SueUnerman

So one of football’s managerial greats has gone.  Ferguson’s era is finally over.  Read More »

In a meeting with our digital heads last week speculation was rife on this issue.  It boils down I think ultimately to functionality, though fashion clearly has a role in establishing who wins this next zeitgeist battle.

As far as Google Glasses are concerned the media is torn between fear of a loss of privacy and excitement about the possibilities of augmented reality.  The first images are circulating from users tests (though the pictures are underwhelming so far).  The first user guide shows how to operate the head set, which features a clock, the weather, a camera, video calls, maps and Google Translate.  You can see the possibilities. 

Much of the writing online about Apple’s iWatch is rumour so far.  Wall Street is said to be questioning whether CEO Tim Cook can match Steve Jobs’s ability to “think different”.  But a computer on the wrist.  Sounds cooler than wearing specs.

There will be challenges for brands from computers on wrists or in glasses.  Will GG distract from outdoor advertising, or could it enhance it as second screens will enhance the effectiveness of advertising on TV?  The role advertising might have in GG is not clear yet, though having a brand that’s strong enough and consistent enough to navigate the challenges will be paramount. 

If I look round MediaCom I see more people wearing watches than wear glasses, even though nobody needs a watch to tell the time anymore.  So unless Google can quickly come up with the similar but more discreet Google Contact Lenses, Apple might win the fashion war.

Fashion perhaps but also nostalgia.  The GG vs iWatch adoption curve might have a lot to do with your childhood TV viewing affinities.  GG vs iWatch = Joe Ninety vs Captain Kirk.  Here’s hoping neither is the new ponytail.

Spring seems finally to have arrived.  There’s blossom everywhere as I write (I am aware it could be snowing again by the time you read this!) and there is smile on the face of Londoners who have been braced against the cold for too long so far this year.

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Media research may be improving in accuracy in silos but overall we are building the Tower of Babel. Read More »

A year ago my co-author Jonathan Salem Baskin told  Economist Summit delegates that the job of marketing was to represent consumer truth within the organisation.  Not to make ads that spin the truth, not in fact only just to make ads at all, but to influence all aspects of marcomms that the consumer encounters, whether that’s CRM, Social, instore or employee advocacy. Read More »

I’ve recently been chatting to one of the all-time gurus of media strategy about the state of planning in the industry.  He worries that good consumer insight is being overshadowed by big data, that the exciting developments in this field will lead to real deep human insight being of less value to marketers and overlooked.  Judging by the debates I have listened to at conferences and seminars over the last couple of weeks, this is a question that is looming over our industry and worrying many.   Read More »

This seemed like a theme that speakers came back to again and again during the Warc MAP conference this month.  (By the way, I don’t know whether to put “siloed” or “silo’d”.  I’m drawn to the apostrophe but decided against it because I know some people get very annoyed by its misuse.)

The two days covered a range of subjects and included David Smith’s vision of global futures (the rise and rise of the middle classes around the world), Colin Strong’s challenge of the smartness of Big Data (needs the perspective of market research), new research technologies based on neuro-marketing and facial recognition and Les Binet and Peter Field’s new take on the IPA Datamine. Read More »

I spent some of this morning in the inspiring company of Mat Hunter, Chief Design Officer at the Design Council .  (If you’re going to be Chief Design Officer anywhere it can’t get better than that job can it ?) We were sharing a panel at a local government digital summit, compered by the wonderful Spencer Kellyand giving our experiences of driving digital change. 

Mat talked persuasively about the key difference good design makes.  Like so much else the secret is to make it relevant and attuned to the customer rather than merely to the needs of the organisation.  Read More »

Did you have a romantic Valentine’s Day?  Did it go to plan or were all your dreams and hopes crushed ? Read More »

I went to my first “Disrupterthon” last week.  When I told one colleague that this was where I was going, she said that that was how she considered every meeting that I was in.  (I’m sure that’s flattering if you think very positively about it).

This was a TV Disrupterthon run by the British Screen Advisory Council with some excellent guest speakers including Claire Enders, David Abraham, John Gisby from Magine and Group M’s Jakob Nielsen.

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