Only Dead Fish

Post of the Month - November 2020 - The Vote

Thanks for the nominations. So our vote this month is between:

Zenko Mapping - A Video Introduction by John Willshire

From Frameworks to Flywheels by Zoe Scaman

Long live the King: Burger King's advertising plays a different game by Faris Yakob

Getting in and Getting on by Will Humphrey

Questioning Things (a strategists guide to art) by Harriet Kindleysides

The Great Distractor by James Bridle

And you can vote below:

Post of the Month - November 2020 - Nominations

It's time again for nominations for Post of the Month. So if there's a post which you've read over the past month that you thought was particularly good do nominate it by sending me the link or leaving it in the comments below. As always I have a short starting list (with some real crackers in it) which I've set out below but please do add to these with your own nominations. So I have four starting nominations this month which are:

Zenko Mapping - A Video Introduction by John Willshire

From Frameworks to Flywheels by Zoe Scaman

Long live the King: Burger King's advertising plays a different game by Faris Yakob

Getting in and Getting on by Will Humphrey

Please do add to these with your own nominations. 

Google Firestarters Episode 2: Lindsay Pattison

I'm delighted to announce episode 2 in our series of Google Firestarters chats - this one with the brilliant Lindsay Pattison, Chief Client Officer, WPP. The conversation with Lindsay was pretty wide-ranging but she had some fascinating thoughts around how the old delineation between agency types and roles is now less meaningful and about the job has evolved from answering the brief to being more about creating the brief. I also loved her points about becoming anti-fragile, and about being interested and interesting (a key theme for Firestarters). Do have a watch/listen. 

Post of the Month - October 2020 - The Winner

Well it was quite a close run vote this month between JP Castlin's post on how marketers should focus on cash flows and Amy Kean's piece on how social media is breaking us but in the end it was the latter that won through. So well done to Amy who is now a double winner of Post of the Month and joins the hall of fame. My thanks to all that took part in the vote.

Google Firestarters Episode 1: Richard Huntington

Well, after something of a COVID-related hiatus I'm delighted to announce that Google Firestarters is returning as a brand new video interview series featuring some of the most insightful and interesting people in the advertising and media industry. Pre-COVID we'd done nine years of live Firestarters events (something like 90 events in total) over which time we've had some amazing talks from a truly diverse range of speakers and so we'll be building on this legacy.

Firestarters always been about the most interested and interesting people in the industry and we've lined up some brilliant people to be a part of it. The chats will each be no longer than 30-40 minutes and loosely structured around five key questions about the biggest learning and the biggest mistake that our interviewees have made in their career, and the key insights and predictions that they'd like to share about the future of industry. As always Scriberia will be providing the visualisation. 

I'm really happy to say that our first Google Firestarters video is with the brilliant Richard Huntington, Chairman and CSO at Saatchi London. I love Richard's energy and positivity, and in this chat he shares some excellent insights into the power of commercial creativity, the value of salesmanship, and the importance of strong opinions lightly held. Do take time to watch it, and of-course share. I'm so pleased that we've been able to keep the Firestarters torch burning, and hope that this will serve to open up Google Firestarters to an even wider industry audience.