5th April 2019

‘At the end of the day, strategy is the art of getting other people to dosomething. In the pursuit of that, narrative (call it ‘storytelling’ if you really must) is the strategist’s tool. Strategy is narrative.’ Martin Weigel on Why Strategy Needs Good Words.

From Brand Learning and Accenture. New research reveals what a pioneering 17% of the nearly 1000 CMOs surveyed, are doing to drive growth through highly relevant customer experiences, and why their commercial results are markedly better than their peers. This is the rise of the hyper relevant CMO.

With a landscape featuring sparkling views of the Northern Lights, frozen waterfalls, and even enchanting “fairy forests,” it’s no secret that Finland is one of the most beautiful places on earth. What you may not know, however, is that it’s also the happiest country in the world—an honour that is at the heart of Rent a Finn, a new contest and campaign by Visit Finland. And separately,..the Faroe Islands returns with another innovative destination marketing campaign. “We asked visitors to define the Faroe Islands in one word,” said Hanssen. “They would say unspoiled, unexplored, unbelievable. This is how the Faroe Islands Became an ‘Un-Destination’.

Time for Scott Brinker’s annual survey of the Marketing Technology landscape. The martech market has grown from 150 vendors in 2011 to over 7000 today. But this growth has finally slowed over the past year, leading to the question of whether, we’ve actually reached peak martech.

:o) The perils of a smart home (HT @neilperkin)

An experience at the Peabody Hotel provides a valuable lesson for brands in how to get noticed in a world of continuous partial attention. What ducks in a hotel lobby can teach brands.  HT @eatbigfish

This ‘consent condom’ requires four hands to open the package. 

They’re the most diverse generation in American history, and they’re celebrating their untraditional views on gender and identity. Generation Z: who they are, in their own words.

An actor cut together a compilation of his work as a background extra. Great fun.

Rooms from famous paintings brought to life with realistic CG renditions.

This campaign launched on Mother’s Day to break down taboos around breastfeeding in public, has boobs appearing around the London Skyline for #FreeTheFeed Campaign. (The UK has one of the lowest rates of breastfeeding in Europe).

This is ‘The Underdogs’. Apple’s ad about a scrappy group of co-workers.
‘What super-fans (or at least employees) of Apple will find particularly amusing is that the prototype the team is working so hard to invent—the circular pizza box—is actually already patented and in use. By Apple. It’s the box used in the company’s cafeterias.’