Does this kind of witless rubbish irritate you as much as me? No wonder surveys reveal top management thinks marketers are clueless On September 8th someone called Irene Labai wrote to me. She is a “Success Manager” at a firm called EasyERP. …
Read MoreAuthor: Gerald Woodgate
When the blind lead the blind, where do you end up?
One reason why your copy may fail is simple. You didn’t pay enough. That’s not because you’re stupid. Why pay more than you need for anything? And there are two seemingly logical reasons why people don’t pay enough for copy …
Read MoreCostly, Catastrophic, Mistake I See Every Day
Sometimes I feel like a broken record: saying the same old things, over and over. But you know, I only say them because they are important and worth saying. Take this for example. Many people have never even thought about …
Read MoreThe Triumph of Drivel: An Antipodean View
Don’t know I missed this hilarious comment on the kind of tripe that’s being purveyed by marketers My friend Ryan Wallman of Melbourne has come out with another cracker. It reminded me of Hemingway’s remark: “The most essential gift for …
Read MoreOver £18 million: the reward for failure. Nice work if you can get it – but you can’t
Year after year Marks and Spencer fails. Their ads give you a clue. Their marketers haven’t got one. Why? 60 odd years ago I applied for a trainee’s job at Mark & Spencer – at that time and for long …
Read MoreCheese-paring insanity at the Marriott
How not to run a rewards scheme (or a hotel) Recently I stayed at a Marriott hotel. I quite looked forward to it. They are a premium group, so I expected something a little special. What I got was something …
Read MoreWhy Theo felt aghast – the answer to a great conundrum
A copywriter asks why so much copy doesn’t even try to sell: here is the answer Theo has been working in a job where he has to get sales. As he was pretty good at it, he thought he’d try …
Read MoreCongratulations to an idiot at the helm of an important business YOU are engaged in
You may not realise it, but this affects you – and it really upset a friend of mine I don’t suppose you spend much time thinking about it, but everything that goes on in the world’s most pervasive and perhaps …
Read MoreThe Curse of the New and the Triumph of Ignorance.
Which marketing weapons do you use? And why? The other day I went to SpecSavers to get new glasses. Outside the shop was a man giving out leaflets. They have someone there every day. They also send me regular letters …
Read MoreSimple stuff Ollie, my Plumber, can teach you
What makes people choose you rather than someone else? Ollie knows The other day a lady called Raluca from Romania wrote asking me about marketing plans. She runs a travel agency called BeyondDracula.com. They organise tours of Transylvania where Dracula …
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