Think BR

Arif Durrani: Google needs to change its approach to HMRC

Google is in trouble with HM Revenue and Customs and it could get ugly unless the internet giant starts to change the conversation.

Why brands now approach sports sponsorship with caution

Sports sponsorship has always had glamourous appeal - which brand doesn't want to increase its status by being linked to competitiveness, action and success? But of course for all the high octane thrill and drama often associated with sponsoring a te...

Has Abercrombie & Fitch's CEO really made a 'Big, Fat, marketing mistake'?

Abercrombie & Fitch's CEO, Mike Jeffries, is currently under fire about his comments on excluding people who don't fit with the brand.

Brands need to be more original on Instagram

Celebrities are increasingly using Instagram to endorse products, but the problem is they are doing it so badly, writes Richard Alford, managing director at M&C Saatchi.

Julia Corkey: In defence of council newspapers

They are routinely dubbed 'town hall Pravdas' or publications in which 'the sun always shines.'

Steps to success at PRWeek Awards

I'm excited to be chairing the judging for this year's PRWeek Awards.

Man U plays Fergie exit to perfection

In 1986 when Alex Ferguson became Manchester United manager, the club had a value of £15m, a sum that might buy a decent midfield player today.

On the Campaign couch

Dear Jeremy, there have been a lot of new senior staff ap pointed at my agency recently, leaving us all a bit unsettled and unsure of where the character of the agency is heading. What s the best approach: team up with other members of the "old guard...

Here's to the non-conformists

So one of football s managerial greats has gone. Sir Alex Ferguson s era is finally over. The BBC s chief football writer, Phil McNulty, sums him up in three words : "Charismatic, explosive, contrary." It is the latter that explains his brilliance,...

Combining ads, digital and PR is what brands demand

Advertising agency sets up a PR arm. Hardly a new phenomenon. In recent years, Karmarama created Kaper and the gaffers of Golden Square added M C Saatchi PR to their Talk PR spin-off. But what makes Beattie McGuinness Bungay s creation of Seven Dial...

Creatives can still win war with number-crunchers

Campaign s front page last week carried the following dispiriting phrase: "triggered by staff changes in the procurement team at Mercedes headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany". A fragment calculated to dim the joy in even that zaniest of toothsome c...

A view from the bottom

I ve just read, on a fascinating new Tumblr, that you know you ve been in advertising for too long if you think "impactful" is a word and you wear a woolly hat indoors. I m a relative newbie, so this news makes me scratch my head (beanies can reall...

The easy way to judge a creative agency: look at what's on its walls

If this sentence doesn t grab you, then I m wasting my time. That seems to be the general rule with articles we use the first sentence to determine whether the whole thing s worth reading. I ve been thinking about this recently because I ve been ...

Arif Durrani: Reflection as well as celebration at Nabs' Big Bash

It was a night of mixed emotions at the Nabs Big Bash last week. More than 1,000 people gathered to support the charity's glittering annual fundraiser at Battersea Evolution, in what also formed the focal point of its centenary celebrations. But it w...