CES 2021 will be a true test of the online experience
They say necessity is the mother of invention. The greatest technological and social advances are often borne from times of…
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Why are we still discouraging girls from studying STEM?
The advice I was given when leaving school was that I should consider a career as a secretary, nurse or…
Spooner on…Covid Christmas is turning us all Crackers
Waitrose & John Lewis & Partners, Adam & Eve/DDB I have a lot of sympathy for Waitrose and John Lewis…
Thinking of giving client services the boot? Think again
Ours is an industry based around empathy. After all, we spend much of our working day asking: “If I were…
Spooner on…why it’s good to talk during troubled times
Well, well, well. As I write this, my 39th column for Lord McKelvey’s proud and prestigious organ, we find that…
Agile not fragile: Checking out the new retail landscape
Most businesses in the retail and ecommerce sector are seeking maps to navigate the new landscape, with new types of…
How to beat the algorithms and let ad creativity shine
Enthusiasm for automated technology in marketing has never been stronger. Gartner’s latest study forecasts that tech will take the lion’s…
15 billion reasons why data specialists have a problem
Recent research has revealed there are now more than 15 billion items of stolen data for sale on the dark…
Time to ditch the boring stuff to unleash your creativity
Why do you work in marketing? I’m willing to bet that among the many phrases that just popped into your…
Why deceased mailings are much more than a dead loss
Earlier this week a friend of mine told me how she had just received a piece of charity direct mail…
How digital transformation can beat the Covid blues
The marketing industry has been transformed exponentially by the coronavirus pandemic, but as businesses across the UK begin to formulate…
How marketers can learn from A-Level algorithm row
Each month brings us new ways in which artificial intelligence has run spectacularly awry. The latest – and now most…
Five simple steps to finally tackle data quality issues
With all the talk about the accuracy of algorithms, our research shows decisions can be improved by up to 28%…
Ch-ch-changes, turn and face one version of the truth
Organisational change. It’s a catch-all term to cover a multitude of realities. From isolated yet essential operational tweaks to total…
How positivity can help brands fight the Covid gloom
The marketing sector is facing a unique challenge at the moment. While the current restrictions are obviously necessary – and…
Why Covid fall-out could put your reputation on the line
Speaking with colleagues across several sectors over the last month, it’s clear that many are intending to increase their direct…
Now isn’t time to cut adspend, but to optimise instead
When hard times hit, businesses are often quick to cut ad spend. However, during the current downturn, with so many…
Five ways to boost your email marketing during crisis
This is the age of the customer; especially in these turbulent times, customers have more power than ever before and…
Six lessons for marketers targeting the class of 2020
Imagine, for a moment, you’re not you. Imagine a world where 9/11 is a historical event that happened before you…
Why aren’t you using Covid data to improve marketing?
In the past few months, we have probably all become quite a bit better acquainted with data. To some extent,…
Spooner on…is copywriting dead or just out of fashion?
My tiny, rented hovel in the filthy heart of Brighton is on a street that can only be, at best,…
What does future look like for agencies after lockdown?
Many companies and industries are now starting to look to the future and plan how their business will cope with…
Three strategies to ensure brands thrive in lockdown
It has been widely reported that the uncertainty created by the coronavirus pandemic has led many companies to make drastic…
Do online publishers have answer to advertising crisis?
The impact of Covid-19 has been felt deeply across every industry in the UK – and adtech is no exception….
Spooner on: The opportunity for direct mail in lockdown
Hello fellow prisoners! How are we all getting along? Gone quite mad yet? Lord McKelvey, of course, has the run…
Data and the coronavirus crisis – what you need to know
Almost everything we do has been affected by Covid-19 – the way we use customer data is no exception. In…
Will Covid-19 bring a new era of location data sharing?
When it comes to location-based marketing, it is fair to say that there has never been a single point of…
Data science is thriving – do we know what’s going on?
It’s difficult to overstate the impact data science has made on marketing over the past few years. A variety of…
Behavioural pricing is the ultimate in personalisation
In today’s marketing world, personalisation is key – all brands are obsessed with pushing the right messages to the right…
Covid-19: Stick or twist? How to play your best hand
The coronavirus has been with us for several weeks already, and will continue to impact how we live and how…
The real solution to the ICO’s Direct Marketing Code
Since the introduction of GDPR, many firms have begun to fear the knock-on effects of tighter privacy controls on customer…
Why direct mail is medium of choice in these rainy days
As we adjust to working from home and self-isolating from our colleagues, friends and family, we remain hopeful that we…
Spooner on: It’s the end of the world as we know it
“But what does it mean, the plague? It’s life, that’s all” – Albert Camus, The Plague. So, the omni-benevolent, balti-fed,…
Why Covid-19 may be trigger for digital transformation
Everyone wants to know what makes a successful digital transformation programme and how brands can embrace digital to transform their business….
How direct mail can help to beat the coronavirus blues
Yesterday I was waiting to catch a train to London from Leeds. The first thing I noticed was the distinct…
Gender parity will take more than just one day to fix
International Women’s Day rolls around every year, and although it serves to highlight the inequalities that women continue to face,…
Why data is the real fuel of outdoor advertising growth
When Vote Leave stuck that now infamous £350m number on a bus, the campaign influenced a nation, but how many people…
Life after the cookie monster: What you need to know
We all knew it was coming and the cookie is finally crumbling. Earlier this month, when Google announced it would…
Why the CMO and CIO are the ultimate power couple
Today, 89% of companies compete primarily on the basis of customer experience, and while 80% believe they deliver ‘superior experiences’,…
How can your organisation become the next Netflix?
Consumer decision making is changing, and that’s impacting brand loyalty. This became clear to me while I was researching a…
Why brands must work harder for true personalisation
In a world where customers are flooded with thousands of marketing messages a day, the explosion in digital content across…
What does the future leader look like…if they do exist?
The future of work will bring a number of challenges, such as a digital talent shortage and the need for a strong employer…
2020 and beyond: Let tech work to free up creativity
With the new decade well and truly underway, this landmark is the perfect time to think what the next few…
2020 and beyond: It’s time to build the circle of trust
We’re already hearing a lot of talk around trust and ethics/values and we expect there to be a greater emphasis…
2020 and beyond: Data services they are a-changin’
Despite GDPR now being an established piece of legislature, there is still great uncertainty in the market surrounding what is…
2020 and beyond: Charting the rise of ‘brainwave’ tech
As we enter the new decade it is only natural to start thinking about what the future might bring. I…
2020 and beyond: Why digital wallets will pay dividends
Just over a decade ago, consumer payments were revolutionised by the launch of contactless cards, followed hot on the heels…
2020 and beyond: Is your brand orchestration-ready?
Marketing orchestration is nothing new. In fact it is really quite old. It first came to prominence back in 2013,…
2020 and beyond: Time to finally clean up your act?
This time last year, I was optimistic about the future of the data and database marketing industry. After all, far…
Why brands must act now to tackle their customer data
Most people now recognise data is the lifeblood of business, but are you confident that your customer data is accurate,…