At eighteen, we wear what everyone else wears. Most of us are frightened of individuality at that age, not least when we're far away from home and trying to fit in (students etc). Therefore, most of teen culture since the 1950's has involved some sort of uniform that, in one contradictory swoop, enables them to…

I often think the daftest thing you can possibly do is read the same stuff as everyone else. Contagious, Archive, Creative Review, the D&AD book – all it gives you is stuff to copy…and guess what everyone else is doing? Self obsession is never an attractive trait, and ad/digital type people are one of the…

There was one other thing on that IPA Modern Briefing that, talking about it with someone, made me go 'Are you sure?'. It was something Patricia Macdonald (from Glue )raised. Before I start, let me state that she's obviously a lot cleverer, successful and talented than I could hope to be. Let me also say…

(sorry about the visual pun) So I went to the IPA Modern Briefing event yesterday and it was really good. It's true that planning often spends too much time talking to itself, but this felt different.Thankfully because the speakers didn't fall into that dreadful trap of fetishising the brief- you know, sad planning directors tinkering…

With a two year old, it's inevitable I get my fair share of kids telly. Most of it manages that genius balance of being mostly aimed at kids, but with enough subtle adult themes to get parents watching with their offspring. Which means the usual, tired old archetype of Dad as the feckless idiot who…

  There are two kinds of shopping. Hunting. Gathering.   Hunting is the task based version when you know exactly what you want and desire to get it over with as soon as possible. It's the supermarket shop, it's the traditional man looking to buy a shirt. But it's also the woman looking for the…

It's quite fashionable at the moment to dismiss research as worthless, limiting or the enemy of creativity. Despite a sneaky suspicion that much of this comes from those who want to avoid doing the kind of hard work that creates amazing work that has an effect, rather than just amazing work, one can't help but…

Talent is OK. But it's hard work that makes greatness. If you want to be stupidly amazing at anything, you have to put the hours in. Ten thousand according to Malcomn Gladwell. The only thing superhuman about sports stars is years of superhuman graft. You have to earn it. There are no short cuts. Years…

One of the most hallowed pieces of recieved wisdom in brand thinking is the iron rule of differentiation. Nearly every marketing textbook tells is that brands need to differentiate or die. Kotler, Riess and Trout, they're all at it. So it's surprising then, that most brand communication in any category looks and feels exactly the…