The future of marketing communications….

….or “How to think in a world gone digital.” by Jan Leth, Ogilvy & Mather.

Definitions of marketing

There is a lot of debate and commentary about Seth Godin’s recent post about a definition of ‘marketing’.
The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) would have you think the definition is this. Ouch.
Is Seth’s definition any better? Does its brevity raise more questions than it actually answers? Do the four words focus the [...]

A story about unfair advantage

I read a great story recently - and whilst it has nothing to do with b2b marketing I like it so much I thought I’d share it anyway. What it teaches you I don’t know, but let me know.
The story stems from a discussion Martina Hingis was having with journalists after a game she [...]

Find your brand spam

I had an interesting email exchange with Seth Godin a few days ago - in response to this post.
During this brief exchange Seth wrote, “I hate email.”
It turns out one of my email replies went straight into his spam folder. And he felt awful a couple of days later, because having retrieved the item [...]

Great ideas

Great Ideas need landing gear as well as wings. C.D. Jackson

Out of Office

In an era of ‘On Demand’ service and the continued blurring between ‘work’ and ‘play’, is it wrong to put up an Out of Office notice on your email these days?
I am beginning to think most people display far too old fashioned notices - and hide behind them.
I am out of the office from x [...]

Résumé (or CV for us Brits)

I really like Seth Godin. Who wouldn’t in a role like mine? But today he got it wrong.
He said;
If you’re remarkable, amazing or just plain spectacular, you probably shouldn’t have a résumé at all.
I agree that jobs don’t get filled by people emailing in résumés, especially jobs in start-ups, or remarkable organisations. [...]

Please help

Sport Relief
(I should apologise for bringing you here by illicit categorisation and tagging, but I won’t. You might have wasted just 10 seconds. Hopefully you will make the choice to change someone’s world in less than a minute).

Tell a (Life’s) story with photos

I really like Photojojo. They sent me an enewsletter today and the contents were startling, and instantly share-able. Quite rightly Photojojo reminded me that the great thing about photography is that it can preserve moments that are never repeated.

Like Jack Radcliffe’s photo series that chronicles his daughter’s life in 30-odd photographs from childhood [...]

Make it sound more….

I used to often hear the words….
“Make it sound more salesy“
“Make it sound bigger“
“Make it sound better“
“Make it sound easier“
“Make it sound cooler“
As opposed to making something ’sound’ more….., marketers should spend their time actually ‘making’ it more…..
Next time we hear someone say, “Make it more….”, as marketers we should recognise that there is [...]

Seth Godin Webinar

Being based in the UK, getting to hear Seth Godin live is pretty rare. Thank god for YouTube recordings and the web generally eh?
Although face-to-face is best, this webinar is going to be a great way to hear him speak ‘live’, hear some stories and anecdotes and learn from one of the very [...]

Outgoing only

I am sure everyone has received one of these before:
This is an “outgoing only” email address. If you ‘reply’ to this message by simply selecting the reply button, we will not receive your additional comments.
Sounds like a wasted opportunity to start a conversation if you ask me.
Seth Godin reminds us that if you [...]

Taking the shine off Viral

There was an interesting post earlier this week on Tech Crunch concerning The Secret Strategies Behind Many “Viral” Videos - as defined by a real expert in the industry.

I have to say I am a tad disappointed with the approach that the author outlines in relation to getting onto the “Most Viewed” page.
Here is [...]

CMR - Customer Managed Relationships

I wrote about Customer Managed Relationships (CMR) here back in July.
The debate still goes on here and here. I find it interesting that web 2.0 technologies are very aligned to this ethos, and that in the context of B2B, web 2.0 may help organisations better understand their customers - and at least partially ‘deal [...]

Advertising’s evolution….

IBM Global Business Services in its new report, The End of Advertising as We Know It (report PDF, summary PDF) forecasts greater disruption for the advertising industry in the next five years than has occurred over the previous 50.

Whilst I find this type of sweeping statement a tad nauseating (agreed: it is not as [...]