Blog

Everyone in our industry knows what it’s like; months, even years, spent slaving away on a deeply honed strategy, conceiving and selling your most cherished idea and then crafting an execution to within an inch of its life. Then wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am, a quick three week burst of fevered media activity and whoosh your precious campaign is gone, never to be seen again.

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.

We are hearing a lot these days about social media echo chambers and two names that seem to be cropping up increasingly on my own timelines are Bob Hoffman and Mark Ritson. I’m frequently alerted to reports and transcripts of the latest well-informed tirades from these two learned gentlemen about the false promises of online advertising. 

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. 

There's been a lot of talk about how Cannes has changed and how tech companies have taken over the Croisette: as if they are trespassing on someone else's territory. But what I noticed this year wasn't just that digital power brands dominated the bars and cabanas, but that my friends are now working for them too.

Inspiration from last week’s PromaxBDA North America conference.

Published by The Drum Network

In the olden days you used to go to an actual travel agent, sit down on a plastic padded chair and chat to a total stranger in a branded polyester uniform for maybe an hour.

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.

In a world of content overload, how can you ensure your video is getting seen by the right people?