Values

October 18, 2010 by Simon Mainwaring

Millennials have a profound relationship to brands according to a new report (‘8095’) released last week by the world’s largest PR firm, Edelman. It’s almost as important as religion or ethnicity in their lives. But while this research shows how important brands are to Millennials, does the same apply to brands? Do they frame their […]

October 13, 2010 by Simon Mainwaring

There must be something about advertising to guys that makes top brands do strange things. Less than a year ago Pepsi was royally and rightly reprimanded for its AMP Cola iPhone app that told men to “AMP up before they score”, Coca-Cola is making an equally tasteless appeal on behalf of Coke Zero. Their site invites […]

September 27, 2010 by Simon Mainwaring

Pepsi makes brown sugar water that can contribute to obesity. Dove’s ‘Real beauty’ campaign was created by Unilever that also does the Axe campaign. Walmart has raised the bar on sustainability standards. In fact, almost every brand doing meaningful work can be accused of providing some product or service that can be harmful, and many so-called […]

August 25, 2010 by Simon Mainwaring

The title for this post paraphrases a quote from a Chinese salesman featured in a story on counterfeit products in the New York Times magazine last weekend. While the salesman was speaking directly to accusations regarding the legality of selling counterfeit sneakers, he touched on a much larger issue for marketers. Since the birth of […]

August 2, 2010 by Simon Mainwaring

Last Friday I had to the privilege of speaking at the NCSA Annual Conference (National Collegiate Scouting Association) in Chicago. Not only did I get to meet some of the top athletes, coaches and scouts in the country, but I got to experience first hand what I believe is the most important trait that any […]

November 16, 2009 by Simon Mainwaring

In 1964, Marshal McLuhan made the famous statement: “The medium is the message”. More recently, Stowe Boyd stated, “Meaning is the new search.” I would like to add something to this trajectory of thought: Meaning is media. We are all now capable of being content producers. As a result, the traditional distinction between media silos […]