Brand Aid Blog
Richard Taylor of Simpsons Creative offers the inside track on the importance of brand and hot topics in marketing.
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Ten million people can’t be wrong – or can they?
At the after-hours postmortem of the week in our local pub we agency types used to occasionally play a game of ‘Brandicide’. Someone would nominate a... Read More
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The Covid Conundrum…
The Covid-19 pandemic divided the country into two camps, and I don’t mean the healthy and the vulnerable, but the selfish and the selfless. In... Read More
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Argos goes totally digital: Is this the final page for print?
Do you remember football pools, Green Shield Stamps and Christmas Clubs – those quaintly old-fashioned ways in which our grans and grandads saved or... Read More
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Advertising with bite – from old men with all their own teeth!
I once had a work colleague who complained that she got her first wrinkle before she lost her last spot. Or, to put it another way, her prime was... Read More
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Love Island deserves its place in the sun
‘My girlfriend Julia watched all of the last series of Love Island’. There, I’ve said it, I’m a whole lot better for getting that out of my system... Read More
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The best and worst of public service advertising
If you have something to say, say it. If you have nothing to say, use showmanship. That’s the philosophy that some live by in the advertising... Read More
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Who appointed the media as wet nurses to the world?
It’s now a commonplace to see a couple in a restaurant, ostensibly enjoying a tête à tête, but each communing silently with their smart phones.... Read More
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Under the influence – who really rules social media?
Does social media influence carry the seeds of its own destruction? It begins in innocence, unfeigned enthusiasm and transparent honesty. You share... Read More
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On the nice and good in advertising
‘Naughty but nice’ the famous slogan for real cream cakes, illustrates that the nice and the good are seldom the same thing. Or as people often... Read More
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Operation snowflake: Have Army recruitment Ads gone soft?
‘Bring back National Service’ is the oft repeated cry of the older generation when the current crop of youth seems particularly feckless. The idea... Read More
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2018 was a very good year for creativity in advertising
I’ve said before that nostalgia isn’t what it used to be, but is that true of the ad game? In previous posts I have looked at some of the best... Read More
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The great Ads that almost didn’t get made!
Make them laugh, make them cry, make them buy!’ is a slogan that neatly sums up the golden age of advertising that is currently being celebrated by... Read More
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It’s official: Cambridge is the poshest town in Britain
“The Proprietor begs to inform the Nobility, Gentry and the Public generally, that every article of business can be had at the above Establishment,... Read More
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Brand spanking old! There’s no such thing as ‘new’ in advertising
Man has split the atom, set foot on the moon and made scientific advances in practically every field of human endeavour from astronomy to zoology,... Read More
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Don’t try to understand us – we’re a communications company!
Isn’t it ironic that an industry whose business is communications is so given to obfuscation? I refer of course to the marketing profession, of... Read More
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Remember you’re running a business, not saving the world!
“It’s summer. You’re thirsty. We’ve got sales targets”. So ran an honest – and rather amusing – ad for Oasis, the soft drinks manufacturer. I have to... Read More
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The ugly truth about effective marketing
I was reading an article in the Huffington Post entitled ‘Why Women Gladly Date Ugly Men (and Often Prefer Them)’ which gave me new hope and set me... Read More
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Advertisers! Want to engage on Twitter? Trump the Innocent might hold the key
Since the turn of the year I can’t escape the feeling that Britain has got even closer to becoming the 51st state of America than ever before: all... Read More
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In 2017, honesty will be the best sales policy
A brand is not just a logo. It’s everything you are and everything you do in terms of both your image and your communications. Or to use a less... Read More
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Brexit isn’t the problem. It’s being stuck Betwixit!
Can things possibly get any worse than they did in 2016? No, don’t answer that! The year was full of, mostly, unwelcome surprises: the Referendum... Read More