If your idea of a perfect June involves sunshine, inspiration, typography debates that somehow become emotional, and at least one person wearing a tote bag ironically… then good news: Birmingham Design Festival is back from 10-12 June 2026. And honestly? We’re very into it. This year’s theme is “Change” which feels appropriate considering most creatives…
The slightly disturbing realisation that every marketing presentation contains arrows. There comes a moment in almost every marketing meeting where reality quietly leaves the room. It usually happens around slide fourteen. Someone shares a strategy that sounds convincing. The slides show diagrams, arrows pointing in all directions, and maybe a triangle in the corner. Suddenly,…
The curious case of humans preferring other humans. Many people in business assume that bigger always means better. Bigger budget. Bigger audience. Bigger marketing teams, huge slide decks, and lots of buzzwords like “omnichannel ecosystem.” Still, even with all this size and sophistication, small brands keep doing something inconvenient for big companies: They keep building…
Why the robots may accidentally force us all to become interesting again. For years, the future of marketing has been described using words that sound faintly like instructions printed on the side of expensive kitchen appliances. Words like: automation, optimisation, personalisation, scalability, and “leveraging AI-powered synergy,” which sounds less like marketing and more like a…
The surprising strategic advantages of mild existential panic. Overthinking gets a terrible reputation. People say things like: “You’re thinking too much.” “Stop overanalysing it.” “Just post the content.” Which is all wonderfully easy advice to give when you are not the person responsible for accidentally publishing something catastrophic to the internet at 9:14 on a…
The increasingly modern habit of digging up seeds to check if they’re working. About three weeks after launching a marketing strategy, a certain kind of panic often sets in. It usually starts off quietly. Someone checks the analytics and looks as worried as if they’ve just spotted a comet coming straight for Earth. A meeting…
How to go viral briefly before quietly vanishing into the digital fog. There is a particular kind of panic unique to modern marketing. It usually begins with someone saying, “We need to react to this trend immediately.” At which point an entire organisation suddenly behaves as though it has spotted a rare celestial event that…
How to spend less money without accidentally spending all of it. There is a moment, usually early in the life of a marketing plan, when someone leans forward and says: “Can we do this… but cheaper?” This is a perfectly reasonable question. In fact, it is such a reasonable question that it has quietly become…
How to follow all the rules and still be completely ignored. There comes a moment in every marketing meeting when someone, usually with excellent posture and a deeply reassuring spreadsheet, says: “Let’s stick to best practice.” This is generally received with nods. Warm, sensible nods. The kind that suggest nothing terrible will happen, and more…
Why even the boldest strategy is secretly clutching a cup of tea and whispering “Oh dear”. There is, buried deep within every marketing plan ever conceived, a small, persistent fear. It does not shout. It does not wave its arms. It certainly does not appear in the executive summary wearing a high-visibility vest and announcing,…