The culture of client relationships
A client who negotiated a fee proposal up rather than down, and what that tells us about the culture of client relationships.
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.
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 …
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, …
Advertising’s tumbleweed moments.
Advertising research has got much harder of late. So says a researcher friend of mine. As if it weren’t bad enough to have to schlep out to the suburbs three nights a week, and subsist on breakfast cereal for dinner, those pesky people just don’t want to talk about ads …
Advertising characters.
I thought George and I would talk, by which I mean bitch, about advertising. But we didn’t. Turns out he’s far too interesting for that. We talked about New York City, Brooklyn, the New York Subway, daughters, history, museums, art, blogging, restaurants (Chinese and Italian), mentoring, sadness, and doing the …
Two sticks. One shitty, one witty.
Two films seen in the same sequence of cinema ads. Both attempting to influence audience behaviour. Both adopting a “stick” approach. Both showing the potential consequences of failure to comply with said behaviour. But one ad beats you over the head with a shitty stick from the “woe betide you” …
The infra and ultra of idea visibility.
Average advertising usually has a beneficial commercial effect. Average content doesn’t. That’s because brands pay to ensure that average advertising gets a decent audience. Content, on the other hand, is not afforded the luxury of guaranteed visibility. Content has to earn its audience. Content has to be shared to be …
What is the point of manifesto ads?
Manifestos are full of points. They are pointful. Pointfulness is their raison d’être. But manifesto advertising feels pretty pointLESS in this day and age. I saw this across the tracks at Green Park. It’s a decent ad. Based on a strong proposition. Based on a point of difference. (Assuming it’s …