Our Monthly Round-up of the key articles in Marketing for March – we’ve chosen four key articles, a podcast and a Truth about New Europe Presentation, this month’s focus is on the changing workplace. If you missed any of them – have some time, they are all worth a catchup. We look forward to catching up with you to see how we may assist your teams to help design and grow your marketing ecosystem.

Wishing all our clients, agencies, and friends an enjoyable long Good Friday weekend.

Our March Highlights:

1. Our Top Pick this month is an article/thought piece from Richad Tobaccowala, part of his series – The Future Does Not Fit in the Containers of the Past. Edition 138. This substack has quite an amazing collection of articles and think pieces, delivered to us on a Sunday and always full of thought leadership.

Here is the link: https://rishad.substack.com/p/the-new-world-of-work

2. We attended a fascinating presentation and panel discussion on the Truth about New Europe this month by McCann Worldgroup at their new London campus. An extensive piece of research from the network that had been very well pulled together. Good to see the levels of positivity post pandemic returning by country, the role of brands in defining the future, what politicians can and can’t do, and the questionable influence of our media.

Here is the microsite link: https://truthaboutneweurope.mccannworldgroup.com/p/1

3. Thirdly, we have picked a great piece from the Harvard Business Review on Work Time and Busyness. Leisure was once the sign of prestige – today that idea has been turned on its head, and busyness is the new status symbol. Busy people are considered important and impressive, and employees are rewarded for showing how “hard” they’re working. Such thinking is misguided. This article explores both the downsides of busyness (employee turnover, reduced engagement, absenteeism, and impaired health) and the reasons for our obsession with it.

Here is the link: https://hbr.org/2023/03/beware-a-culture-of-busyness

4. Fourthly, it’s the era of the Substack – and a couple that caught our eye. We recommend: MovingTribes.com by Ian Shepherd – this month it included a piece on the future of John Lewis. And the other is Offtolunch.com. Dame Sharon White is taking John Lewis on a difficult journey – Andy Street has urged bosses not to change it’s magical staff ownership formula.

Here are the two links: https://movingtribes.substack.com/p/knowingly-undersold https://offtolunch.substack.com/p/waitrose-and-employee-ownership#details

5. Fifthly, we’re a great fan of the Digital Native substack and we came across this piece on the Maslow’s hierarchy of startups. All humans have needs, and every company seeks to fulfill a need. Needs can vary greatly. Some companies exist to put food on our tables, our most basic human need, it’s a good read.

Here is the link: https://digitalnative.substack.com/p/maslows-hierarchy-of-startups?

6. Sixthly, we pick a podcast from Mckinsey on retail growth and the big sprint to Cuctomer obsession. What does purposeful growth look like in the retail sector? Two former Nike executives share the company’s secret formula for serving customers with its shift to digital, direct-to-consumer model, and sustainability.

Here is the link: https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/retail-growth-the-big-sprint-towards-customer-obsession

Time for the Work: It’s congrats to BBH and Hofmeister this month for top work – bringing back the bear.  https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-hofmeister-brewing-company-ltd/

Workplace: We couldn’t leave Tom Morton’s piece out of our Monthly Review, so specific to the workspace. It’s really interesting to see what the future of agency offices will be. https://www.marketingbrew.com/stories/2023/03/13/agencies-are-still-split-on-what-the-future-of-work-looks-like

Media: Defending the budget in a downturn – we came across this piece in Campaign Magazine by Sam Tomlinson of PwC and Ian Whittaker of Liberty Sky Advisers and found it useful. https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/defend-brand-marketing-budget-downturn/1816674

Back to Henley: It’s the Devizes to Westminster 125 mile canoe race this weekend. Good luck to Cllr. Laurence Plant who is taking part.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 Gavin Jackson a local architect. https://www.henleystandard.co.uk/section/13/business

After 12 years, as a Town Councillor in Henley, I have decided it’s time to stand down, so good luck to the team seeking Election on May 4th. It’s Adforum in April, so expect the highlights from New York in next month’s Round-up.

We’re here to help you review your marketing ecosystem and improve marketing performance, so do call us, or email us with any questions you may have, big or small, we’re here to help you when we can.

Kind regards,

Will