I’ve been writing a semi-regular blog for the past few months about branding, marketing and development. It’s been fun for me and I hope fun and at least a little informative for you. After reading my blogs people will often say to me that they want to write something, but they always have an excuse […]
Author Archives: Ben Melton
Take the Y out of yours
Many years ago I used to work as a video producer/editor or what we used to call “Predators”. I was involved in the whole process of the video from the script, lighting and camera work. Then doing all the post production myself: editing in Premier and doing all the motion graphics in After Effects. Subtitling. […]
5 things we can learn from the worst Pepsi ad ever
By now you’ve probably seen the Pepsi Kendall Jenner ad, probably the worst advert I’ve ever seen. It’s so bad I honestly thought it was a spoof. Especially when I saw a protest sign saying “Join the conversation”. There are lots of great and entertaining articles out there pointing out the flaws, but as marketers what can we […]
10 questions for writing great copy
1. Have you written a brief? What do you want people to know, feel and do? 2. Does it start with a big idea? Something that makes people stop and think “I’ve never thought of that before.” 3. Have you used language in an interesting way? “This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. […]
Learn to swim. Online!
Imagine a world where you learn to swim online. You take snackable swim lessons on your commute. Gamify your progress. By watching “An Intro to swimming: getting into the pool.” You get 20 points. You can exchange 100 points for a swim hat. At some point you’ve watched all the videos. You’ve even taken the […]
Nobody knows what you know
As a brand person you often get the same questions again and again. I have a whole notebook in Evernote with stock responses that I tweak and send practically weekly. This is the reason you can’t send out our logo. This is how to handle partner comms on social media. This is where you can […]
Check. Double check. Check again.
Full disclosure: Arsenal fan. What’s more annoying than reading copy you’ve already read? Advertising campaigns that include spelling mistakes and bizarre capitalization. Going out in your name. That’s the reality for Tottenham Hotspur Football Club this week who’ve released a campaign on the London Underground that includes two different incorrect spellings of the word “premium”. As […]
Alexa, what’s audio branding?
For Christmas I bought my mum and step dad an Amazon Echo. I fully expected them to treat it as a bit of a novelty but to allow me and my brothers to use a Bluetooth speaker when any of us came to visit. I was wrong project management tools. They’ve embraced “her” much more than I […]
Rules are made to be interpreted
For any type of marketing there’s going to be some in house rules. There has to be. Often these are obvious: use the logo, include the URL. Sometimes they are a matter of style. Don’t crop the logo or, format the URL: www.likethis.com not: http://www.likethis.com/ . Occasionally they are more important and could have legal ramifications: don’t let others trade off our brand and […]
Speak truth to power
This week Sir Ivan Rogers, Britain’s former EU ambassador quit. In his resignation letter sent to his staff he spoke about the importance of speaking truth to power. While many in the press have called this a thinly veiled criticism of the government’s Brexit strategy (and it undoubtedly is) it is also an important reminder […]
10 things in 10 years
This year I have been working in marketing for 10 years. Wow. I’m getting older. As a special Christmas present I’d like to share with you my 10 most important lessons from those 10 years. If you’re getting started in your career then maybe they’ll help. Happy Christmas. Stop being so formal. I quickly had […]
7 books to bring your brain back to brand
If you’re anything like me you’re planning on spending the next couple of weeks full of, let’s say, “Christmas Cheer”. But come January you’re going to have to step back into the office with something vaguely intelligent to say. Here are 7 books that I recommend to get you back fighting fit for your first […]