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What I Learnt In 2020

Picking up my 2020 Diary, a Post-it note floated to the ground. From early February, it said, “Book Newquay to Gatwick flight – 21st May.” Or, in other words, yet another reminder of something that didn’t happen this year, expectations that were shed and a backward glance at a more innocent ‘before’ – all rolled(…)

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Gifts for all Seasons

(And where to find them)

At this time of year, our thoughts turn to gifts. But I’m not going to be joining the blogging crowds down those seasonal paths of well-worn cliché. This is about a different category of gifts. The gifts, if we learn to recognise them, that keep on giving. The gifts we can harness and put to(…)

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When Transparency Isn’t The Full Ticket

A Traveller's Tale

I wrote this sitting on a train, heading home from a rather wonderful holiday. My time away was however, bookended by a couple of troublesome journeys. Of course things go wrong, delays happen – it’s inevitable and not unexpected – but what made the experience of delay and difficulty all the worse was the fact(…)

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Is Context Everything?

Putting context in its place in marketing comms

How important is context? After all, communication, by its very nature, doesn’t happen in a vacuum. But how much does, and should, the where and to whom, influence the how and what you say? Should you just grant yourself the freedom and power of speaking your truth regardless and concentrate solely on being true to(…)

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Three Billboards, One Minor Disappointment

And What We Can Do About It

There was a point, watching “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” when I literally hugged myself – friends had recommended it, the critics had raved about it, Frances McDormand was being wonderful in it and the storytelling was both initimate and epic. I was loving it. And then, about a third of the way through, while(…)

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Proceed With Caution – Emotions at Work

Harnessing the power of emotion in marketing communication

I let myself down this week. My emotions got the better of me at a conference breakout session on how we can best use the personal stories of our lives in the workplace. Fearing public tears and that I’d make fellow delegates feel awkward and, because of the utter shame of it all, I excused(…)

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