The 7 basic plots I’ve read mixed feedback on this year’s Cannes Lions Festival. Some have been gushing, whilst others appear exasperated. My favourite pieces to come from the 5 days? Oh alright then… The Marketoonist’s depiction of events, Murray Cadler’s home truths, and Adweek’s breakdown of how Cannes winners used the 7 basic plots of storytelling. Purpose matters. …

You can’t solve a problem that you don’t understand If it’s just going to be the one thing you watch this week, take 10 mins and make it Mark Ritson dissecting P&G’s Febreze marketing strategy. He absolutely nails it. Key takeaways: Diagnose first: understand the problem before constructing your strategy. The importance of using qual …

Learning from the best Pixar tell stories like nobody else can. No matter the film, no matter the audience. They always make us feel something. (Why does a bit of dust always get in my eye during the opening scene of Up?) They really are the masters of storytelling and here are their 22 rules …

All of this …is ? Emmet O’Briain gives us a well-thought-out piece on the dehumanisation of research. It’s a must-read for anyone in research. Or in marketing. Or in a job, for that matter. My favourite quote came from Richard Huntington (of Saatchi and Saatchi stock): A lack of genuine connection with people’s lives. A …

Game, set, match At first, I thought it sounded ridiculous, but I’ve become more and more convinced after reading Farnam Street’s explanation on how avoiding stupidity provides more of an advantage than seeking brilliance. In professional tennis about 80% of the points are won. However, in amateur tennis, about 80% of the points are lost. …

Learning from the master I’m old enough to remember the great BT It’s good to talk ads. But regardless of age, watching David Abbott – an advertising legend if ever there was one – pitch the idea to BT is a timeless pleasure. We all have to sell or pitch things, but if you want …

Storytelling: The bad How many strategies fail not because they’re bad, but because they’re expressed in a way that is thoroughly unpersuasive? Martin Weigel (yes, yes, we like him lots) shares 13 pieces of advice to help you craft better strategic narratives. This is particularly smart: Steven Spielberg had long wanted people to experience the …

Flabby strategic thinking “Too many objectives fall into one of two camps. Either they are analytical and devoid of imagination, driven by metrics that are easy to measure rather than necessarily the right things to measure. Or, on the other hand, they are highly evocative but meaningless. You hear them and leave the meeting in …