Author: <span>Phil</span>

Author: Phil

A dedication to aesthetics as practised by The Who and The Rolling Stones.

Pete Townshend stole his trademark arm swing from Keith Richards. And Andrew Oldham cut the Rolling Stones from six members to five, not for an musical reasons, but to improve their aesthetic and their memorability. Here are three extraordinary passages from an extraordinary book; Stoned by Andrew Loog Oldham. Firstly …

Credible facades and facades of credibility.

My career in advertising was mainly spent erecting credible facades on behalf of my clients. That sounds like a disparaging comment from a jaded ad-hack. But there is no disparaging intent behind the statement. It is what the industry mostly does. We search for compelling truths about brands and bring …

Clap traps

Claptrap is another word for nonsense. It is derived, not surprisingly, from the words clap and trap. It is a trap set to draw you into applause when none is warranted. A clap trap lures you into being impressed when you really shouldn’t be. A clap trap is an ideological …

Six years of agency staff meetings analysed in hindsight.

You learn a thing or two as the managing director of an advertising agency. Like what makes a good agency tick. Like what motivates good people. Like how it feels when the agency’s heart is in the right place. I was fortunate enough to be given temporary stewardship of such …

Brain surfee (why you should buy a copy of Brain Surfing).

There is an implicit disclosure in the title of this post. Here is the explicit version: I am the subject of Chapter 5 of Heather LeFevre‘s book called Brain Surfing. I have a small reputational (not financial) vested interest in this book doing well. But there are much more important, …

Google Firestarters 16 – The Magnificent Seven

I was insanely privileged to be invited to speak at Google Firestarters 16, as one of the Magnificent Seven CSO’s and Planning Directors curated by Neil Perkin. We each had ten minutes to talk about “The most useful thing you have learned in your career to date”, and to do …