Digital consultant, writer & speaker on design, business and technology trends
Originally published on spiked. Michael Wolff, the designer who irritated Thatcher and helped rebrand Labour, talks about being creative during a recession. ‘Many designers will probably take more risks in how they drive than in how they design.’ So says Michael Wolff, once partner of world-famous brand agency Wolff Olins and now of Michael Wolff […]
Continue ReadingOriginally published on Netimperative. Today, the entire marketing industry is being severely tested when the gap between what a brand represents and what people seem to want is getting wider. The internet has helped clarify this when what customers click on, tweet and search for can be easily measured. The conclusions often shows what people […]
Continue ReadingOriginally published on Netimperative. Social media is less about searching for new ideas than it is about brand building and loyalty. But brands need more than loyalty to remain competitive, especially in a recession. The excitement in social media might turn out to be an unfortunate diversion away from the necessary task of having to […]
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Originally published in The Big Issue. The rise of ‘virtual communities’ has changed the face of politics. But are MPs genuine about online engagement – or is it just more spin? The Times restaurant critic Giles Coren recently experimented with Twitter, the phenomenally successful online social networking tool. He used it to review London’s Criterion […]
Continue ReadingOriginally published on spiked. When I was a student in Falmouth, Cornwall, there was always one pub that would guarantee a fight as part of a night out. The Pirate Inn (now sadly defunct) was notorious; drinking there would regularly mean hiding under a table to avoid flying glassware. A few years later, the Pirate […]
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Originally published on spiked. Digital broadband: are you connected? If you’re not, then you are missing out, according to the UK government’s latest report, Digital Britain (1). But what the government is offering us is a technologically limited ambition tied to a framework of heavy regulation. All this so that it can ram its own vision of […]
Continue ReadingVenue Hub Kings Cross, London. With a few others I presented a ‘stump speech’ on what I think are the major barriers to innovation. As reported, I said “we are in the middle of a cult of managerialism”. Companies, politics and culture in general has become fixated by KPIs, ROI and measuring everything that must […]
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