Issue Number 88: A playbook for brands bold enough to own what makes them awkward

I started writing a thing about last year. I stopped. No one needs another end of year review. Implicit in feeling the need to write some sort of 2025 wrap up is a decision to commit to doing weeknot...

Media is a finite resource. Some elements of media - like video impressions - are so plentiful as to appear infinite. Others, like physical media such as posters, print ads etc, are more clearly disti...

Not quite weeknotes, but ‘fortnight notes’ instead. Last weekend I went down to wales to play golf with some friends, so my ability to write and conclude the notes from my week was hamstrung. Post wee...

I was asked to give a talk to the marketing department of a big media and technology platform. The brief was to share some trends for the year ahead and discuss the types of things which would affec...

Issue Number 68: Phil Adams is next to tell us about how he works....

Recently I was explaining a personal dilemma to a friend. Should I do the big, scary and potentially rewarding thing I was considering or should I do the safe, bland and sensible thing? He then intr...

In his 2023 book Humanise, Thomas Heatherwick talks about the need for buildings to hold the attention of someone for length of time it takes to pass by it. In order to pass this test, he suggests a...

Issue Number 41: Stone Island brings its community of devoted fans to the fore

I managed to get to the Francis Bacon exhibition at The National Portrait Gallery before it shut on Sunday. I’d been meaning to go since it opened in October. The final few days of an exhibition are n...

I’ve become slightly obsessed and preoccupied with Executive Orders. Donald Trump, on returning to office to serve his second term as US president has issued over 20 of the things, almost immediate;y....

All the way back in 2019 (I never said I was prolific) I wrote something about briefs from outside the advertising world.

Issue Number 39: A love letter to inspirational instructions

It’s been a bit of a week, hasn’t it? A combination of returning to work and then all the stuff going on out there ….. Last week I wrote about grifting . And how consumer value - especially in t...

Issue 38: A masterclass in modern world building from a place you’d least expect

It’s been a slow start to the new year. I’d given some serious thought to a year-in-review style post but having spent much of the last two weeks reading similar notes from other bloggers I decided ag...

A decade before Airbnb persuaded homeowners to transform their homes into hotels, Netflix convinced its users to turn theirs into mini Netflix warehouses. Customers who held onto their DVDs for longer...

A decade before Airbnb persuaded homeowners to transform their homes into hotels, Netflix convinced its users to turn theirs into mini Netflix warehouses. Customers who held onto their DVDs for longer...