Brand Republic Blogs

Nike’s country before club campaign is doomed to fail External website

by John Reynolds, 20/05/2013

The Barclays Premier League season may have finished for the players, who have nothing more taxing to look forward to than kicking back and relaxing for two months somewhere they see as exotic, more than likely to be a teammate’s marital bed.

Why do clever people keep doing stupid stuff? External website

by Andy Nairn, 20/05/2013

Everybody’s heard of the code-crackers of Bletchley Park. The boffins at this Buckinghamshire mansion were responsible for British Intelligence’s biggest breakthrough of all time and were instrumental in turning World War II in the Allies’ favour. They deciphered the Germans’ infamous Enigma code, were hailed by Churchill as “the geese that laid the golden eggs but never cackled” and have been immortalised in several blockbuster movies and books.

by @gordonmacmillan, 20/05/2013

Pinterest is getting closer to big brands as it announces three new types of pin that will highlight major US retailers.

It marks Pinterest’s first step towards associating images directly with brands and could be the beginning of a change on the social network that sees it become a marketplace as well as a site where people pin ideas of things they like or that inspire them.

by Andrew Walsh, 20/05/2013

The Barclays Premier League is increasingly looking like a recession proof business but there are good reasons why it attracts so much money.

We all know about the rising value of TV rights, thanks not just to the forthcoming battle between BSkyB and BT but also to the fact that it’s now broadcast in 212 territories by 80 different broadcasters.

Undervalued External website

by Jonathan Staines, 20/05/2013

Can I tell you about my local fish and chip shop? It’s excellent. The quality of their product is superb. The staff are friendly, helpful and seemingly loyal to their employer. The shop is always busy – it’s a thriving business. But get this. Amazingly, Mr Fish doesn’t have brand values. And what’s more – they don’t appear to need them. So, my question is this. Brand values – what’s the point?

by Robert Phillips, 20/05/2013

Despite predictions of the demise of email, figures from the Radicati Group show that there were around 2.1 billion emails users in 2012, with the number set to grow beyond 2.8 billion in the next four years.

by Jeff Siegel, 20/05/2013

Parks Associates recently forecast that by the end of 2013, connected TVs will be present in 32 per cent of all Western European homes. By 2016 this is expected to have risen to 54 per cent – and when you consider how “new” this technology is, such adoption rates really should make industries such as advertising stand up and take notice.

by @gordonmacmillan, 20/05/2013

The UK Independence Party is looking to exploit divisions in the Conservative Party with an ad campaign launched today.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage has sent a rallying cry to disaffected Tories to join his party’s growing ranks as the Conservatives fight over Europe and gay marriage.

by Greg Taylor, 20/05/2013

First there was easyJet. Then easyHotel. And now there’s easyGym.
Yes, Stelios has expanded into the fitness market with a chain of no-frill gyms. You can already work up an orange sweat in six spots across the UK. And from next month, there’ll be a new branch on Oxford Street, too. (Good find, Andy P.)

by Chris J Reed, 19/05/2013

In the week that it was shown that users only visited the planet Google+ for less than 7 minutes a month it’s interesting to look at how a contemporary rock artist brand goes about using social media in their marketing and the different levels of interest on different platforms.

by @gordonmacmillan, 19/05/2013

UPDATE: Yahoo has officially confirmed its acquisition of Tumblr. In a blog post, Yahoo CEO, Marissa Mayer, reassured Tumblr users as she promised Yahoo would try “not to screw it up”.

by Ardi Kolah, 17/05/2013

Defamatory video must be removed from the internet rules Ireland's High Court in an action against Facebook, YouTube and Google that could open the floodgates to fresh litigation against the internet giants

Viva Forever brand Beckham External website

by John Reynolds, 17/05/2013

What was David Beckham’s best career move? Signing for Manchester United? His £25m transfer to Real Madrid?

Nope, it was his marriage to Posh Spice in 1999, a union that yanked him from the back pages of newspapers to the front pages and kick-started the unceasing rise of brand Beckham into a global phenomenon.

What we can all learn from how Daft Punk won the web External website

by Chris Reed, 17/05/2013

For an industry supposedly in demise, the music business is leading the way when it comes to generating social currency. And, for the savviest of social marketers, generating sales as well.

by Martin Talks, 17/05/2013

Bricks and motor retail business is under huge pressure and technology sometimes seems to be its enemy. But in fact technology could be offline retail’s saviour.

A challenge is to know what technology to invest in when it everything changes so fast. In such circumstances, it is a great help to root oneself in the way consumers make decisions and consider how technology can best be used to persuade them. There are three key principles of persuasive decision interfaces and in each case digital technology can give the offline retailer an edge:

by @gordonmacmillan, 17/05/2013

Can Yahoo get its “cool back”? As that is what it is trying to do according to CFO Ken Goldman and one of the ways it might try and achieve that is to buy Tumblr.

by Richard Fullerton, 17/05/2013

Unilever - Bringing vitality to life.

Our agency, MCS, recently exhibited at the Suffolk Business Exhibition in Ipswich and we held a competition for visitors to our stand whereby they had to recall the slogans of 17 top brands. Most were flummoxed and the eventual winner ‘only’ got 11 correct (probably with a little help from the internet). Try these three (I’ve reversed them so you have to guess the brand from the slogan): 1) Trusted everywhere, 2) Looking after your world, 3) Bringing it all together.

Data & Creative: friends or foes? External website

by Dina Green, 17/05/2013

The marketing world is a very different place from what it was fifteen, ten or even five years ago. The impact of technology on how marketers approach and engage audiences is something that is still in a major state of flux and, with the current speed of technological development, this isn’t likely to change soon. But this is familiar ground.

by Mark Holden, 17/05/2013

We’ve heard this before: we need to get serious about mobile as game-changer, especially in retail. And, yes, we’ve heard it because it’s impossible to ignore. The rapid developments are particularly acute in the UK. We love our smartphones: the average UK mobile connection used 424 megabytes of data per month, ahead of Japan (392 megabytes) and the US (319 megabytes), despite being 4G newbies.

by Greg Taylor, 17/05/2013

Some robots would be no good at mixing a martini. C3PO, for example, would no doubt bruise the gin with those inflexible elbows of his, despite his plummy butler act. But these ‘guys’ put the most balletic of bartenders to shame. Fresh from MIT’s Senseable City Lab and rocking the bar in Milan is Makr Shakr: three robotic arms that can mix any drink you desire.