/200825/05/2012HHCL, Planning

United we fell

by Richard3 Comments

Image courtesy of Casual clicks Now that I am safely ensconced in my new advertising home I thought I’d put up some stuff from United…

18/01/200825/05/2012Uncategorized

The Advocate – January

by Richard28 Comments

Image courtesy of Threeminds. Ah yes, the advocate. I have let it fall a bit by the wayside recently but the new year seems a…