Over two years ago we had the front door repainted, the final act of our own kitchen sink drama.

In preparation for this, I removed the door furniture, including the ‘22’.

Now I should really get round to putting those numbers back up.

I could say it’s because they filled in the holes, so I have to drill new ones.

At least th...

Suddenly there’s a glimpse of a world we used to know.

This year has felt like living in a parallel universe, especially around viruses and politics.

And somehow it got me thinking about the Netflix series, Stranger Things.

The connection between a sci-fi horror TV show set in a fictional town called Hawkins in 1980’s Indiana and a global pandemi...

OK, this distinctiveness or differentiation debate has gone on long enough. They’re both important. Let’s move on.

Next up, which of them comes first?

Like the chicken and the egg.

On this there is some agreement.

Amniotic eggs appeared 340,000,000 years ago.

The first chickens evolved 58,000 years ago.

So the egg wins by a m...

Neither word is quite right, is it?

Only a handful of brands engender feelings that are genuinely emotional.

And only the strongest create more than fleeting connections.

So why do we so love the phrase?

Partly it’s because of what it doesn’t mean.

‘Emotional’ in marketing means not functional. Or rational. Or even irrational.

...

So there I was last week, deep in the analysis of some qual research.

I was trying to pin down a certain type of affiliative need and into my head popped behavioural economics. They’ll have a theory, I thought.

Well I tell you, them biases, they’ve been breeding.

Here’s what I picked out of my Google wormhole.

There’s Social Proof - why po...

What does the word ‘brand’ mean to you?

A. A name or symbol?

B: A type of product made by a particular company?

C: A person’s perception of that product?

D: The framing effect on that perception?

E: The sum total of all your experiences of something

F: The meaningless distinctive assets attached in people’s memory?

G:...

If I were a brand - and I’m not - I’d feel like I’d been stuck in the starting blocks for months.

It would have annoyed the hell out of me watching brands from other categories making hay while the sun shines.

But at least I’m still in the game.

I have data coming out my ears on how people are behaving in these coronary times. I can also see what...

Why do you think we are so divided?

I don’t mean in wealth, ethnicity, politics, nationality, generation, religion, sexuality or epidemiology.

I mean in marketing.

I have a few theories.

Maybe it’s our love of the shiny new thing.

Maybe it’s the age-old clash of art and science.

Maybe it’s reason vs. emotion.

Maybe we...

You know, I can’t actually remember a whole lot about yesterday.

Sat in front of the Mac. Took the dog for a walk. Played tennis for the first time in 100 days. Had pasta for lunch.

Same day last week? No, it’s gone.

Probably had pasta.

Normally my recall is pretty good. Like on a quiz night, although I’m a bit quizzed out at the moment.

...

‘American Skin’ by Bruce Springsteen on his Live in New York City album is 7:45 long. It’s followed by a one-minute pause for thought.

So basically the song is 8:45.

One second less than the length of time Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd’s neck on May 25th, 2020.

41 shots.

That was the inspiration.

That was how many times Amadou...