Blog

The first unwritten rule of blogging etiquette for a creative agency is to mention your own work only in passing, or not at all.  But on this occasion I’m going to indulge in a post that’s wholly focused on a new campaign that we have had the privilege of contributing to, not to brag about the work itself but to promote the importance of the cause.

I have been a closet fan of Will Gompertz, the BBC arts editor, for some time now. So I was lucky to be able to see him talk, in all his effervescent glory, at a conference recently. He spoke about how, in challenging times like these, faced with the prospect of robots taking our jobs, we need to think like artists to survive.

Returning from a five day stay in the embrace of Glastonbury 2017 is perhaps an odd time to write a blog about television. Indeed, apart from the 500 hardy souls packing out the Theatre Bar to watch the British Lions test match at 8.30 on Saturday morning, I don’t think a frame of television would have been watched by the 200,000 residents of Worthy Farm. 

Inspiration from last week’s PromaxBDA North America conference.

On April 26th Call of Duty: WWII staged a live-streamed event in London, complete with hundreds of fans, star guests and huge social coverage… to launch… a new trailer.

Inspiration from last week’s PromaxBDA Europe conference.

Humans are irrational, chaotic and sometimes hung over.  Robots are ordered, rule following.

We’ve historically had a bit of a love hate relationship with robots and AI: Terminator (petrifying – when you’re eight), WALL-E (adorable), Channel 4’s Humans (whose side are they on anyway?), the movie Her (petrifying – and how can Scarlett Johansson be so smoulderingly gorgeous even when you can’t see her?).   Are we afraid of them or should we love them?

The mobile phone lock screen. A new battleground for marketers.

The future’s just not as good as it used to be is it? When I was young it was jetpacks, warp speed and flying DeLoreans. But it actually turned out to be online contextual ad retargeting:

Last week news emerged of VW’s cunning approach to fuel emissions testing – a cheeky ruse which came as quite a shock to those of us once beguiled by VW’s hitherto hard-won reputation for reliability and general trustworthiness.

Overwhelmed by customer data? Not sure how to use it? Michael Reeves, Business Development Director of Red Bee, has a tried-and-tested method that involves two buckets and gets results.

Originally published as part of the Content Marketing Association Industry Report. Download the full report here.

Our Creative Director recently walked into a room at his mother in law’s house where his two ‘tweenage’ boys were snuggled up on the sofa under the duvet; one with a tablet and one with a laptop.

‘What are you doing?’ he said, by way of greeting.

‘Watching telly’, they grunted in an unexpected reply.

Let’s face it, self-propelled flight is pretty cool. Whether it’s Sean Connery in Thunderball, Billy Campbell in the The Rocketeer or Boba Fett in Return of the Jedi, there’s always been something too good to be true about flying into the air supported only by an over-sized rucksack.

Dear Devoted Readers, we’ve been away for a few weeks. We know, you’ve felt it. But fear not, we’ve been working hard for you, using our every waking hour to immerse ourselves in a content initiative that’s been developing over the past fortnight. Convenient you say? What are you trying to suggest? Anyway, we speak, for the first time in this blog, of A GAME. A game commissioned by those old masters of cool collaboration - Absolut vodka.

I escaped to glorious, otherworldly, reinvigorating Devon last week. As we drove down the motorway, then the infinite A303, passing the eternal Stonehenge and eventually onto dusky country lanes edged with looming century-old hedges, I felt my city-self slip away, to be replaced by a much calmer, more patient and joyful version of me.

How times have changed. When my Mum was born her father didn’t know she’d arrived (nor that she was one of twins) until two days after her birth: due to work and general lack of telecommunications.

This week’s highlight comes from the Incredible Egg Organisation – the sort of body that in the UK probably would be called something dry like The Egg Marketing Board.  It exists to promote the sale and consumption of eggs on behalf of American farmers. And judging from this online film, it’s doing an eggcellent job. (Save that groan, there’s more).

One of the most powerful content ideas of last year was the Always #Likeagirl campaign from P&G, and to celebrate International Women’s Day, Always has produced a follow up. 

It is fair to say, both anecdotally and empirically, that 'content', content marketing, call it what you will, is now firmly on the agenda of any self respecting modern marketer; whether their ambition is to do some, do more, do it better or do epic. That said, it seems it is only recently, as the medium is maturing, that we are beginning to see its potentially awesome (and I use that word advisedly) power.

This week’s highlight is less of a highlight and more of a timely nod of appreciative respect.

This week’s highlight won’t be winning awards for originality, but it does make for some good Youtubing.

Many brands make their first foray into content with a How To guide. It makes sense –  How Tos are useful.