Marketers can unlock budget by being finance friendly
Jonathan KnowlesUnderstanding the six ways in which financial value is created can help marketers unlock bigger budgets.
Nine steps to making your media budget work as hard as it can
Andrew GeogheganHow you spend the biggest part of your marketing budget depends on your brand and audience, but there are a few things all brands should pay attention to.
Liquid Death’s fame shows how badly marketers neglect product
Mark RitsonIt’s typical that marketers fawn over a brand built through promotion and packaging, when they ought to focus on their role in improving the thing they sell.
Will GenAI be a timesaver or will it frazzle marketers at scale?
Ben DavisMarketers see GenAI as a productivity aid, but in reality that means more work in the same time, not the same in less.
Every brand should embrace inclusion, but there’s a business case too
Jerry DaykinWhile Mark Ritson’s call to arms for the industry to embrace inclusion is great, he might have missed an even better reason to do it.
Brand purpose doesn’t require a commercial excuse
Mark RitsonData shows ads with LGBTQ+ representation perform the same as those without, which means brands can be inclusive just because it’s the right thing to do.
‘Share of model’ is the new marketing measure for the AI era
Tom RoachAs GenAI grows, brands’ visibility and associations in the data sets of large language models will be key – if marketers can link them to market share.
The Bear is more than a good TV show – it hides some behavioural science truths too
Richard ShottonResearch into customer service shows that ending on a positive note matters more than the experience overall – and is something marketers should consider when tailoring their customer journey.
Political parties have got to do more to engage female voters
Helen JamesYes, Labour won the election, but there is much more the party could have done to engage and mobilise female voters, something it will need to address in future.
Marketing muscles don’t grow through familiar work
Grant McKenzieTo help marketing leaders develop change is essential, so it’s incumbent on CMOs to create a culture where fear is managed and complacency avoided.
Brands need to tackle their women’s sport creative barrier
Laura WestonBrands need to be bolder and stop only focusing on the negatives of the female experience when it comes to women’s sport marketing.
The era of price-led profit growth is coming to an end
Mark RitsonWith inflation falling, brands that have used clever pricing to drive profits will need more restraint to avoid new entrants undercutting them at lower margins.
Social proof and scarcity helped Monzo soar to success
Richard ShottonFrom the choice of hot coral for its visual identity to the decision to limit access at launch, tapping into behavioural science has helped Monzo attain profitability.
Synthetic data is as good as real – next comes synthetic strategy
Mark RitsonAI customers can now deliver a 95% match to real survey results, which will ultimately feed a fully automated process of marketing strategy and execution.
The internet will soon need warnings for AI-generated content
Mark RitsonAI’s strength is automating high-volume, short-term marketing activity, which means social media could become a cesspool of synthetic content.
Pre-testing ads is not divisive, it’s a no-brainer
Mark RitsonAgencies will complain pre-testing snuffs out the creative spark, but in reality it helps brands identify the best-performing ads and makes them even better.
Great political slogans leave something to the imagination
Helen EdwardsIt’s difficult to boil down broad issues into a few words, but the best slogans offer promise while letting the public form their own interpretation.
Don’t let collaboration turn to confusion
Helen EdwardsWhile many are in favour of collaboration and consensus over command and control when it comes to leadership, there are some serious watch-outs to consider.
It’s time to break down your brand and build it back up
Helen EdwardsFollow British Airways’ example: for every new ad you make, identify at least one customer experience improvement to go with it.
B2B companies finally understand the importance of brand
Peter WeinbergThe moment is approaching when B2B brands realise they need to invest more in brand than performance. Just look at these examples for inspiration.
AI has the power to change B2B market research forever
Peter WeinbergMany are talking of the ways AI will rip up the rulebook on creativity, but for B2B the biggest disruption AI will cause is to diagnosis.
The 99:1 rule: How to invest in a recession
Peter WeinbergFor B2B firms, investing in brand marketing is the best bet in good times, and it’s an even better bet in bad times when the pool of current buyers shrinks from 5% to 1%.
Think of your media mix like ‘Moneyball’ if you want to find success
Grace KiteMarketers who ignore media channels with high ROI but little buzz could be doing themselves – and their function – a disservice.
The great day of third-party cookie anger has come and who can stand upright?
Grace KiteSee the cookie apocalypse as an opportunity to ditch flawed forms of measurement in a quest for greater accuracy.
The idea is the bullet, data is the gun
Grace KiteIdeas generation is a job for people, not data. But when data is paired with good ideas it can be powerful.
Brands need to wake up to the true value of women’s sport
Helen JamesDespite all the noise brands are making around women’s sport, too few are putting their money where their mouth is and really backing female athletes and teams.
We mustn’t let the seductive siren call of AI lure the industry back in time
Helen JamesWork must be done to clean up the bias in data that is fed into many AI tools or the industry risks going backwards.
Brands have a vital role to play in shaping the conversation around women’s health
Helen JamesWomen’s health is a $1trn per year opportunity yet brands are still failing to represent and communicate to women in a meaningful way.
Don’t just target an audience, target their mood
Richard ShottonWhen people feel positive, they are positive about advertising, so brands should be targeting – or, better yet, creating – moments of happiness and relaxation.
Why boundary-breaking ads win through
Richard ShottonMore distinctive ads are more memorable, and the holy grail is creative that stands out while also conveying the brand’s core message.
Your customers aren’t constant, it’s moments that matter more
Richard ShottonPeople don’t act the same way every day, their behaviour varies according to their mood and situation, so brands are better off targeting those.
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