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Our Monthly Round-up of the key pieces in Marketing for November – we’ve chosen four key articles on growth, a podcast, and a webinar. If you missed any of them – have some time, they are all worth a catchup. http://haiconsulting.com/category/views/

This month we have also included Ten Highlights/Learnings from the Adforum Summit in Amsterdam. If you would like a collaborative discussion around your 2023 objectives, we’re happy to set up a session to take you through the findings.

Our November Highlights:

1. Our Top Pick this month is an outstanding piece on Growth and E-commerce by Mckinsey. A successful transition to the next horizon of digital commerce requires companies to get real about being customer first and making some hard choices. Superbly presented this article highlights six big key forces – key trends that are highlighting the need for companies to evolve their approach to e-commerce.

Here is the link: https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/becoming-indispensable-moving-past-e-commerce-to-next-commerce

2. Secondly, we pick a piece that Mark Ritson produced for a ‘Ritson on Recession’ Webinar – in partnership with System One which we attended. Mark presented a guide to how brands can survive – and thrive in tough times. He outlines five takeaways for marketers – and here you can download the summary and recording in full.

Here is the link: https://system1group.com/blog/ritson-on-recession-5-takeaways-for-marketers.

3. Thirdly, when ROI does not equal ROI, we came across this piece via the Financial Times on Marketing’s Most Marmite metric.

Here is the link: https://thetomroach.com/2022/10/12/marketings-most-marmite-metric/

4. Fourthly, we love the Digital Native substack and this piece summarises 10 charts that show how the world is changing.

Here is the link: https://digitalnative.substack.com/p/10-charts-that-capture-how-the-world?

5. Fifthly, we picked a piece by Avi Dan, who for some time attended Adforum summits in New York, his piece appeared in Forbes this month. The great agencies have one thing in common: the person who calls the shot is a rock star, a charismatic leader. It’s an interesting read.

Here is the link:  https://www-forbes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.forbes.com/sites/avidan/2022/11/02/the-one-thing-that-all-great-agencies-have-in-common

6. Sixthly, we pick a Metaverse piece. An excellent podcast from AdAge which outlines ways for brands to think about Web 3 and the Metaverse. It was sent to us by Isabel Perry at Dept. who has a Trends Event piece coming up in January 2023. And even includes a section from Meta guru Nicola Mendelsohn on building the Metaverse responsibly.

Here is the link:  https://open.spotify.com/show/3KNVlS2GZWkns1wcwOrw08?si=1a5884eb75644cfb

Time for the Work: It was a tough choice this month with breaking Christmas ads for Guinness, McDonald’s, O2, and Aldi all worthy contenders. But it had to be congrats this month to John Lewis, and Adam & Eve London for simply getting it so right.  https://www.itsnicethat.com/news/adam-and-eve-john-lewis-ad-the-beginner-advertising-101122

Media: Amazon and other retail media represent a third wave in digital advertising. We are a fan of Simon Andrews Fix/lite which we share on a Monday morning – this week’s editionhighlighted this Financial Times piece on Retail Media. https://www.ft.com/content/3224a3f6-cf02-4e1f-95f9-9b90da204377

Back to Henley: Our weekly column in the Henley Standard continues where we interview local entrepreneurs it’s called Let’s Get Down to Business. We were delighted this month to interview Ben Fennell, CEO of The Growth House, and former CEO of BBH, some great learnings. https://www.henleystandard.co.uk/news/business/176180/let-s-get-down-to-business-ben-fennell-the-growth-house-remenham.html

Book Alert: And we’ve picked Will Greenwood and Ben Fennell’s book ‘World Class’. How to Lead, Learn and Grow like a Champion. We attended a Gardner Leader event at Leander Club early this month in which Will and Ben unearthed some insights from the book on Leadership. Pack your team with talent – it’s an essential read and is available in all forms from Amazon.  https://www.amazon.co.uk/World-Class-Lead-Learn-Champion-ebook/dp/B091Y5MHG2

Ten Highlights/Learnings from the Adforum Summit in Amsterdam:

We bring you the highlights from the recent Amsterdam Adforum Summit – 30 consultants from 9 countries, met with 15 agency and production companies across Europe in 3 days. We saw key trends emerging this year – a wave of newness – agencies working directly at the intersection of: – entrepreneurship, marketing, technology, creativity, and experience.

Agency participating in this year’s Adforum Amsterdam included: Day One: Virtue, Candid, iO, The Family, N=5, Rankin Creative, followed by a Constellation / 72 & Sunny dinner. Day 2: Been There Done That, Die Crew, Gravity Global, Forsman and Bodenfors and DEPT, with a closing dinner at 180 Amsterdam. And finally on the last day sessions with Code d’Azur, Springbok, Deloitte Digital and ACNE London.

65% of all agencies are back in the office full time. Of course there is still some hybrid working, but that tends to be much more on the marketer/client side. Pitching agencies we find are stronger if teams through the process are seated together. Many of the financial institutions continue to be hybrid.  All the offices we visited were lively, active and back to full culture – it was great to see.

Agency Models: We saw emerging agency models particularly within entrepreneurial profiles – growth by acquisition, agencies being privately funded, or becoming highly attractive to private equity investments. We saw seamless agencies – where Independents are working together as true alternatives to holding companies.

CMO Complexity: CMO’s are facing a ‘cacophony of complexity’ – the need to blend client skills and agency teams – and have them work seamlessly together. Brands must no longer self promote, but make consumers their ambassadors, within targeted communities particularly via social media.  It’s no longer good enough to have just great creative advertising – it really is about how a CMO can orchestrate and integrate the whole organisation marketing mix funnel. It always now includes seeking Share of Search, as well as Share of Voice.

Sustainability: It’s a key topic to save the planet, and many agencies are guiding clients to be not only sustainable, but indeed net zero businesses – all the agencies have the objectives to leave the industry better than they found it, often selling ideas that can help change the world forever.

Purpose: We again saw agencies that are focussing on Purpose, they are compassionate, and we are beginning to see a number of new agencies launch into this space.

Power of Creativity: The power of data in creativity was evident and the question these days is how agencies interpret and decipher the data in time to make a difference, particularly with closed loop attribution. Some advertising is in terminal decline, but with testing systems in place some creative advertising is gaining significant traction for brands. Macro-economic issues lie at the heart of the problem, brand advertising is needed particularly when inflationary price increases are necessary.

Decoupling: Agencies are able to ‘slice and dice’ accordingly, we saw examples of agencies recognising their value in wisdom – decoupling strategy from execution – and offering only the former. Agencies are seeking to move upstream into the consultancy space to be closer to innovation and product design.

The Makers: A new breed of agency is emerging that we saw earlier in the year in New York, through RGA, Huge, Proto and DEPT. And in Amsterdam iO and DEPT were the best examples of agencies blending the focus areas – entrepreneurship, marketing, technology, creativity, and experience – and making things happen.

The Conductors: Agencies are beginning to present themselves as platforms, whatever the task – we are beginning to see talents blended to client needs and agency projects run by ‘Conductors’, or as one agency presented – simply as ‘a Nose’ to whatever the clients objectives.

The Big Four: It’s clear that ‘the Big Four’ want to play in the strategy, thinking and communication space. Whilst we have seen Accenture Song making multiple acquisitions – its timely that Deloitte Digital, ACNE has aspirations for big tech thinking and delivery – these companies are built with expertise to deliver massive transformational moments of change.

Being Brave: It’s the time to look across your organisation – nurture youth and opportunity. We saw some fantastic creatives in their twenties, presenting on flagship clients – the world favours the brave – often they understand specific categories better than we do.

Wishing you, and your team a Merry Christmas and Prosperous New Year. We’re here to help you evolve your agency resourcing structures, agency reviews, evaluations and benchmarking to improve your marketing performance, so do contact us for anything we can help you with.

Kind regards,

Will

Our Monthly Round-up of the key pieces in Marketing for October – we’ve chosen six key articles on growth. If you missed any of them – have some time, they are all worth a catchup. http://haiconsulting.com/category/views/

Most clients are debating what will happen to Interest rates, availability of debt, levels of consumer confidence and the availability of talent/skills to make projects happen. The focus is definitely on growth – bringing brand, mid-funnel and performance together.

Our October highlights:

1. Our Top Pick this month is a piece specifically on Growth by Mckinsey. The idea of the business Flywheel is not a new one – but a better way to build a brand is in a community flywheel – how brands have gained presence has evolved over time. This makes an interesting read.

Here is the link: https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/a-better-way-to-build-a-brand-the-community-flywheel

2. Secondly, we pick a piece from the Harvard Business Review that appeared in this month’s magazine. Some branded product companies are sidestepping digital aggregators like Amazon and Google Shopping and instead building their own brand flagship platforms. These platforms are more than just a direct sales channel. They provide a mix of specialized products, services, and content by involving participants—consumers and third-party businesses—in the value creation process, as both receivers and providers of value.

Here is the link: https://hbr.org/2022/09/building-your-own-brand-platform

3. Thirdly, when economic indicators are tough and consumer confidence is low, remember that brands with strong value propositions are 100% more recommended and 91% more loved than the rest, so says WPP’s Lindsay Pattison. Lindsay is simply brilliant at what she does.

Here is the link: https://www.wpp.com/wpp-iq/2022/09/Tough-times-and-low-confidence-call-for-bold-action

4. Fourthly, it’s another piece in our review by marketing MBA guru Mark Ritson, this time for Marketing Week – sometimes it takes time to succeed. Short tenures engender short-term thinking, as the UK economy currently demonstrates. To be successful, both politicians and marketing teams need time to learn what works and what doesn’t.

Here is the link: https://www.marketingweek.com/ritson-marketers-chancellors-time-succeed/

5. Fifthly, we picked a really interesting piece from Meta and Les Binet, who is Head of Effectiveness at Adam and Eve DDB, he talks brilliantly on the ‘Long and Short of it’ when it comes to growth – the effect of advertising in the long and short term – and what happens when you have multiple bursts.

Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=858659675085567

6. Sixthly, we love the Digital Native substack so much that we have actually picked two links this month for you from Rex Woodbury, brilliantly written. The first is on business turnarounds and the second is on the digital evolution of social media.

Here are the links: https://digitalnative.substack.com/p/krispy-kreme-crocs-and-keeping-the?https://digitalnative.substack.com/p/consumer-social-is-dead-long-live?

Time for the Work: We’ve known about this campaign for some time, but we’ve only just seen it in its full glory. So it’s ‘Chapeau’, or should we say ‘Chocks away’, to British Airways and Uncommon London this month for this fantastic British Original campaign. https://www.creativereview.co.uk/british-airways-uncommon/

Media: Plenty to write about Elon Musk and his daily Twitter digestive. But Ian Whittaker now produces a weekly update on Media and Technology and he tries not to cover the obvious – this is well worth following. https://ianwhittakermedia.com/thebiggerpicture/

Back to Henley: Our weekly column in the Henley Standard continues where we interview local entrepreneurs it’s called Let’s Get Down to Business.  https://www.henleystandard.co.uk/news/business/175880/let-s-get-down-to-business-kate-taylor-founder-of-eat-drink-think-nutrition.html

Book Alert: Bob Hoffman has a new book out this month. His latest tome, Adscam, bears the lengthy subtitle ‘How online advertising gave birth to one of history’s greatest frauds and became a threat to democracy’ (it’s published by Type A Group). As a former CEO of two advertising agencies, Bob Hoffman knows a thing or two about the advertising world. The US-based former adman has ruffled many feathers in his demolishing of many of the myths about online advertising, and he remains a thorn in the side of the industry. https://www.bobhoffmanswebsite.com/adscam

Adforum Summit: Next week is the European Adforum Summit in Amsterdam, so we will be bringing you the highlights in our next Monthly review.

And finally: we’re here to help you with your agency resourcing structures, agency reviews, evaluations and benchmarking to improve your marketing performance, so do contact us for anything we can help you with.

Kind regards,

Will

Our Monthly Round-up of the key pieces in Marketing for September – we’ve chosen six key articles, the first focussing on strategy. If you missed any of them – have some time, they are all well worth a catchup.  http://haiconsulting.com/category/views/

Whilst the economy is set to be turbulent – Autumn is here – we look forward to catching up with you to discuss your brand/agency requirements going forward.

Our September highlights:

1. Our Top Pick this month is a piece in the HBR – ‘Making Strategy in turbulent times’. In the traditional strategic-planning model, managers attempt to forecast how markets will evolve and competitors will respond, and then define a multiyear plan to position their company to win in this future state. The world is now changing so quickly that no business can plan for every eventuality, fewer than a quarter of large organizations employ the most notable tools and frameworks for strategy development under uncertainty: scenario planning,

Here is the link: https://hbr.org/2022/09/strategy-making-in-turbulent-times

2. Secondly, we pick a great piece by the WFA, where David Wheldon highlights 10 take-outs from talking to marketing’s brightest minds. It’s a great article and full of learning.

Here is the link: https://wfanet.org/knowledge/item/2022/09/07/My-top-10-take-outs-from-talking-to-marketings-brightest-minds

3. Thirdly, we pick a blog piece from the Digital Native stack, full of information on the ‘TikTokization of everything’. This piece looks at the two primary forces that have powered technology – mobile, and the cloud.

Here is the link: https://digitalnative.substack.com/p/the-tiktokization-of-everything?

4. Fourthly, it’s another brilliant piece by Rishad Tobaccowala on Recruiting Talent this month, amazingly – he never fails to deliver.

Here is the link: https://rishad.substack.com/p/identifying-growing-and-recruiting

5. Fifthly, we pick a piece RGA, on the confidence in financial brands.

Here is the link: https://rga.com/futurevision/perspectives/financial-brands-that-inspire-confidence-will-come-out-ahead

6. Sixthly, we pick a final piece from the Entrepreneur, since the last Adforum we have been looking at the NFT market place and the Metaverse – it’s not time to bet your life savings on an NFT and here are the reasons why.

Here is the link: https://www.entrepreneur.com/money-finance/is-the-nft-marketplace-a-boom-or-bust/435981

Time for the Work: It’s all building up for a fabulous World Cup in Qatar, and whilst some question David Beckhams involvement as the official spokesman, no one questions his willingness to queue for HM the Queen. But we pick Adidas this month and congrats to TBWA \ London for this activation.  https://www.marketing-beat.co.uk/2022/09/16/adidas-world-cup-kits-tbwa/

Media: Simon Andrews creates and distributes the Fix Lite on a Monday morning and its always a good read, subscribe for his bigger deep dives.

https://us1.campaign-archive.com/?u=80025f160be434835759d292b&id=c8e298e7f7

Back to Henley: Our weekly column in the Henley Standard continues where we interview local entrepreneurs called Let’s Get Down to Business. This week’s column interviews Grace Leo, of the Henley Relais.

https://www.henleystandard.co.uk/news/business/175201/let-s-get-down-to-business-grace-leo-the-relais-henley.html

Book Alert: A book by Sarah Furness has finally arrived. In Fly Higher Sarah Furness, a former RAF helicopter pilot who served in Afghanistan, has translated the lessons she learned under fire into military-grade mindfulness strategies for improved self-leadership. Part memoir, part training manual for the mind, this book will take you on a journey from helicopter crashes and interrogation training to meditation and ”winefulness” https://sarahfurness.com/fly-higher As a thank you to anyone who buys the kindle edition on the 5/6th Sarah is offering a discounted signed copy that can be shipped direct. Just ping an email with a screenshot of your kindle purchase to wingman@sarahfurness.com

We’re here to help you with your agency resourcing structures, agency reviews, evaluations and benchmarking to improve your marketing performance, so do contact us for anything we can help you with.

Kind regards,

Will

Our Monthly Round-up of the key pieces in Marketing for August – we’ve chosen six key articles focussing on growth. If you missed any of them – have some time, they are all well worth a catchup. http://haiconsulting.com/category/views/

Whilst August was a relatively quiet month for many, now that Autumn is here, we look forward to catching up with you to discuss your brand’s requirements going forward.

Our August Highlights:

1. Our Top Pick this month is a piece by Mckinsey on the Ten Rules of Growth. Most of our time is spent talking to clients and businesses about topline growth, this is a great synopsis.

Here is the link: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/the-ten-rules-of-growth

2. Secondly, we pick a great piece from Tom Morton, Global Chief Strategy Officer of R/GA, their teams of strategists have created a guide to helping brands innovate and win customers during a time of economic downturn and inflation.

Here is the link: https://rga.com/futurevision/perspectives/guide-to-the-fever-economy

3. Thirdly, it’s a brilliant piece by Rishad Tobaccowala on Sacred Hours – How do you make more time! There are a combination of four different tactics that one can utilize to free up much more time depending on one’s responsibilities and flexibilities. The four tactics being –  zero based calendaring to eliminate the unnecessary, delegation to mitigate the pressures of the necessary, reduction of frequencies of meetings, and compression of time allocated to a task.

Here is the link: https://rishad.substack.com/p/sacred-hours

4. Fourthly, we pick a piece from the Digitalnative substack – Grabbing the bear by the horns. It explores how the current market downturn affects startups in 2022 and, more fundamentally, how the “Everyone Is An Investor” holds up in a bear market.

Here is the link: https://digitalnative.substack.com/p/grabbing-the-bear-by-the-horns?

5. Fifthly, we picked up on a bit of an offer from the HBR, as it reaches its 100^th Anniversary, and moves into September – they are highlighting a number of their favourite thought leadership articles.

Here is the link: https://hbr.org/insight-center/celebrating-a-century-of-hbr

6. Sixthly, we pick a final piece from Mckinsey on Learning to lead. There’s a big difference between being a boss and being a leader. Bosses command, assign tasks, discipline, and assert authority; leaders influence, inspire, mentor, and delegate authority.

Here is the link: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-guide-to-managing-yourself/learn-to-lead

Time for the Work: We picked PG Tips this month for their Breaking case for Emergen- tea, this one we saw at London Luton Airport. https://mediahub.london-luton.co.uk/news/09082022/emergen-tea-box-at-london-luton-airport

Media: The big media news this month is from Netflix as the ads plan is brought forward to November, to beat Disney+ plan in December. https://9to5mac.com/2022/09/02/netflix-ads/

Back to Henley: We’re back in Henley following the holidays. We now have a weekly column in the Henley Standard where we interview local entrepreneurs called Let’s Get Down to Business. This week’s edition interviews Andrew Stephens of Goodstuff Communications. https://www.henleystandard.co.uk/news/business/174641/let-s-get-down-to-business-andrew-stephens-goodstuff-communications.html

We’re here to help you with your agency resourcing structures, agency reviews, evaluations and benchmarking to improve your marketing performance, so do contact us for anything we can help you with.

Kind regards,

Will

Our Monthly Round-up of the key pieces in Marketing for July – we’ve chosen six key articles that shape marketing this month. If you missed any of them – have some time, they are all well worth a catchup. http://haiconsulting.com/category/views/

Here are our July highlights:-

1. Our top pick this month – it had to be Rishad Tobaccowala and his flagship piece on the future of the Internet. It’s an excellent and thought provoking read.  We are in awe of the content he produces week on week – this is his 101^st edition, part of his series:- The future does not fit in the containers of the past.

Here is the link: https://rishad.substack.com/p/the-future-of-the-internet?

2. Secondly, we’ve picked a piece on TikTok. In the past 1000 days the growth of TikTok has disrupted the media landscape. It has shot past Google to become the most popular domain and the time spent daily on it is greater than all of Meta’s properties (Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) even carving into the time spent watching analog television and Netflix. This article by Professor Scott Galloway is an absolute must read to understand the breath-taking rise of the platform.

Here is the link: https://www.profgalloway.com/tiktok-boom/

3. Thirdly, the Harvard Business Review is making a real comeback – we came across this piece on closing the gap between digital marketing and performance. Marketers have used digital marketing to navigate through incredibly difficult business conditions, connecting with customers stuck at home during the pandemic, digitizing products and services, and driving revenues. Now, it’s time to build on those gains by re-doubling commitment to deepening data and digital mastery, building a culture of continuous learning and experimentation, and using insights to deliver personalized services to customers for higher ROI.

Here is the link: https://hbr.org/2022/07/closing-the-gap-between-digital-marketing-spending-and-performance

4. Fourthly, we’ve picked a piece in the Entrepreneur. According to the Institute for Management Development, 92% of leaders feel the impact of digital disruption, yet only 15% are “very prepared” to navigate their companies through it. By absorbing authors who’ve utilized their skills to advance their careers, you’ll learn how to optimize your own talents and become a more influential leader. And for those heading on Summer holidays here is your reading list.

Here is the link: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/429779

5. Fifthly, we’ve picked a piece, sent to us by Tina Fegent, on Procurement 2022 – The Good the Bad and the Ugly. The ANA has done a swathe of work in this area since a landmark report in 2010. This report highlights the progress, the relationship between marketing procurement and marketing has shown some modest improvement while the relationship between procurement and agencies has not.

Here is the link: https://www.ana.net/miccontent/show/id/rr-2022-07-procurement-good-bad-ugly

6. Sixthly, we liked this piece in Creative Salon. What Do Clients Get Wrong In The Briefing Process, And How Can It Be Made Better? We spend hours working with our clients to get pitch briefs right. And what’s key for us, is to set up each agency for success right from the start of the process. Recent IPA research shows a worrying disconnect between marketers and agencies in the briefing process. We will never have a ‘wildcard agency’ on a final pitch list, it’s just not the done thing.

Here is the link: https://creative.salon/articles/features/qotw-agency-briefing-tips

Time for the Work:- Congrats this month go to Uncommon London – a new campaign for ITV and STV’s ‘Britain get Talking’- which is now the UKs most recognised health campaign. https://uncommonldn.medium.com/itvs-britain-get-talking-the-uk-s-most-recognised-mental-health-campaign-returns-with-63048d55b2a1

Media:- Where to start? We all thought it was the end of the cookie? Its here to stay for now. https://www.techrepublic.com/article/google-delays-removal-of-third-party-cookies-in-chrome-through-2024/

It’s Home:- Congrats! Well, we had to have a special section for the Lionesses and how brands are reacting to the England Euro 22 victory. https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/its-home-brands-reacting-englands-euro-2022-victory/1794630

Back to Henley:- It’s been a great time to be in Henley, with the Summer events, Regattas, Henley Festival and the Traditional Boat Festival were marvelled by superb weather. It’s also been a time when the Conservative Leadership campaign has been rumbling on. So who better to give a balanced view, when we were asked by BBC Newsnight’s Kirsty Wark for our view.

We’re here to help you with your agency resourcing structures, agency reviews, evaluations, and benchmarking to improve your marketing performance, so do get in touch – for anything we may assist you with.

Kind regards,

Will

Our Monthly Round-up of the key pieces in Marketing for June – we’ve chosen six key articles that shape the future of marketing. If you missed any of them – have some time, they are all well worth a catchup. http://haiconsulting.com/category/views/

Our Monthly Round-up includes Ten Takeaways from the Cannes Lions Festival, which took place last month.

Here are our June highlights:-

1. Our top pick this month, it’s Rishad Tobaccowala and his flagship piece on Leadership. It’s an excellent and thought provoking read and is part of his series:- The future does not fit in the containers of the past.

Here is the link: https://rishad.substack.com/p/on-leadership

2. Secondly, we’ve picked a report issued by Deloitte’s this month on employee wellness in the corporate workplace. The Great Resignation is seeping into the corner office, the stats:- 70% of C-level executives telling Deloitte pollsters that they seriously might resign for a job that better supports their well-being. 57% of employees in the Deloitte survey said they were fed up enough to quit too.

Here is the link: https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/topics/leadership/employee-wellness-in-the-corporate-workplace.html

3. Thirdly, we’ve gone for a piece in the Mckinsey Quarterly we liked on climate change – Playing offense to create value in the net-zero transition. Now is the moment for companies to spot green growth opportunities and move boldly to take advantage.

Here is the link: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/sustainability/our-insights/playing-offense-to-create-value-in-the-net-zero-transition

4. Fourthly, we’ve picked a piece from the HBR on how Marketeers can earn and keep customer trust. Christine Alemany talks through three ways:- do not overspin, avoid half truths, read the room & adjust.

Here is the link: https://hbr.org/2022/06/3-ways-marketers-can-earn-and-keep-customer-trust

5. Fifthly, we like the Digital Native substack Rex Woodbury writes, it’s an excellent blog that he adds to each week. This week he looked at the 10 characteristics that define Gen Z. Part II. And 10 startups building on them. If you’re into the Metaverse and Web 3 then he’s definitely one for you to follow.

Here is the link: https://digitalnative.substack.com/p/10-characteristics-that-define-gen-1ab?l

6. Sixthly, we’ve picked an article from the Creative Salon to have their view of Cannes. Sonoo Singh writes ‘Cannes showed that great clients want agencies to take more risks. Work that provokes visceral reactions to what is and isn’t creatively excellent can only be a good thing.’

Here is the link: https://creative.salon/articles/the-conversation/conversation-300622-cannes2

Our Cannes Lions Festival Special:

Having attended Adforum for the last 8 years, and visited Cannes on a fairly regular basis – we thought we’d give you our snapshot or Ten takeaways from the Cannes Lions Festival. We knew beforehand this wouldn’t be be a big year for Cannes creatively as clients and agencies recover from the pandemic, but it was a long overdue catchup. Whilst creativity is front and centre there was an increasing nervousness from clients preparing for another media recession. For some reason this view of recession is more centred in the UK, than on the continent, where wider based European based clients are less concerned.

Here are our Ten Takeaways from the Cannes Lions:-

1. From Creativity to Commerciality, with a big dollop of entertainment

Lots of chat of being back face to face and in person, this year Cannes was a celebration of Commerciality and being there – versus Creativity. Of course the rosẻ flowed – clients and agencies made up for the last three years of not being out and about.

2. Economic Turbulence

Whilst the old adage – if you spend more going into a recession – then you’re are likely to come out stronger was a well trodden story, preparations for turbulence are well underway. Some clients are getting twitchy, some are already protecting creative agency fees, but clipping on their media expenditure.

3. The Fringe

Meetings across the Croisette, the fringe was just as important. As many if not more of the conversations that matter are happening outside Le Palais. With the Carlton closed for a refurb, there were pockets of meetings, rather than the usual Carlton Terrace circus.

4. Ad net Zero

It was great to see the UK leading the way with the AdNetZero global launch. If we’re going to tackle climate change as an industry we’ll have to do it together.

5. Time to Dial Up Purpose

‘Purpose is the new digital’ but when it comes to Cannes and Awards – more awards were given to brands who are ‘doing good in the world’.

6. Broader Backgrounds

From Bristol to Brazil, it was good to see attendees with broader backgrounds, the industry is doing well with diversity and inclusion, we met agency leaders, but we also met startups, Indies, programmers, digital strategists, freelancers, investors, consultants – Cannes really is appealing to all walks of life.

7. Greenpeace

Well they had there moment in the sun, on three separate occasions, when they stormed a beach, scaled the Palais – but it was pretty low key. Whilst the planet is important this type of behaviour is just disruptive.

8. Ads with CX

An ongoing trend we noticed the abundant increase in brand experience entries, versus pure advertising campaigns.

9. Sustainability

The biggest topic of discussion this year was the communicating of sustainability, the progress of clients and their brands, making work sustainably, and buying media that is more sustainable.

10. WPP wins creative crown

WPP has dominated Cannes Lions 2022 after amassing a hoard of 176 Lions including 1 Titanium, 4 Grand Prix, 36 Gold, 47 Silver and 88 Bronze awards. Ogilvy was the network winner – are the network burners about to re-ignite after a few years on the WPP backbenches.

Back to Henley: It’s been Henley Royal Regatta week this last week, and what a great aerial shot of Henley this was taken last week. It’s living proof that the regatta course is a straight course – some 6930 feet, or 1 mile and 550 yards. Congratulations to all those crews/entries taking part, who came from all over the world – this year was the first regatta over six days. We now have a slight pause before the Henley Festival which starts on Wednesday for five further evenings.

In June, Hamilton Associates turned 10 years since our start in the consulting world – at 100 Pall Mall in 2012, so a big thank you to all our clients, agencies, and friends that have helped us along the journey.

We’re here to help you with your agency resourcing structures, agency reviews, evaluations, and benchmarking to improve your marketing performance, do get in touch – for anything we may assist you with.

Kind regards,

Will

Our Monthly Round-up of the key pieces in Marketing for May – we’ve chosen five key articles and a podcast. If you missed any of them – have some time, they are all well worth a catchup. http://haiconsulting.com/category/views/

Our Round-up includes Ten Takeaways from the 20^th Adforum Summit that took place in New York in May.

Here are our May highlights:-

1.       Our top pick this month, and it’s a piece by the Prof Mark Ritson on whether you can achieve long and short marketing goals at the same time. It’s a well written thought provoking piece.

Here is the link: https://www.marketingweek.com/can-you-achieve-long-and-short-at-the-same-time-usually-no/

2.       Secondly, we’ve picked an article from the HBR this month. Traditionally, the most reliable way for a firm to find its next wave of growth was to apply the capabilities of its core business in an adjacent market. But a new pattern has begun to emerge. More firms are learning the art of building large second cores – what Bain’s Zook and Allen call engine twos.

Here is the link: https://hbr.org/2022/05/when-your-business-needs-a-second-growth-engine

3.       Thirdly, we’ve picked a second piece from the HBR this month on Digital transformation. Many companies struggle to reap the benefits of investments in digital transformation, while others see enormous gains. What do successful firms do differently? Marco Iansiti and Satya Nadella describes the five stages of digital transformation.

Here is the link: https://hbr.org/2022/05/democratizing-transformation

4.       Fourthly, we pick a piece form the Creative Salon on the rise of chief client officers. While the role isn’t new, it’s been enjoying a resurgence. Ian Darby seeks why, and what do they do anyway.

Here is the link: https://creative.salon/articles/features/rise-of-chief-client-officers

5.       Fifthly, we pick the Digital Native substack which is just geniusly curated by Rex Woodberry, a partner at Index Ventures. This piece looks at the Cash App which has been the #1 finance app in the App Store for five years running, has 80 million users, and last year was the 8th-most-downloaded app in the U.S. across all categories.

Here is the link: https://digitalnative.substack.com/p/the-rise-of-cash-app-?s=r

6.       Sixthly, we’ve picked a WARC Podcast on How digital brands grow. This piece looks at the laws of growth put forward by Ehrenberg Bass Institute and others, but includes a new narrative from Tom Morton Global CSO of RGA in New York. Tom reconciles the two of the biggest forces in brand building, how brands grow and how big digital internet brands grow. It’s an excellent well thought piece of research.

Here is the link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7lrhKWDCEKQE0FC3NRovvu

Our Adforum Summit Special:

Having attended Adforum for the last 8 years, this New York summit was one of the best attended, most fruitful, and packed with thought leadership. In a week of back to back meetings – 48 consultants from across the world saw 22 agency presentations, including some shorter speed-dating sessions with smaller independent agencies. What you notice immediately in New York is that there is much less traffic and it’s easier to get around. A full time return to office mode is only just happening in New York – we are noting that in London agency presentations are infinitely better for those whom are back in a full time office mode. Packed with the latest buzzwords, we intersected, we doubled down, we deep-dived, we even met a Sugarbusher, at least we no longer have to ‘circle back’.

Here are our Ten Takeaways from across the Adforum Summit in New York:

1.       Growth is the Primary Objective

After two years of an effective slowdown in the industry. Most agencies were robustly reporting much improved figures for 2021 over 2020. An interesting stat, in the US alone, more than 5.5m new companies were registered. So, 2021 was the year of corporate startups in the US – that’s bound to be good news for agencies as those startups will need agency help sooner or later.

2.       The Metaverse and Web 3

It’s causing a marketing cacophony and whilst some believe it more than others, other riducule it for being overhyped. Some brands are experimenting dipping toes in the water, others it’s a step too far. We saw some great examples, from Metaverse to Multi-verse, everyone seems to have a differing point of view. David Jones, founder and CEO of The Brandtech Group commented “What will make the metaverse work will be the ecosystem that grows up around it.”

3.       Transformation of Agencies into Consultancies

We saw a number of agencies making this move – most notably Huge, the brandtech group, and new start-up Proto. Positioning themselves as either ‘technology-based marketing services companies’, the ‘disruptive brand experience company’ or ‘at the intersection of brand, technology and experience’ It’s such an exciting space for these new consultancies – that are just getting started.

4.       Tech is driving effectiveness

The intersection of brand tech and experience would appear to be the fertile sweetspot where a number of the consultancies are trying to position themselves. They are ruthlessly delivering communications powered by data and dashboards. One of the agency groups shared its vision that it wants to ‘reframe marketing as a valuable service by building tech that puts data to work — creatively, precisely and responsibly.’

5.       The C Suite needs mentoring

Another trend we certainly picked up in the number of consultancies challenging the traditional company board – accelerating them along a marketing journey with mentoring. It’s powerful, high end expensive consultancy in the pursuit of corporate growth.

6.       Purpose

Purpose came up, and we met one agency totally devoted to purpose. ‘Purpose is the new digital’ its what they do and there are six aspects to purpose.

7.       Right sizing for growth

We continue to see the growth through M&As which in New York is being led by Stagwell, with more than $200million to invest in new brands each year this looks set to continue.  A few of the holding companies continue to merge their heritage agencies with mar-tech operations.

8.       Office becoming a Campus

As work returns to near normal we are seeing the office become more of a campus. It’s a place to meet rather than a place to live extended hours, though we do see stronger compelling presentations from agencies that are full time back in the office.

9.       Creativity is more important than ever

The pandemic limited the ability to deliver some of the best work. Post pandemic creativity is more important than ever and though – we expect Cannes to be a bit of damp squib, it may take a year or so to see more of the award winning work. That said it was ‘chapeau’ Amazon and Lucky Generals for their Super bowl spot.

10.   Staff need to be valued

We saw a trend that if staff aren’t valued they simply move on. It’s not only about their salaries; they’re wanting to work in agencies where they can succeed and be recognised by their agency leaders. Holding companies have a role to attract the very best talent, but also try to retain them.

The Consultants at 3 WTC

Back to Henley: It’s a short week due to the Jubilee Celebrations, plenty of bunting, boating, scones, clotted cream, jam, tea, cake – Jubilee themed parties. Congrats to HM the Queen on her Platinum Jubilee.

We’re here to help you with your agency resourcing structures, agency reviews, evaluations and benchmarking to improve your marketing performance, do get in touch – for anything we may assist you with.

Kind regards,

Will

Our Monthly Round-up of the key pieces in Marketing for April – we’ve chosen five key articles, and an inspiring brand blog. If you missed any of them – have some time, they are all well worth a catchup. Our May Round-up will include insights from the 20^th Adforum Summit taking place in New York this week. http://haiconsulting.com/category/views/

Here are our April highlights:-

1. Our Top pick this month, we’ve picked a piece from the HBR this month on why marketers are returning to traditional communication methods. The authors explain seven factors driving this trend, including the ability of traditional ads to break through digital clutter. It’s a good read.

Here is the link: https://hbr.org/2022/04/why-marketers-are-returning-to-traditional-advertising

2. Secondly, we’ve gone for the latest piece from McKinsey on how brands can adapt and thrive as the cookie crumbles.

Here is the link: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/as-the-cookie-crumbles-three-strategies-for-advertisers-to-thrive

3. Thirdly, we have picked a UK piece from WARC and the Media Leader on the positive growth of the business. We’re seeing a slight bump up in media spend, that’s not yet filtering through to the creative agencies. UK adspend in 2021 reached £32bn, ahead of expectations. An increase of 34.3% and an absolute increase of £8.2bn year-on-year, £2.3bn ahead of previous expectations. Internet spend increased by 40.5%, or £6.8bn, to a total of £23.5bn.

Here is the Link: https://the-media-leader.com/aa-warc-q1-2022-uk-adspend-outpaces-expectations-rising-34-year-on-year/

4. Fourthly, It’s Rishad Tobaccowala again and one of his latest pieces from his substack – The future does not fit into the containers of the past. This one is on Career goals and its good.

Here is the link: https://rishad.substack.com/p/career-tools?

5. Fifthly, a piece from the Creative Salon. Ian Darby talks to a number of agency leaders. After the last two years of turmoil, agency leaders can be forgiven for feeling a bit punch drunk. But in adversity some important leadership lessons have been learned

Here is the link: https://creative.salon/articles/features/leadership-lessons-feature

6. Sixthly, we’ve picked an excellent blog by Henley local – the Creative Duck on five brand storytelling truths. We recently took twelve Henley businesses to Bremont, for a tour Inside the factory. And from this – Joey McGinn and Nicola Nott produced this fabulous blog on what they learnt.

Here is the link: https://www.thecreativeduck.co.uk/post/five-brand-storytelling-truths-we-learnt-from-bremont

Time for the Work: We love a great marmite ad, and a good piece of OOH. This could be the poshest one yet outside Harrods in Knightsbridge. Congrats to Adam and Eve DDB for this latest gem for Marmite Truffle – Posh! https://creative.salon/articles/work/posh-marmite-adam-eveddb

Media Tech: Only one story in the tech world right now and the demise of Netflix which took a 40% share tumble this month. Here Simon Andrews with Fixlite gives his view. https://mailchi.mp/addictivemobile/fixlitemonday-april-25?e=fcb1e7fb84

Back to Henley: The boat tents and booms are going up on the river. For the first time, there will be six days of Henley Royal Regatta this year in the first week of July. It’s a fine time to be out of the river.

We’re here to help you with your agency resourcing structures, agency reviews, evaluations and benchmarking to improve your marketing performance, do get in touch – for anything we may assist you with.

Kind regards,

Will

Our Monthly Round-up of the key pieces in Marketing for March – we’ve chosen five key articles, a podcast, and a presentation on Moody-Britain this month. If you missed any of them – have some time, they are all well worth a catchup. All on Reviews are now uploaded on our website http://haiconsulting.com/category/views/

Here are our March highlights:-

1. Our Top pick this month, we’ve gone for the latest piece from Rishad Tobaccowala’s series. The future cannot fit in the containers of the past – all his pieces are an excellent read. It’s a great piece on Connectedness this week.

Here is the link: https://rishad.substack.com/p/connectedness?r=8wtij&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

2. Are the advertising networks fighting back? The big six global agency groups added 32,000 jobs in 2021, more than making up for the 24,000 lost roles in 2020 and taking their total headcount to 408,000, according to an analysis by Campaign that’s 8.5% growth in staff numbers.

Here is the link: https://www.campaignasia.com/article/big-six-global-agency-groups-bounce-back-by-adding-32-000-jobs-in-2021/476327

3. Thirdly, we’ve picked a piece by Andy Brown of Gartner on the State of Marketing budgets from their Annual CMO Marketing Report – it’s a valuable set of insights.

Here is the link: https://etc.co.uk/knowledge/gartners-state-of-marketing-budgets-2021/

4. Fourthly, for many years Guinness has had stunning advertising through AMV BBDO. With St. Patrick’s Day in March, Cheltenham and plenty of rugby at Twickenham it’s full flowing but worth the wait. This article written by Elliot Leavy at Creative Salon gets our pick, just love watching the fantastic old ads.

Here is the link: https://creative.salon/articles/features/st-patricks-guinness

5. Fifthly, It’s all Google or is it? This article we picked as an interesting view on the dominance of Google in the UK market place.

Here is the link: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/03/21/googles-unhealthy-dominance-advertising-market-finally-exposed/

6. Sixthly, we’ve picked the Growth House Podcast where CEO Ben Fennell interviews – Henley local – mindfulness speaker and 25 years former Benson helicopter pilot/ squadron leader Sarah Furness. Sarah is an inspiring speaker – hear why -  ‘when it comes to opportunity your arms have to be the right length.’

Here is the link: https://play.acast.com/s/thegrowthhouse/train-hard-and-fight-easy

Moody-Britain: A presentation given by the McCann Uk WorldGroup on the state oof Britain, at their new Bishopsgate offices. McCann showed the trends from their latest Moody Britain research which paints a face of Britishness today. It was good to be back in face to face meetings, Here is the link: https://truthaboutbritain.mccannworldgroup.com/p/1

Time for the Work: We picked the Campaign School Reports. Is that time of year when the agency School reports are published, discover which agencies were scored ‘excellent’ and ‘outstanding’ and read their full report cards. This year’s particularly good with the opinion of UK Editor Chief Gideon Spanier, it is actually the one edition of Campaign – we always refer back to each year. Well done all. https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/school-reports-2022-agencies-amid-pandemic-recovery/1750233

Media: How Goodstuff found Stagwell, it all seems to be going swimmingly well for Goodstuff. A month off pitching – settling down the business – they are back out there winning again. https://mediatel.co.uk/news/2022/03/02/how-and-why-stagwell-and-goodstuff-found-each-other-on-the-beach/

Back to Henley: We always like to support our local businesses in Henley through the Henley Business Partnership, so we were delighted when they picked us for Member of the Month. This month we are doing extra in introducing businesses in Henley to each other. It was great to take another twelve businesses to the Bremont Manufacturing and Technology Centre last week.

We’re here to help you with your agency resourcing structures, agency reviews, evaluations and benchmarking to improve your marketing performance, do contact us for anything we may assist you with.

Kind regards,

Will (07730 431171)