WPP appears to have nudged ahead of its two biggest rivals Omnicom and Publicis Groupe (about to be one soon, of course) in the the third quarter of 2013, reporting like for like growth of five per cent (3.8 per ...
Read More »Corporate Social Responsibility is bust: just ask former British prime minister John Major
Some years ago a company I was involved in produced a number of magazines for JWT EMEA called Out of the Blue: designed to promote JWT, they won two WPP Atticus awards and lots of other plaudits besides. One of ...
Read More »Why are big companies assholes? The Tea Party and Davy Crockett, Eurostar, Spontex and Johnny Cash
***It’s been an interesting old week, for me in the dawning realisation that the bigger companies get (and the more they spend on CRM and all that stuff) the worse they become. We’ve had two members of the energy cartel ...
Read More »IPA Bellwether survey paints rosy ad picture for UK
Boom times are back in UK advertising and marketing according to the latest IPA Bellwether survey carried out by Markit. The report, which has been conducted on a quarterly basis since Q1 2000, revealed a net balance of 12.3 per ...
Read More »UK government’s new GCS spinners can’t tell the difference between strategy and operations
The UK coalition government, which has managed to get its communications knickers in a fine old twist, is having a belated go at sorting things out with the formation of a new ‘centralised’ Government Communications Service. This, presumably, takes on ...
Read More »Paul Simons: Ed Miliband/ Mail row shows why PR can be a loose cannon – with ads you get what you pay for
With the Ed Miliband/Daily Mail saga running in to its third week it poses a very interesting question about being careful what you wish for. The delicate balance between the interests of politicians and the media has become a road ...
Read More »Why easyJet’s McCall can teach Ryanair’s O’Leary a thing or two about branding – and running an airline
It now appears there is a God of the good guys – up there at 35,000 feet. Having worked on several airline projects over the years I’ve been amazed at the continued upward trajectory of Ryanair year after year. Having ...
Read More »What other brands can learn from the Waitrose effect on the UK’s high streets
A while ago I reported back on the impact Waitrose appears to have on property prices based on searching around the Wiltshire area. This was based on our perception as we travelled around. I’ve just come across an article from ...
Read More »WPP move with D&AD may help to end scandal of UK agency unpaid intern roles
I suppose congratulations to WPP are in order after it decided to offer paid internships at its leading London ad agencies and design companies as part of D&AD’s Young Blood initiative. But the truth is that it’s a scandal such ...
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