December 17, 2006
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I’m back home in Cumbria, chilling out before the Christmas break. I am too tired/busy to write much, but here’s a list of stuff on my mind:
1. The cartoon above pretty much represents my current emotional state. It’s been a long couple of months, mostly spent in London hotel rooms. I feel a bit burnt out, to be honest.
2. Rumor has it that I have found a flat in London [Pimlico neighborhood], and will be moving in early March. My main focus for 2007 will be London-based, as Stormhoek and the English Cut shirt project get busier and busier.
3. Loic posts his reply to the whole Techcrunch UK mess. I know him well enough to know he’s telling the truth. Some of the stuff left in the comment section I found “Beyond Lame”.
4. I was over at the Edelman London offices last week, talking to some people I know there, for my usual cynical, evil and mercenary reasons that we all know and love so well.
Here is one thought I came away with: As traditional, Madison-Avenue-style advertising gets more expensive and less relevant by the day, as the traditional mainstream media advertising business model gets continues to nosedive, where is all the client’s business going to move to, as it seeks out greener pastures? Google? Perhaps. Purple Cow? Sure. But where else?
Seriously. Where else?
There’s big money to be made by anyone who can provide the market with a half-decent answer.
"Hugh's Daily Cartoon" Newsletter.
A new cartoon sent out every weekday morning to your inbox [RSS version here.].
A wee chuckle to start your day off right etc.
One thing my firm is banking on is that companies will want to leverage the growing segment of consumer philanthropy. It’s more obvious than ever that business has a responsibility to give back to society; not just make more money for shareholders. We’re trying to blend the best of business marketing w/ non-profit techniques to make it easy for consumers to see which and how companies are giving back. There’s a lot of data (in the USA at least) that says companies can break out of the commodity quicksand by attaching their brand to causes that align with their customers and strategies. It’s not about more messaging, it’s about leaving the world a better place than when you started.
Amen!
Have a rest, a glass of wine, and thanks for the star!
Cheer up, mate. If I saw a bottle of Stormhoek on the shelf, I’d certainly buy it on the strength of the cartoons.
maybe there is no decent answer to this one.
maybe a lot of what used to be marketing is done, and there will be no replacement for that. maybe more money will be spent on r&d and stuff like that. the longer the net will be around the harder it will get to sell something inferior.
because, face it, 90% of marketing is/was about telling _not_ the truth about the advertised good.
to keep that illusion up will become more and more expensive the less it fits with the reality.
oh, here’s the answer: brands and lifesyle, the more subjective the better
How about “to the shareholders”?
As targetable, measurable, advertising — and direct bidirectional communication with the people in a market — displaces the bulk of blind advertising, what little untapped value remains in what was delivered by the traditional style may in fact no longer be worth chasing.
What’s your current budget for buggy-whips?
Rumor has it that I have found a flat in London [Pimlico neighborhood], and will be moving in early March. My main focus for 2007 will be London-based, as Stormhoek and the English Cut shirt project get busier and busier.
But I can’t help feel a little sad when someone who works on the Internet is put into a position where you have to live in London. “South East Snobbery” is a really sad thing about the UK.. if you’re not in London, for some reason you’re almost a nobody (especially in the eyes of London-based businesses).
Good on you
Even I feel the pull of it from time to time.. but shall stay up North until I can take it no longer
Nick,
You’re on to something big. The marriage of brands and social responsibility is rapidly moving into the consumer expectation column. Brands with a cause create and attract movements. The added feel-good benefit can magnetize brands. Let us know if we can help spread your message.
Take it easy and have a BIG RELAX in Cumbria.…BTW I like your stuff…have a good time over the holiday season…
Slainte
Gordon
—As traditional, Madison-Avenue-style advertising gets more expensive and less relevant by the day, as the traditional mainstream media advertising business model gets continues to nosedive, where is all the client’s business going to move to, as it seeks out greener pastures? Google? —
Google. It’s got the audience and the accountability and it resembles the TV model just enough to be feel comforting and familiar.