Category Innovation

November 7, 2017,  EU General Data Protection Regulation, Innovation, Thought Leadership  One comment

On Tuesday 31 October, President Donald J Trump gave the executive order to release previously withheld files relating to the 1963 assassination of John F Kennedy.

Among the many black and white TV news clips of speeches made by JFK that I’ve been watching across several TV networks that are marking one of the darkest hours in American history, one sentence in particular struck a chord with me and perhaps many of you reading this too:

“In each of us there’s a private hope and dream which, if fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone.”

That may sound like a lofty ideal, but I sincerely believe that as data protection professionals we all need to have the c...

February 21, 2015,  Brand marketing, Innovation  No comments

Seasoned music and film executive producer Helen Gammons runs the highly acclaimed MBA programme for the music and creative industries at Henley Business School.

Now in its third year, its graduates are living proof that the sector is one that’s in a constant state of re-invention and change – perhaps more than any other.

“The industry is completely different to what it used to be and this has opened the door to a much wider range of opportunities for disruptive brands,” explains Helen Gammons who can lay claim to having attracted some of the best in the industry to the MBA programme including Faber Music, Disney, Sony Music, Peermusic and ISM to name a few.

The secto...

June 21, 2014,  Consumer behaviour, Guru in a Bottle, High Impact Marketing that Gets Results, Innovation  No comments

There can be few sectors that have been disrupted to the extent that marketing has been by digital.

The days when marketing directors splashed the cash on elaborate global TV campaigns with gigantic budgets and expenses to match harks back to a bygone era that’s much more Mad Men than the reality brand owners face today.

Most marketing is campaign driven. Brand owners are constantly under pressure to get product and service to market in the shortest time possible. This then takes on a life of its own, spinning activity on a monthly, quarterly and seasonal basis.

Just take a look at the adverts on TV if you don’t believe me...

June 6, 2014,  Guru in a Bottle, Innovation, News  No comments

As a result of being part of the Accenture Alumni network, I was invited to a fascinating event this week at the firm’s swanky city offices in London.

The agenda for the Breakfast Briefing was ‘Sustainability24’ and this turned out to be a 24 hour global event over 10 countries across six continents simultaneously broadcast over the internet.

Accenture had set out to explore every facet of the sustainability agenda by engaging in debate with its brightest brains alongside clients, journalists, social commentators, academics and of course invited guests and Alumni like myself.

As an example of ‘thought leadership in action’ it was an extremely impressive effort...

April 24, 2014,  Consumer behaviour, Guru in a Bottle, Innovation, Marketing practice, News  No comments

Over the last decade, marketers of branded fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) on both sides of the Atlantic have struggled to withstand the onslaught on their market share from challenger and own-label brands.

The result of increased competition – largely fuelled by globalisation – is that some marketers have been forced to radically re-think their retail and marketing strategies in order to stay ahead of the game. So it may surprise you to learn that packaging innovation has become the ‘go-to’ marketing strategy for these FMCG marketers in order to preserve and boost profitability.

US-based MeadWestvaco Corporation (MWV), a global leader in packaging and packaging solut...

March 7, 2014,  Guru in a Bottle, Innovation, Thought Leadership  No comments

Well, obviously you’ll see yourself as a ‘thought leader’, don’t you?

But actually, what does that mean? And can you make money out of being a thought leader?

Thought leadership means a lot of different things to a lot of people and for some it boils down to the creation or adaptation of an innovative concept for direct or indirect business advantage.

If you happen to work in a marketing or PR agency, the value of your time can be measured directly in proportion to the quality of your intellectual and creative output and the outcomes you deliver for the client. On that basis, thought leadership can be very profitable indeed.

But you don’t have to work in an agency to...