The Basics (And A Promise Kept).
I promised a good friend that I’d read an article she sent me, and then write about it. That was 6 months ago.. and when I recently got around to reading it I realised it’s an absolute ripper. For anyone who has ever been unsure about how to approach people management – whether they’re senior,...
Late. And Hypocritical..!
My apologies for not posting for some time – 56 days since my last one..! The Really Useful Crew concept has taken off and I’ve been working like a maniac to keep up with the demand. A happy problem to have, but one that has left precious little time to post. Or sleep. So to make...
Highly Creative Technically Nerdy Cool Dork Types.
OK this is getting interesting. Years ago I worked for a company called Hyro, which at the time was a fresh merger of an established tech/IT consulting firm with a Cannes-winning digital agency. I described it as the trendy t-shirt crowd meeting the pocket-protector brigade. And for a time it was very successful; being able...
Is Your Company Dumb? Yes or No, Choose One.
Following on from my last post about the current fate of Kodak & Blackberry, here’s a very good list of all the dumb things companies do. Click here for the jump, many thanks to CBS News. And of course here’s my take on the whole thing – sound advice if ever I’ve seen it..!
Heroes To Zeroes.
Extinct animal being admired by extinct Victorian-era people. This post is about RIM (Blackberry) & Kodak, two behemoths in their fields that appear destined to shuffle off their respective mortal coils in 2012. First though, let me start by expressing a little bit of excitement about finding a feature picture for this missive that actually...
There’s No ‘I’ In Team (there is a ‘me’ though).
Welcome to 2012..! After spending the last month reading all the predictions for the world of online, technology and advertising this year you could be forgiven for being slightly overwhelmed. So I thought a more relaxed start to the year would be nice. The theme for this is, of course, teamwork…
Agency Profits, Santa Claus & Unicorns.
Unicorn meat – apparently far easier to find than agency profits. Is your agency unsuccessfully searching for the first of these mythical beings..? This fresh out of the UK, thanks to Campaign for the story: “The profitability of UK marketing services agencies nose-dived by more than 50 per cent during the first half of 2011....
To App Or Not To App..?
I get asked once a week whether something should be a mobile app or not. And whether it should be on iOS (and if so, for iPhone or iPad or both) or on Android instead? Or on both platforms? Or should they just do a website that looks good on a new mobile? It’s a...
Agency Anatomy 101?
Having spent my fair share of time in ad agencies, and appreciating how everything is apparently better if it’s in an infographic, here’s a good one that has been doing the rounds. And no.. today’s advertising agencies are nothing like Mad Men. No matter how hard they try. (Kudos to Big Orange Slide for this...
Digital Talent Says No To You. Yes, You.
Yet another digital talent that is shunning you. There’s nothing like a headline that says “Why Digital Talent Doesn’t Want To Work At Your Company” to get my attention. It feels like the last 10 years working in various digital businesses has always involved the same challenge.. identifying, hiring and keeping top talent. I don’t...
Warning – Very Smart Person Content In Here.
AltaVista circa 1996. One trend that did pan out, just not with them Mary Meeker from KPCB is one switched-on person in the world of digital. Her Internet trends presentations are legendary, and as the head of the digital investment arm of one of the most successful global investment companies in the world she certainly has to...
The 147 That Ruled The World.
Visualizing the “super entity.” Courtesy: New Scientist Here’s an interesting piece. The folks at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich had three of their ‘systems theorists’ run some quantative modelling analysis over a 2007 database of almost 37 million companies.. and boiled them down to 37,000 transnational companies.. to then deduce who owns what...
