Hello out there. Can anyone help me understand a bit more about Dubai? If anyone has any data on: How much flesh you can bare in advertising Rules on religious reference in advertising Any stuff on women’s relationship with hair, salons and who the style opinion formers might be.. …….I would be so grateful that…

The trailer for Indy IV is out. Had a big stupid grin watching this, please make it be good. MY family were all in Blackpool at the national swimming championships when Raiders came out. It was chucking it down, so we decided to see a film. The kids voted – Clash of the Titans or…

Adam from work has a blog called Adam’s ads (we’re also making some agency t-shirts together by the way). He’s set out to post an ad or two every Monday that will make you smile. Remember those? Ads you want to watch. This is my personal favourite we all used to copy the walk in…

The Northern Planning meetings resume Thursday 21st February, somewhere in Manchester. I’ll there, Rob will, Gemma will and so will Simon. Probably Mr Furlong too. Anyone else fancy a drink and a chat about stuff? Be nice to see you. I’ll post venues soon – as for time, about 7.30ish.

Until very recently, I spent a lot of time working on a sofa retailing brand. I don’t regret a single minute, but I won’t miss it that much. That’s not because it’s considered the creative doldrums, more do with the wrongheaded way they stick to tshort term actics orather than developing fans. Ikea is an…

I wonder if slavishly following ‘lifestyle’ propositions can get in the way of good thinking sometimes. Much of strategy works make a ‘lifestyle’ available for purchase. If you don’t like your life, buy a new one…..have a garden makeover, a new ‘look’ for your wardrobe. This can make up for the tedium of life of…

Following on from that ‘the world will be fine’ post, something else struck me on history teaching us about the future. Made me optimistic too. There have been some wonderful innovations in human history, but the real leaps in the development of our species have pretty much been forced by necessity. Like the way we…

Home sweet home. Somewhere deep in our subconscious, there’s this idea of a perfect home. It looks beatiful, smells delicious and you’re always happy. There’s a little voice that won’t go away that tells you this is the home you should live in. Love will blossom in it, our lives will be this shiny vision…

I was glued to a series the BBC did recently on the power of the earth. It covered volcanoes, the sea, the climate and icebergs amongst other things. And you know what? When you look at the long history of the world, you realise how insignificant today’s global warming really is. There have been five…

After a good dinner, one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relations Oscar Wilde The daily ritual of meals – the shared preparation and eating with others – can bring people together in more ways than one. Bonds are formed, richer connections come about. There’s more time to listen to each other, indulge, inform. But…