Simon Mainwaring

We First provides consulting and training to help companies tell the story of their good work in ways that build their business

Brands

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Social media has opened the door to far more effective dialogue between brands and consumers. Like any relationship, though, if both parties aren’t equally invested it’s unlikely to last. At first, many brands just rushed to have any sort of social media presence. In my experience it went something like this. Twitter account. Check. Facebook […]

Social media has opened the door to far more effective dialogue between brands and consumers. Like any relationship, though, if both parties aren’t equally invested it’s unlikely to last. At first, many brands just rushed to have any sort of social media presence. In my experience it went something like this. Twitter account. Check. Facebook …

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“Radio equals listening to the playlists of unknown radio people. Newspapers equal reading the playlists of unknown newspaper people. I want to read and hear lists curated by people I know.” I read these words a couple of weeks ago. They touched on an important trend that will change the advertising industry. Traditional silos (television, …

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Last week the Brookings Institute kindly included me in the U.S./Islamic World Forum in Qatar. It was a fantastic collaborative and learning experience. The theme for our working group was ‘New Media in the Age of Globalization”. Our group was comprised of State Dept. officials, religious leaders, private sector business leaders, Middle Eastern philanthropists and …

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These are fighting words, especially from an ad guy such as myself, but I see several reasons to argue the case. 1. CONSUMER GENERATED CONTENT HAS EARNED RESPECT: Last week the New York Times contained a provocative piece noting that the most popular Super Bowl ad was created by consumers (Doritos). This is just one, …

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For a long time advertising has operated on a conceit that brands and consumers were in dialogue when, in truth, brands were dictating consumer behavior, pushing messaging on the public and often exploiting their trust or gullibility. Phrases such as “We’re here to help you”, “We put you first” and notions like customer-centric companies sounded …

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Ordinarily I wouldn’t write about this sort of thing as it’s so close to home but it’s such a wonderful example of how a brand can use service to its advantage. At Christmas I went home to Australia to visit my family. At LAX, my daughter was wandering through a store while waiting to board …

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