Listening to BBC Director General Mark Thompson’s hair shirt speech yesterday, it occurred to me that there’s a rich irony out there. While advertisers and agencies take a rigorous regime for granted, our public service broadcaster has been playing fast and loose with the truth. In our quest...
If you believe in A4A (Action for Ads) please log on to the website for Sustain. Its apparently a well-intentioned pressure group for better food and farming. But if you were listening to Radio Five Live on Saturday morning you will have heard Sustain spokesman Richard Watts interviewed by Rachel Burdon...
A month ago I called for the industry to mount a Campaign for Real Marketing to guard against the slide into mediocrity and short-termism. Last week I blogged every day in support of A4A (Action for Ads). Now it’s time to link the two causes. Will all marketing leaders out there who haven’t...
To make Action for Ads (A4A) stick, why doesn’t the industry devise a “freedom warning” for ads in sensitive sectors, where we feel there is an ongoing threat from government, regulators and pressure groups? A4A isn’t just about the freedom of marketers and agencies to tell honest...
I seem to be referring to Action For Ads in every post at the moment. So when we are just talking amongst ourselves I thought it might be OK to call it A4A Now that so many of us have signed the petition, might it be a good idea to have a debate about A4A, and how we can all make it work? It's almost...
Much of the success of UK clients is down to the advertising and marketing communications talent they can call upon to build their brands. But Action for Ads should also emphasise the role of British agencies and groups in making our industry world class. It is not all about WPP, but what an achievement...
Britain accounts for only 4½% of world adspend. But we punch way beyond our weight, and this needs to be reflected in Action for Ads. Look at Britain ’s global contribution in just two vital areas: planning and creativity. We led the world by inventing and developing strategic planning....
I wholeheartedly support Action for Ads. But I do have a concern that Campaign’s praiseworthy initiative won’t succeed – indeed it could be counter-productive – unless we identify spokespeople who are likeable as well as articulate Let’s be honest. One of the reasons the...
