Tag: Marketing

  • The Unbelievable Age

    The Unbelievable Age

    John V Willshire

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    There have always been unbelievably bad ads. They are now just unbelievable in a new way. I was at the cinema at the weekend with friends. It is probably one of the few opportunities nowadays where I see adverts brought together in one place. And yes, it was as underwhelming as one might fear, though…

  • The Parasite As Host?

    John V Willshire

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    I has a DM from Lee at the weekend, after we’d caught up last week for the first time in ages: “…loved your comment re Monzo as an incumbent – smart, in an ‘of course’ way. Might make a nice blog* post…”. So here it is. I’d mentioned the poster and campaign below, and the…

  • Why Making Things People Want beats Making People Want Things – #adtech_london

    John V Willshire

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    My slides from the talk from earlier today at Ad:tech 2013 in London:     It links back to some of the questions raised in the written piece from a couple of weeks ago.  It’s nearly two years since I stumbled across the phrase as a galvanising idea for the work I do with clients…

  • How Our Work Might Work – my talk from Silicon Beach

    John V Willshire

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    UPDATE That nice Dave Birss grabbed me before my talk, for a wee interview.  Though it would fit well here – covers basic ideas of the talks, making things, the new Artefact Boxes, and the Oxford Saïd Business School project… —————– A talk I gave at Silicon Beach 2013 in Bournemouth, about how the way…

  • Are Brands Fracking The Social Web? [ My talk from Squared ]

    John V Willshire

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    I’m not long out of giving a new talk this morning for the first time, at Squared in London to the bright young things who’re just starting out on a six week intensive learning experience.  It’s always a privilege to talk to the future leaders of an industry, and today was certainly no exception.  Find…

  • The next era of cigarette branding

    John V Willshire

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    There is something grimly fascinating about the creation of electronic cigarette products & brands. They seem to veer from the ‘make it look like a cigarette as much as possible’, to the ‘what would they smoke in Tron?’ brigade.

  • 2013 Projects: From Making to Media

    John V Willshire

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    Yes, I know.  It’s a bit slipshod to be writing a “2013 Projects” post when a 1/12th of the year has gone already.  But hey, you know, there’s been stuff on.  The good news is that I’ve started doing some of the things already, so I haven’t lost all that time. NB: If there’s a…

  • I’ll have what @herdmeister’s having

    John V Willshire

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    This evening, I’m tearing through the latest book from Mark Earls (aka @herdmeister), “I’ll Have What She’s Having” (which he co-authored with Alex Bentley and Michael J O’Brien).   It’s fascinating, thought-provoking, and contains some really useful, practical structures around using data around a business to understand what sort of market you’re in; is it one…

  • More Perfect Competition evidence from latest Mary Meeker roundup

    John V Willshire

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    The latest Mary Meeker goldmine of stats is out, which you can flick through here on Business Insider.  (HT @graemewood). One chart in particular grabbed my attention:     It reminded me of the Perfect Competition stuff I wrote on feeding the puppy about two years back: “The advances we are making are pushing us…

  • The X Factor, Adverspectaculars, and lessons from Dr Seuss

    John V Willshire

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    It’s that season again… reality TV dominates the autumn schedule, as nights close in and people huddle round the warming glow of that screen in the corner.  And this year more than ever, the advertising world goes mad for the only reliable ‘Event TV’ spot left. (It’s worth bearing in mind that before the internet came…

  • The Blacksmith and The Economist

    John V Willshire

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    I’d like to start, as one does, with The Scottish Enlightenment of the 18th Century. (no, don’t worry, not all of it… just a bit) The Scottish Enlightenment was an 18th Century intellectual movement, ranging across the fields of philosophy, chemistry, geology, architecture, poetry, engineering, technology, economics, sociology, medicine and history. The ideas and advances…

  • Brands are people, people are brands

    John V Willshire

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      Increasingly the lines are being blurred between ‘brands’ and the ‘community’ of people who work together to make and do the things that company makes and does. Where does brand stop and community start? Lush, who’ve always made a big thing on pack of the people who work there, are taking an interesting step…