I Wrote This Website Brief in 2014. Here’s What I’d Keep — and Change — in 2026
I revisited the 2014 brief behind an award-winning recycled-paper website to see what still works, what has changed, and how AI would alter the process today.
The Decoy Effect: Why the Option Nobody Wants Can Change What You Buy
The decoy effect is real — but marketers often confuse it with anchoring, compromise pricing and good/better/best ranges. Here’s what the research, wine buying and real pricing decisions actually tell us.
The Smiley Face: How a Simple Symbol Became a Global Brand
From Harvey Ball and corporate morale to acid house, Nirvana and emojis: how two dots and a curve became one of the world’s most powerful visual symbols.
I Audited House Music Websites in 2009. Here’s What the Web Looked Like Then
Web Design History · Competitor Analysis · House Music I Audited House Music Websites in 2009. Here’s What the Web Looked Like Then Flash intros. Embedded music players. £1.10 MP3 downloads. “Web 2.0” features worth calling out by name. None of this looked ancient in 2009. It looked modern. Revisiting
Why Global Brands Need More Than Google Translate
Translation can carry words across a border, but it cannot guarantee the joke, tone, brand or commercial idea survives the journey. Here is why global marketers need localisation, transcreation and local judgement.
A Real Marketing Consultancy Project: Housexy, Ministry of Sound and My Move into Marketing
Case Study · Ministry of Sound · Marketing Consultancy A Real Marketing Consultancy Project: Housexy, Ministry of Sound and My Move into Marketing In 2008 I was studying marketing while working as a Ministry of Sound tour manager. Nearly two decades later, this Housexy project shows me which ideas survived, which models I would
How Google Turned Search Intent Into an Advertising Empire
Google did not invent consumer demand. It built an advertising empire around the moment people reveal what they want—and made marketers compete to be there.
50 Cent: How Curtis Jackson Turned Attention Into a Business Empire
From G-Unit and Vitaminwater to Power and G-Unit Studios, explore how 50 Cent converted celebrity attention into ownership, intellectual property and business influence.
I Let AI Write This Article in 2023. Here’s What It Got Wrong About Marketing
In 2023, I let AI write an article about AI and marketing. Three years later, here is what it got wrong, what changed and how I use AI now.
What Tour Managing for Ministry of Sound Taught Me About Marketing Under Pressure
Eighteen years after writing my gig diaries, I look back at what tour managing Ministry of Sound events taught me about brand delivery, stakeholder management and staying calm under pressure.