agencies

Dispatch from an advertising future #160

https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/16/22388548/edward-snowden-nft-freedom-of-the-press-stay-free “If journalism is the art of today’s chip wrapper, then what is what we make?” she thought in her darker moments. She held on to purpose as a justification for why she’d ended up here and tried to convince herself it was popular cultural art but deep down she… Read the rest

Dispatch from an advertising future #31

How to Balance your Brand Communication Plans Clients wanted people again, not just AI advice. The driverless car, thankfully one with a vaguely interesting TaxiChat algorithm, dropped them outside. Their faces got them through security and into the conference room. They were ready. The positive dialectic of real consultancy; when… Read the rest

Dispatch from an advertising future #145

https://www.thedrum.com/news/2020/11/16/why-linkedin-put-real-people-its-ads Colleagues. It’s been another successful quarter particularly in terms of productivity. Well done. The number of ads we are now producing is at an all time high. Clients know we can turn work around faster – and of course cheaper – than our competitors, still failing (in my opinion)… Read the rest

Dispatch from an advertising future #143

https://www.thedrum.com/news/2020/11/12/anatomy-merger-akqa-group-s-ahmed-and-houston-share-their-candid-thoughts A merger’s been on the cards for some time. The CEO wanted to make her mark and ‘refreshing’ the portfolio is a quick win. The trade press has focused on the name and staff on the redundancies but at my level, it’s more fundamental than that. Existential, even. Merging,… Read the rest

Dispatch from an advertising future #124

https://www.adweek.com/agencies/havas-launches-customer-experience-network/ The “people formerly known as customers” have always been at the heart of our work for clients. In The Before, we prided ourselves on not just knowing them through data, but really understanding them. Things have changed. People have changed. Home Space Blur; Circuitbreak Compression; Stop-Start socialising;  Lockdown Syndrome… Read the rest

Dispatch from an advertising future #123

https://www.ft.com/content/b50d22ec-db98-4891-86da-af34f06d1cb1 I need to update our About Us page. New pictures. I feel we need to appear younger, but somehow more serious. We’re trying to position ourselves as a business service. We’re not the scrappy disruptor any more. We’re not a big team – although I might consider adding a… Read the rest

Dispatches from an advertising future #110

https://www.engadget.com/oldest-computer-manual-zuse-z4-161214346.html It had been a themepark for a long time. Students came on fieldtrips and marvelled at the rows of desktop computers, giggled at the printers and looked puzzled at the meeting rooms. The guide was programmed as a Don Draper-style CD, from The Before. He talked about pitches and… Read the rest

Dispatch from an advertising future #101

https://www.engadget.com/nfl-microsoft-teams-covid-19-coronavirus-180945560.html Running a start-up has never been easy. Your team needs you as founder, your personality. And you need them; their energy. But as you try to build businesses in the New Normal dispersed across Office 2.0, there are no TGIFs, no chance for you to use their feelings towards… Read the rest