Advertising is, they say, a people business: Saatchi & Saatchi; J Walter Thompson; Ogilvy & Mather; Abbot Mead Vickers; Doyle, Dane Bernbach. Historically it was all about the name(s) on the door. Many ad agencies were built in the image of one man – back then sadly they were always men – or a couple […]
Pre-lockdown there was already a strong case for companies to lead their strategy with digital and tech-driven activity, and the Covid-19 pandemic has only served to accelerate this. Green Square’s Barry Dudley weighs in on how companies can plan for the long-term in light of this, by finding an ‘ology’ of their own. For those […]
Who’d be in retail right now? While online vendors such as Amazon prosper (at the time of writing, the company is making $10,000 worth of sales a second), times for ‘brick and mortar’ shops have been – to put it mildly – torrid these past few years. Now, with the world enveloped in a Covid-19 […]
As the world faces its gravest crisis since the second world war and the Great Depression, it is inevitable that our attention will focus on behaviour – of all sorts. Since the Covid-19 pandemic affects just about everyone, will impact every corner and sector of every economy around the world; and because the disease occupies […]
There is no need to write an introduction explaining why I’ve pulled together this piece with my team at Green Square. What we have done is gather our thoughts and learnings, and put them together with the experience of various peers in the industry who have been through dark times before. We hope that what […]
What’s next for beleaguered M&C Saatchi is the question now being asked after the resignation of the agency’s co-founder and three fellow directors in a shock move many have described as a “sad” ending to the advertising mogul’s career. Yesterday (10 December) Lord Maurice Saatchi resigned from the agency alongside board directors Lord Michael Dobbs, Sir Michael […]
One of the biggest talking points in our industry over the past few months has been what might colloquially be termed a “cock-up in the accounts department” over at M&C Saatchi. To recap: back in August, it was announced the AIM-listed indie network’s auditors, KPMG, had raised concerns regarding accounting controls following an audit review. […]
In 2017 I gave a talk in Amsterdam in conjunction with The Drum titled ‘First Up Best Dressed – A Hothouse of Creative Talent‘. The talk looked at the potential focus of marcoms and marketing technology acquirers on the Netherlands post-Brexit. Since giving this talk, we have seen the well-publicised acquisition of MediaMonks by Sir […]
One of the big stories in the marcomms industry over the past few years has been the rise of the consultancies – PwC, Accenture, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, Grant Thornton, McKinsey et al – as major players in the mergers and acquisition (M&A) space. Naturally, much of the focus has been on Accenture’s Interactive division, […]
As a Chelsea fan, the recent Carabao Cup final was one to forget – the first shot on target wasn’t until the 43rd minute, 0 – 0 after full time and extra time, ultimately dumped in a penalty shoot-out. But arguably the biggest talking point came from a brief and extraordinary period when the Chelsea […]