Category: Themes

There is a story that I have told a few times about a conversation I had soon after I started at Microsoft with one of my colleagues in the marketing team here. I was reminiscing (as one does as one gets to a certain age) about my first few years of work and how email … Continue reading Intra social networking

Here's (roughly) what I talked about when I spoke at the Ignite Ubelly event last night in London's fashionable West End... I want to share with you something that has been keeping me awake at night. It seems that we have arrived as a society into a world where everything of any importance needs to … Continue reading Two laws, one thermometer

The TV series Mad Men has done a lot of crystallize the public perception of the marketing industry in the past few years, and it probably stereotypes a golden age for the ad men of Madison Avenue in the 1960s. Good looking, martini-chugging, fast talking, and a world dominated by creativity; where the great copywriters … Continue reading Disruption! (Or marketing in the early 21st century)

Every so often I interact with a brand through Twitter, and every time I end up disappointed. My most recent deflating experience is with BT - but don't misunderstand me here. I'm not convinced that any big brand really gets how to interact with customers through Twitter because I'm coming to the conclusion that social … Continue reading Brands’ identity

A couple of interesting observations from articles I've seen in the last week on the subject of (almost subliminal) influence; the first, some research into the impact that fonts have on how believable written information is (in short - use Baskerville over Helvetica for a small, but statistically significant increase in credibility); and the second … Continue reading Subtle influence

Something has been nagging away at me for the past couple of weeks, other than the usual things around doing more exercise, eating less crap, spending more valuable time with the kids and the realisation that it's now my age as well as my lack of innate ability that means I'll never play for Watford … Continue reading When did the world become app-centric?

In my work I hear the term "mobile" a great deal, but what the heck does "mobile" mean these days? One thing is for certain, it doesn't just mean a mobile phone; mobile phones are things of the past - it's all "smartphones" these days, even though people don't really use them as phones anymore. … Continue reading What does “mobile” mean now anyway?

I've been watching the reactions across Twitter to Berg's Little Printer being launched with interest in the past 24 hours. There seems to be something of a dichotomous split between those in the world of consumer technology and design getting straight online to order one (or wishing for the £200 to be able to do so), … Continue reading Reactions to innovation

I'm doing a wee bit of research at the moment into another Ignite presentation at the end of the month (more details, and opportunity to sign up here). I'm going to cover off a favourite topic of mine - the madness of measurement; basically a piece of controlled moaning. What's cropped up has been a … Continue reading Campbell’s law, Goodhart’s law, and the trouble with observation

There is a debate that is coming to a head in the UK at the moment about the future of cigarette packaging. The government has been running a consultation exercise to examine the potential effect of making all tobacco products available in generic packaging, removing any individual branding. The debate, hugely simplified, goes a little … Continue reading The value of marketing?