Tone of voice: a very important waste of time
Getting tone of voice right is essential. But trying to precisely define a tone of voice is a waste of time. Tone of voice is a low resolution concept.
My very own planning handbook
I didn’t have planning or strategy in my job title until I was forty, when I was parachuted, feet first, into a Planning Director role. Before then I’d spent twelve years in various account management roles and six years as an agency MD. I held down Planning Director or Strategy …
Did I do a strategy?
Did I do a strategy? How can you tell? How do you make sure that your strategy behaves like one? This is a simple checklist for strategists and planners.
Values as culture as strategy- a case study
Summary Once upon a time I was Planning Director at a now defunct digital marketing agency called Blonde. Our values were Flair, Action, Rigour. We chose those values as a strategic remedy for growing pains in the business. We defined them to affect a shift in culture, underpinned by some …
Strategy is Your Words : Book Review
Strategy is Your Words by Mark Pollard On page 155 of Strategy is Your Words, Mark Pollard states that, “Strategy is ideas and ideas are made of words.” If he posted that without context as a Tweet, I expect it would be a red rag to Strategy Twitter. However, unlike …
How to read company culture (unknown knowns)
Defining a brand is an act of realisation. Taking the scenic route to hard-to-reach destinations such as culture and values.
What marketing does best
The marketing profession is singularly good at devaluing ideas, which is a shame because it is meant to do the opposite.
Taking my advice
My advice is a combination of strategy, experience and perspective. Strategy Strategy is a framework for making decisions. Strategy doesn’t make tough decisions easy, but it should make them simple. In my view, the best strategists are pragmatists not intellectuals. If you hire me to help bring out the best …
How brands work (in my experience)
No two brand projects are the same. There is no one-size-fits-all brand model or brand framework that will solve every brand problem. However, there are some basic beliefs about how brands work that inform all of my projects. It is their brand not yours. A brand is a set of …