John Fanning recommends two new books: Paul Feldwick’s Why Does the Pedlar Sing? and Rory Sutherland’s Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business and Life Paul Feldwick joined the iconic London agency BMP in the mid-1970’s as an account planner and worked there for over 30 years where he […]
Articles Archive
Aoife Murphy on using purpose properly
Aoife Murphy offers marketers three purpose-positive choices to help give give their brand an edge over competitors Brand purpose is the Marmite of the marketing world. We love to hate brands who get it wrong. But as consumers develop and the value-driven Generation Z starts to build more and more wealth, is it time to […]
Heading for a new ball game
Covid-19 has brought a great deal of financial upset to football. Is the beautiful game under pressure? Michael Cullen writes The Covid-19 pandemic has sparked a reality check on football’s future funding. Europe’s 20 richest clubs have missed out on around €5 billion over the past two seasons, the Deloitte Football Money League survey estimates. […]
Why empathy offers big dividends
John Fanning reviews Mimi Nicklin’s new book, The Softening Edge, which shows how emotional intelligence can energise employee relations Mimi Nicklin is a marketing specialist and business coach who has held senior strategic and creative positions in such cosmopolitan cities as London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Cape Town and Dubai, where she is now based. Her […]
Eoghan Nolan’s magical talent
Eoghan Nolan (1957-2021) – An Appreciation by Conor Ferguson “That’s all we have, finally, the words, and they had better be the right ones” – Raymond Carver It was several weeks ago that we heard the news. Eoghan had been in ICU in St Vincent’s Hospital for a few months. It was a relief to know […]
Dynamo goes into a higher branding gear
Management at Dynamo took a long hard look at their business model and once the review was complete they came up with a new plan, as Michael Cullen reports To use an old cliché, every crisis is an opportunity. It would certainly seem that way for Dynamo, the branding agency that recently invested in reshaping […]
Much revered Netflix far from flawless
Chris Cashen writes that while he is a fan of Netflix it may be time to stop apportioning superstar status to the streaming giant Even those living underneath a rock or anyone who broke lockdown by heading to a faraway planet to escape the pandemic would know that The Queen’s Gambit was a phenomenal success […]
Staying in tune key to hit ads
Paul Mallon says Irish brands should jump on the music bandwagon by hiring local talent and give their TV and radio ads more oomph We fall out over signing up international footballers like Jack Grealish and Declan Rice, we cannot agree on the essential elements of a fry-up and get really narked when they claim […]
An Post strives to box clever
Letters had been written off and with more rivals in parcels, An Post had to reinvent itself. Debbie Byrne explains the reboot. Talk to say a dozen or so seasoned marketers about which major Irish brands have got their act together in recent years by proving profitable and capable of generating the right vibes among […]
Be distinct rather than different
Aoife Murphy suggest a new year resolution for Irish marketers – try and make sure your brand stands out as unmistakeable A new year does not have to mean a radical new strategy. 2021 provides Irish marketers with a chance to make their brand distinct in the hearts and minds of consumers. Looking at a […]
2021 – Time to reflect and reset brands
Fiona Field says brands should focus firmly on being one thing and avoid trying to provide consumers with a host of offers As we happily say goodbye to 2020 and usher in 2021 for many of us it is a chance to assess and reset. After all, we are in the business of behaviour change […]
Deloitte’s Acne spots potential in Ireland
Michael Cullen asks Acne’s executive creative director Dylan Cotter to explain why Deloitte came to Dublin with its digital-first agency Dublin’s newest ad agency is Acne. If you guessed that the four letters stand for Associated Computer Nerd Enterprises, you were spot on. Launched in Sweden’s capital Stockholm above a joke shop in 1996, the […]
Fanning on Bezonomics
John Fanning on why a book on Jeff Bezos allows us to understand why we should resist buying anything, least of all books, from Amazon Bezonomics tells the story of the biggest and most valuable company in the world today, Amazon, a business that is just over 25 years old. Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos […]
