A slight shift in focus

by | 20 Jan, 2026 | Structures & Models

I’m vaguely pondering starting up a newsletter/podcast/etc exploring media/marketing received wisdom and groupthink…

The Superbowl, Davos, and ChatGPT’s announcement it’s running ads means media/marketing LinkedIn will be swamped with lukewarm hot takes this week.

This industry herd mentality is increasingly fascinating to me – the need to comment on the same things everyone else is talking about is rarely “thought leadership”, and is very far from the old advertising mantra “When the world zigs, zag”.

I’ve spent a decade in marketing, more than double that in publishing. In all that time I’ve rarely encountered many convincing new ideas – even during major platform shifts. And usually when I have, the evidence for “best practice” has lacked much substance – or blatantly originated in some tech company’s hype (as with the first, second, and third pivots to video, and certainly with the “everything needs to be optimised for Alexa now” fad).

It feels like we’ve now all got so used to running with the latest fad for fear of missing out or – worse! – looking out of touch, we’ve lost all sense of critical thinking, or desire to question industry norms.

But is this something in which enough people would be sufficiently interested to make it worthwhile? And will it cut through the algorithm – another idea we’ve all unthinkingly adopted?

On the value of awards

by | 16 Aug, 2024 | Marginalia

A stock photo of a Cannes Lion awardThis from John Hegarty resonated. Unpopular opinion, but awards – especially in B2B marketing – are the ad industry equivalent of social media vanity metrics. They may get you marginally more reach (usually long after the campaign’s over), but rarely with your real target audiences.

What’s worse, the positive signals award wins send out can create feedback loops of groupthink about tactics that can actively harm your ability to deliver.

I know it’s tough to demonstrate marketing effectiveness, but award wins rarely prove much beyond that marketing people like something. So unless you’re selling to marketers, they don’t really have much value.

This means awards make perfect sense for agencies (and individuals) to enter – but for their clients? The point of marketing is to improve brand perception and make sales with your buyers, not getting a round of applause from other marketers.

Which is why, often, I find the less glamorous side of marketing is where the real businesses impact can be found.