Mark Ritson: The first rule of marketing is you are not the customer
There is a great lowball question that you can use on anyone interviewing for a marketing role. Ask the candidate to imagine a leading tennis brand is looking for a…
Marketing Week
Mark Ritson: Stop propping up brand purpose with contrived data and hypocrisy
Another week, another bit of patchy methodological puffery making the case for brand purpose. This week’s fluff came from Channel 4 and reinforced the fact that our marketing knowledge base…
Marketing Week Masters Awards ‘Brand of the Year’ nominations revealed
A total of 10 brands have been nominated for the Marketing Week Masters’ ‘Brand of the Year’, powered by YouGov. Eight of the brands have been chosen by the Marketing…
Mark Ritson: Distinctiveness doesn’t need to come at the cost of differentiation
Tom Roach and his team of effectiveness monkeys have been at it again at BBH London. Every now and again they sit down and stitch together a bunch of separate…
Mark Ritson: A true brand purpose doesn’t boost profit, it sacrifices it
I was at a conference in Stockholm this week. One of the attendees asked me over coffee about Verizon’s new brand purpose and what the statement actually meant. I confessed…
Mark Ritson: Think TV is dying? You’re forgetting about the ‘Knopfler Effect’
Alas, I am old. I can remember glimpsing the initial efforts of MTV on American TV screens and then, a little later, on the sets back in the UK. And…
Mark Ritson: Mastercard’s wordless logo shows the power of distinctive brand codes
Stay away from logos, pantones and fonts. That’s always been my credo when it comes to the more graphical elements of brand management. It’s also the advice I give to…
The best marketing campaigns of 2018: Part 2
KFC – ‘FCK’ KFC faced disaster in February when it was forced to shut hundreds of restaurants temporarily because it had run out of chicken. Beyond the obvious hit to…
Marketing Week Masters Awards 2018: The channel winners
The Marketing Week Masters Awards took place at London’s Tobacco Dock last night (9 October). The biggest of their kind in the UK, the awards cover everything in marketing from…
