Think pieces

Creating customer experiences² - what agencies are for

Clients say that agencies don't understand their world. That they don't understand their clients' customers.

 

When it's wrong to be right

Billy Mitchell took his first flight in 1908, in a Wright Brothers aeroplane.

The strawberry conundrum

Every grocer has to decide: when packing a quart of strawberries, should your people put the best ones on top?

Forecasting the future

Forward planning has never been so important. The world we live in is impulsive, fast-paced, and impatient.

Compared to...

Without a doubt, there's someone taller than you, faster than you, cuter than you.

JEFFERSON: Going underground

They say that the smartest thing any Londoner can do is take the tube out of his or her life.

Cooling down with McDonald’s

McDonald’s has taken over the world and now it has challenged the power of the sun.

How to plan your career

I met Charles Handy the well known social observer and management guru when he came to JWT in the 1980s

Letter from New York: what brands can learn from Broadway

When asked to provide a “Letter from a New York Marketer”, I didn’t have to look far afield from personal experience.

Roll up, roll up for the Greatest Show on Earth

Advertising folk of a certain age reminisce fondly about the Cannes of the past.

Help 'generation rent' step on to the property ladder

This month we are featuring the work of Step-Ladder, a new organisation that helps people get on to the property ladder.

JEFFERSON: Sunscreen (Revisited)

Ladies and Gentlemen
Of the Marketing & Advertising Industry of 2015; Listen to your clients.

Try changing people before changing the people

Ours is a hire and fire culture. Perform or you’re out. We don’t have time to bring you up to speed.

Templates for organic and viral growth

Each of these examples is different, but they all share common traits.

Interesting

If you think about it, there's generally no correlation between how much something cost to make and how interesting it is.

The strange case of the silver boxes

I was on the receiving end of an intriguing direct marketing effort...

JEFFERSON: You don't have to put on the red light

I’ve got a pal who met his wife in a brothel. Oh, don’t worry – it wasn’t his idea. It was his financial adviser’s.

Understanding how we behave differently online Part 3

In the last decade we have learnt more about our behaviour than in the last 100 years.

The PR agency won’t help you if you kill a Lion

I take it as my brief for these posts that I am supposed to offer some perspective on various aspects of marketing.

JEFFERSON: You only give me your funny paper

Agencies are addicted to pitching. It can be fun, for sure. And deeply theatrical, if you like that kind of thing. Which lots of us do. 

Debt

The forces of debt are reshaping the world, creating dislocations and crises on a regular basis.