Personalised inserts can beat SEO and PPC all day long
With more shoppers having turned to online purchasing as a result of the pandemic, consumers’ screens, email in-boxes and social…
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Spooner on: The importance of good manners for all
A terrible scrabbling and clattering woke me at first light this morning. Throwing back the ragged, moth- and rat-eaten curtains…
Why prioritising 100% data accuracy is a mistake
Now more than ever, it is constantly drilled into marketers that decisions must be data driven and the prerequisite for…
Opportunity knocks with demise of third-party cookies
Did you know that the number of car accidents following lockdown #1 shot up? The reason for this is quite…
Which system will best replace third-party cookies?
As part of Google’s post-cookie roadmap, it has announced it won’t be using alternative identifiers in its products. Identity solutions…
Are you listening? Why CX is crucial to brand reputation
Prior to the advent of digital marketing and social media, brands were able to craft their own reputations. From billboards…
Rubbish in; rubbish out: How to reduce algorithmic bias
Machine learning and analytics are big business. Forbes has estimated that the market will be worth a staggering $21bn (£14.9bn)…
Sustainable business is about protecting all our futures
For a long time, being sustainable has been seen through an altruistic filter and, in that light, brands could pick…
Time for marketers to ditch outdated consumer cages
Why is our urge to label our customers so pervasive? One simple answer: This is the way our brains work….
Why demand for B2B agencies is at an all-time high
One of the major industry themes you’ll no doubt have seen across the past year has been network groups posting…
Nudge marketing can get the nation back on its feet
Boris Johnson has recently outlined another potential incentive scheme, this time in an attempt to try to combat rising cases…
Is your data strategy ostracising millions of consumers?
Lockdown’s been hard for people working and studying at home. I don’t need to tell you that. Access to physical…
Five golden rules of devising an ecommerce strategy
In many industries today, brands view ecommerce as an economic saviour. As traditional distribution channel prosperity suffers, mostly due to…
Spooner on…The benefits of signing the woke pledge
I am worried about Lord McKelvey. Whilst draining the moat of the smaller Bavarian Castle Folly at his vast Sussex…
How data science is now the ‘white heat’ of marketing
Data science used to be shrouded in mystery, a scientific process usually carried out by the IT department or esoteric…
Why home-movers are still hot property despite Covid
It has long been known that home-movers are big business. In fact, research shows that this group of consumers contribute…
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…
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….