Sex and drugs and a sausage roll

By May 13 2013, 10:17 am Leave a comment

 

 

 

 

The cosmologist Fred Hoyle has argued that “the universe is in a state of continuous creation” and of course this is true, with the exception of ad agencies.

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The inefficiencies of efficiency

By April 29 2013, 8:17 am Leave a comment

 

 

 

In 1776, Adam Smith put forward the theory that the best way to increase productivity in factories was what he called “the division of labour” – dividing the process into smaller specialised segments.

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Why don’t porn sites make money ?

By April 15 2013, 10:10 am Leave a comment

 

 

I remember awhile back when Russell Davies told me the biggest danger sign of writing a blog. It’s when you write about the difficulty of writing a blog.

 

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Look for the name

By April 2 2013, 9:38 am Leave a comment

 

 

 

I love the name of Charles Vallance’s new book, The Branded Gentry – all about entrepreneurs who’ve put their  names on businesses.

 

And I can understand why I’m not in it.

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Mozart vs Omelette

By March 18 2013, 10:21 am Leave a comment

 

 

For anyone with weapon-grade hypochondria like me, getting through the winter is quite tricky.

 

At one stage I even had a bit of a brush with quantitative easing.

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Three meetings about the creative process

By March 4 2013, 10:14 am 1 Comment

 

 

 

The first meeting I wasn’t actually at.

 

To my mind, those are often the best meetings.

 

In a Thinkbox forum on TV creativity,  John Townshend, creative partner at the agency Now, said that one of his favourite ads – Orange Tango from HHCL – happened because the agency was given the license to be playful, and he said that that didn’t occur often enough these days.

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Is there life in the old dog yet ?

By February 18 2013, 6:16 pm 1 Comment

 

 

 

Campaign’s new feature “View from the top/View from the bottom” sounds to me like it belongs in a fetish magazine for people who enjoy pain – but then again, that pretty much sums up Campaign.

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Old problems, new solutions

By February 4 2013, 8:39 am Leave a comment

 

How do you like the new Campaign mini ?

 

I think it looks great. Punchy, business-like. But it needs to keep what Claire did so brilliantly to help this ever-lovin’ ever-changin’ industry. I.e., 3 or 4 pieces each week by industry experts, talking about how things are changing around digital.

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Sociability and empathy

By January 21 2013, 9:12 am Leave a comment

One of the questions every marketer should be asking right now (along with How do I manage data ? How do I manage mobile ? Remind me never to give £50 million  worth of sponsorship to a man who is clearly an asshole and What is the name of a good head-hunter ?) is – How can I make the most of social media ?

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A whole freaking bunch of good stuff

By January 7 2013, 6:11 pm 1 Comment

 

 

 

Normally I try to have this blog match the curmudgeonly and defeatist mood of the ad industry at large.

But every so often I get inspired by something and my mood temporarily lifts.

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