By Stuart Smith on March 28, 2013
For years, you’ve run your own brand consultancy. After successfully selling it, you step into the limelight as chairman of the Central Office of Information, only to find that mad axeman and part-time cabinet minister Francis Maude is cutting off at the knees the very organisation you’ve just been invited to head. What next? I [...]
Posted in Agencies, Clients, Creative, News, Politics | Tagged Chris Wood, coi, dom reilly, Dominic Reilly, fashion brand, Francis Maude, Government, marketing, Stuart Smith, williams f1 team
By Paul Simons on February 15, 2013
Recently I’ve self-diagnosed Jones’ Syndrome – as in ‘keeping up with the J…’. It’s based on my anxiety about becoming an old fart due to my broad lack of interest in the finer detail of the digital world. I’ve heard myself saying ‘cool’ to anything whether it is good, bad or indifferent. I kick myself [...]
Posted in Agencies, Analysis, Clients, News | Tagged apple, brands, brandz, communication, digital, Giles Keeble, jargon, jones syndrome, marketing, Paul Simons, technology
By Stephen Foster on December 19, 2012
‘Strewth. I don’t think even the Americans, who have all sorts of editors populating their interminable mastheads, have ‘brand editors.’ But that’s what former PR Week editor Rogers (left) – who is also editor in chief of the Brand Republic group, how many titles can a man have? – is becoming. He is replacing long-serving [...]
Posted in Agencies, Media, News, PR | Tagged Arif durrani, brand editors, campaign, Claire Beale, Danny Rogers, haymarket, Maisie McCabe, marketing
By Stephen Foster on December 11, 2012
Beyonce has signed up with Pepsi, part of its answer to Coca-Cola’s attempt to take over the music business. She’ll be the centrepiece of its Super Bowl extravaganza and, no doubt, ‘brand ambassador’ all over the place. Well fifty million bucks is a lot of money, although she hardly needs it. But isn’t it a [...]
Posted in Clients, Creative, Finance, Media, News | Tagged Beyonce, coca-cola, grammys, marketing, music, Pepsi, Prince, Sony, universal music
By Stuart Smith on December 3, 2012
My eye recently alighted upon the following headline in Marketing magazine: “Marketing ‘to blame’ for lack of trust in banks”. The article went on to say: “Senior banking executives have argued that marketing is to blame for the breakdown of consumer trust in financial services brands.” Extraordinary. Bank officials in self-inculpation shock. I read on, [...]
Posted in Analysis, Clients, Finance, News, PR | Tagged banks, barclays, brands, David Weldon, marketing, marketingsociety conference, Richard Ricci, Vodafone
By Paul Simons on June 8, 2012
I got a bit of a shock wandering around Barnes High Street last weekend. Where are all the shops? For those who don’t know London, Barnes is a well-heeled, leafy, village-like community, just south of the Thames. I saw at least 6 closed shops in the space of 100 yards – startling in an area [...]
Posted in Clients | Tagged Amazon, Barnes, dhl, Empty high streets, internet shopping, marketing, post offices, retail
By Stephen Foster on November 9, 2011
Who’d be a print boss we asked last week as Stevie Spring departed Future Publishing and the same thought must be occurring to a few people at Haymarket Media, publisher of Campaign and Brand Republic. New boss of Haymarket Business Media Jane Macken is slashing away at the cost base – in search of that [...]
Posted in Media, News | Tagged brand republic, campaign, Dominic Mills, future publishing, haymarket business media, haymarket media, Jane Macken, Kevin Costello, Lord Heseltine, management changes, management today, marketing, Rupert Heseltine, Stevie Spring
By Paul Simons on September 14, 2011
I’m wrestling with a new assignment at the moment and I’m struggling with this basic issue: what’s the problem we are actually trying to solve? Over the years I’ve been in the same spot quite a few times and the time taken to figure out the real issue really is worth the effort and time [...]
Posted in Agencies, Clients, Creative, News | Tagged advertising, ariston, british airways, cheap flights, commercial reality, Dave Trott, emissions, ford, ggt, Greenpeace, marketing, Paul Simons, red mountain, right questions, search engine optimisation, seo, simons palmer, virgin
By Stephen Foster on June 28, 2011
And how long will it be before other leading Centaur titles like Marketing Week, Creative Review, The Lawyer and Money Marketing follow Design Week and New Media Age into online-only publishing? That’s where Design Week and New Media Age are headed anyway while Pitch, the website aimed primarily at ad agencies, has lost all three [...]
Posted in Finance, Media, News | Tagged brand republic, campaign, centaur, creative review, cutbacks, david benady, design week, haymarket, Louise Black, marketing, Marketing Week, new media age, online, pitch, sonnoo singh
By Staff on March 15, 2011
New figures from Nielsen published in Marketing show that BSkyB, currently the subject of a bid for complete control by News Corporation is now the second biggest advertiser in the UK behind Procter & Gamble, overtaking Unilever and the former top dog, the Government’s now much-reduced Central Office of information. BSkyB spent more than £145m [...]
Posted in Agencies, Clients, Media, News | Tagged brothers and sisters, bskyb, central office of information, ipa bellwether reports, marketing, Nicola Clark, procter & gamble, uk top advertisers, unilever
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