Received wisdom tells us that businesses should do enough to stay in business, naturally enough. It also tells us staying in business in itself is not enough. Businesses and brands should also show leadership, pursuing a social purpose, so says the received wisdom. It motivates workers and it mobilises customers.
Continue reading “What’s the purpose of marketing in 2024?”
We’ve learned an awful lot about working from home. It has given many people the freedom to combine work with more family time. It has been the miracle that has kept the economy spluttering on through the lockdowns.
Continue reading “Company cultures are running on fumes: should we return to the office?”
Small businesses, not taxpayer handouts and public works, will be at the heart of economic recovery. They will start up, create jobs, build, grow and bristle with vitality.
Some will say small businesses need handouts and top-down schemes to get moving again. But not necessarily. For a great many, getting the money that is already theirs will be enough.
Continue reading “Time to call late payments what they are: “unapproved debt””
Worlds away, back in March, “it’s on all of us” is how the then-rookie chancellor, Rishi Sunak, set out the challenges ahead. “We want to look back on this time and remember how, in the face of a generation-defining moment, we undertook a collective national effort – and we stood together. It’s on all of us”.
Continue reading ““It’s on all of us.” Three things responsible firms do”
Survival has been the name of the game, but it is not an end game.
For many firms, the main focus so far has been to batten down the hatches in the face of rising uncertainty.
It is time to start rebuilding. Gradually, the economy will start to splutter back into life. We will be at the foot of a tall mountain.
How should businesses and brands start to rebuild? What should they do differently? Where is the solid ground to build on? Will they regret cutting marketing spend? Continue reading “Six steps to prepare for the recovery”
Too much has been written about what Brexit might or might not mean.
What it does mean is that business, ordinary people and politicians will all soon have a much bigger role in the decisions that shape our everyday lives. Continue reading “A new type of corporate citizenship?”
This first appeared in The Article on 7 November 2019
Is it possible that Dany Cotton, the head of the London Fire Brigade, is so conceited and heartless that she really would do nothing differently if Grenfell played out again?
I don’t know, but I doubt it. It’s hard to believe that anyone could willingly be so crass. Continue reading “The Grenfell inquiry illustrates the need for an Apology Act”
This blog first appeared over at Prolific London.
Just when you think there isn’t room in the world for another business index, the very smart people at communications agency Portland have created the Total Value Index. Continue reading “Purpose? How should business value be measured?”
This blog is based on a short quote which the Financial Times was kind enough to include in “Boeing criticised for not acting faster“.
Boeing appeared to be trying to win the wrong argument. Continue reading “Boeing tried to win the wrong argument”
This article first appeared in the August 2018 edition of CorpComms Magazine
The Apology Clause campaign (www.apologyclause.com) aims to make it easier for businesses to behave with compassion when things go wrong, and so to help victims have better recoveries.
Here we look at what is behind the campaign, and why it is important for professional communicators charged with protecting corporate reputation. Continue reading “Meaningful apologies matter”
Basic marketing practice generally means identifying a segment of people with common characteristics and then trying to work out what few triggers will attract as many of them as possible. Continue reading “The myth of the millennial market”
The researchers at professional services firm EY reveal four fifths (82%) of us believe a brand’s values must include a clear purpose. This purpose is critical in deciding whether or not we will buy from them.
The difficulty with this conclusion, and many like it, is that what people mean by purpose can be misunderstood, and such analysis can be overly simplistic and too easily miss a point. Continue reading “Do brands really need a “social purpose” to do good?”
Corbet Communications 