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TikTok ads. They're alright.
I’m seeing a lot of posts on LinkedIn at the moment where people are either glorifying classic ads or mourning the demise of “the idea.”...
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Oct 24, 20233 min read
93 views
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And the Winner is...!!!
I’ve just gone through the 34 excellent Grand Prix winning entries at the 2023 Cannes Lions, and it’s interesting seeing the trends that...
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Jun 27, 20234 min read
232 views
0 comments


Binning the Tissue
Back in 2018, I was having an argument about tissue meetings with the HSBC board account director at JWT, Patrick Netherton. Neither of...
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Oct 1, 20213 min read
169 views
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The "single use" spoon that found a home.
Back in February, I was fortunate enough to fly to Australia to visit family. On the way out, I flew Emirates. Despite sitting in...
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Oct 26, 20202 min read
58 views
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The Kindness of (advertising) Strangers
It’s July 1990. I’ve just returned from a year in Hamburg where I was a clerical assistant to a giant car rental firm – fresh out of uni...
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Oct 12, 20203 min read
806 views
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The Age of Confidence - why creativity has no age limit
I don’t remember ever seeing a picture of a “young” Picasso but I do know that his early paintings aren’t as talked about as, say...
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Sep 11, 20203 min read
499 views
1 comment


19000 and counting
Yesterday a CD at Amazon posted a job ad on LinkedIn. It was for a three-month gig for a creative team. By the time I went to bed, she...
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Jul 2, 20201 min read
826 views
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What Brands Do in Life...
A few days ago, I blogged about the nagging feeling I had that some brands were piggy-backing the virus to get share of mind - in other...
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Mar 26, 20203 min read
65 views
0 comments


Enough Clever Clever Already
Thank you Nike for reminding us that staying in saves lives. Thank you Coke for telling us that staying apart is the best way to stay...
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Mar 23, 20202 min read
52 views
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Ideas die in the dark
Back in the heady summer of 2000, everyone was on the make. The energy of a new millennium had fueled entrepreneurs to add a dotcom to...
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Mar 11, 20203 min read
142 views
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Bouncy Castles, Free Food and the FT
A couple of years ago, I was manning a bouncy castle as part of a Messy Church event in Cricklewood – a Saturday afternoon when people...
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Mar 13, 20193 min read
35 views
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Brexit, Blackcurrants and Bombing French Polynesia
Let me take you back to the summer of 1996. The French are conducting nuclear tests on Muroroa Atoll, 800 miles southeast of Tahiti. The...
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Feb 7, 20193 min read
88 views
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Love, Honesty and LinkedIn
I do like a spot of Linked-In, especially when I'm looking for work. When I'm job hunting, I'm glued to the site, deciding which ECD,...
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Jan 24, 20192 min read
171 views
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Tango, Pirate advertising and Marrakech
It’s often said that TV advertising is part of advertising’s history, not its future. This isn’t the place to discuss whether that is...
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Jan 11, 20193 min read
87 views
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Reliant Regals, raw meat and Justin Hawkins
Now and again, people ask me if I actually wrote songs for the Darkness. For the record, I have never, not once, ever written a song for...
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Nov 20, 20183 min read
238 views
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Mugs, tote bags and Alcoholics Anonymous
I guess you know you’ve hit a nerve when people you’ve never met are selling tshirts that have one of your ads on them. It means that...
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Nov 12, 20182 min read
96 views
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Rainham Steel and the History of the Flat Earth
After two months of gardening leave, you begin to see the world differently. You meet the mums on the school run. You’re here when the...
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Nov 5, 20182 min read
188 views
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