Now, more than ever, we can't let efficiency overshadow effectiveness
Why this season’s IPA Effectiveness winners proudly stand as outliers.
Adland's year in effectiveness
Effectiveness isn’t just a client demand or an agency aspiration; it drives both the work we do and the impression we leave behind.
Physician, heal thyself
Creative agencies are suffering from a malaise of single-digit margins, ‘at best’. So the time has come to take a dose of the medicine they so readily prescribe to clients.
For ideas that travel… travel
We humans need both rest and change, but right now it’s the latter we crave.
The consumer is not a moron – she's still your mum
It’s not just their wealth that makes older consumers an obvious target for advertisers
Lockdown is easing: look up
The MullenLowe executive partner reminds planners of the power of getting out and about – now they are allowed to.
Topshop's acquisition reveals an old truth about brands
Properly managed, the mental real estate that an organisation can build is typically more valuable than its physical real estate.
Your customer is Homer Simpson
MullenLowe's executive partner recommends resolving not to make mistakes in the first place in 2021 – rather than improving anything.
Tortoise beats hare, again
An industry that was once famously described as 'a dog that barks at every passing car', must yet again face some inconvenient truths
Which paths shall we pave?
We have beaten new paths these past few weeks and many will serve us well in the future.
Let's be honest: would you have bought the Rustlers idea?
Do you let your strategic disquiet temper your respect for the creative ambition?
When advertising does good, good things happen in turn
We have to address advertising 's image problem and restore trust.
Exciting lies and boring truths
We must remember that truth is our strategic sword and maybe even our creative answer.
The car in front is a Volvo
A great example of standing out in a world of lookalike communications.
The advertising storm-chaser is here to stay
It's better for brands to be infamous than completely forgotten.
It's how, not what, you communicate that counts
The people at Ehrenberg-Bass has provided a powerful argument for channelling our resources back to the imaginative end.
RIP: the Christmas commercial (2011-2018)
It may be no bad thing for our industry if the big-budget Christmas ad is no longer with us.
We need to talk about time
The most precious commodity that advertisers can shower on their agency and their ideas isn't money.
Find the Rembrandt in the attic
Next month will bring the latest roll call of advertising industry legends, when the IPA Effectiveness Awards winners for 2018 are declared.
Listen to your idea rather than the feedback
Don't over-complicate your creative vision by taking on board too many suggestions from consumers, clients and colleagues. Keep the idea simple and give it space to flourish.