The latest Bellwether report from the IPA has stated that marketing budget growth hit its slowest rate in three years during the third quarter of 2018. You can read the report here but one major factor seems to be uncertainty over Brexit, with marketers adopting a cautious stance. A few snippets taken from this report claim … Read More

After enjoying the hottest summer on record, it’s hard to believe that we are now entering autumn and before you know it winter will be upon us. However, before you get too depressed at the nights drawing in and settle down for evenings binge-watching box sets instead of enjoying BBQs in the garden, there is … Read More

How will GDPR affect your agency’s new business efforts? Like it or not, the new GDPR regulations are just a few months away now. Unless you’ve been living in a cave it is almost impossible to avoid the constant bombardment of information and advice from all directions about what your business needs to do to … Read More

In the “good old days” before the internet and when you could leave your front door open and nobody would rob you, you might have been forgiven for thinking that large companies with their fancy brands based in Central London wouldn’t ever consider working with a regional agency in somewhere like Bristol, Birmingham or Sheffield. There … Read More

  There have been some rather negative stats of late from the AAR in relation to the decline of new business pitches. Looking at their chart below, you could be forgiven for wailing “We’re all doomed” before retreating into a corner of self-pity and waiting for the world to end. However, our experience so far … Read More

  Reading Andy Jex’s article in Campaign this week really struck a chord with me. The gist of it was that you shouldn’t ignore “the quiet ones” in your agency, given that people in the marketing and advertising industry are often expected to be (or maybe stereotyped) as extroverts. When it comes to sales, the … Read More

  Unless you have been hiding in a cave for the last few months with no access to any kind of media you will realise that, after tomorrow, we will finally have the decision about our future within the EU (or not). Yes, I honestly do grasp the magnitude of the referendum but I just … Read More

  It’s that time of the year again. Pantomime villains are created for their 15 minutes of fame, strategic alliances are formed in Machiavellian plans and team mates are ruthlessly knifed in the back. Well, figuratively speaking at least. Yes, it’s the new series of The Apprentice. Being a very long-time employee of Alchemis I … Read More

Our Social Times will be hosting a breakfast event on 16th September which aims to help you build your agency into a world-beating success. The event will run from 8.30-10.30 am at The Marlborough Suite, in Dukes Hotel, London SW1. Featuring insights and Q&A sessions with guest speakers who have grown multi-million pound marketing agencies … Read More

  A few years back I wrote a blog about some very negative news coverage that Tripadvisor was generating with widespread accusations of fake reviews being submitted. As time has passed I was wondering whether things in the “review industry” had changed. Let’s face it, reviews are easily accessible and widely used by many consumers … Read More