We’ve already shared with you blur Group’s review of 2011 and our vision for creative services in 2012. But as it’s that time of year when we dust off the crystal balls, run riot with our runes, draw lines between planets, here’s our thoughts on what different areas of the business might see in [...]

This is the first Friday for some time that there’s no new video ad from blur Group. Last  week  ‘oneupmanship’ marked the end of our no alternative campaign. Once a week, we’ve explored the marketing crises that plague CMOs and why you have no alternative but to brief the Exchange. It’s been interesting to see [...]

At a football match last week I noticed that one of the rotating ad messages on the hoardings was for Tanzania holidays. Not renowned as the primary destination of choice for the people of Norfolk where the match was taking place, but with a worldwide audience for English Premier League games it’s not altogether surprising [...]

As the future of advertising continues to engender debate, it’s time for the marketing department itself has to make changes. A tighter scrutiny of budgets,  a plethora of channels, the ongoing global-local centralised-dispersed discussions all miss a fundamental point – that the marketing department has not had a makeover for some time. So let’s consider [...]

It seems clear to most in the advertising industry that change is desired and is, indeed, afoot. But there doesn’t seem to be a consensus as to what this change might be. There are some common factors:  increase in use of social and digital media, cutting into traditional ad-spend budgets; general reduction in budgets – [...]

It’s been a while since we’ve considered Crowdsourcing in this blog. This week saw the appointment of Jeff Howe, who coined the term and defined it, to crowdsourcing.org. Yesterday blur Group  presented to CMOs in the MENGonline network on how Crowdsourcing is helping to disrupt Madison Avenue with a new model for Creative Services.  It [...]

The latest figures show that the advertising industry is now worth $500bn and continues to grow. This flies in the face of a perception that all is not well in the mad bad adworld. But are the figures telling the whole story? Is the spend on advertising actually a reflection of superb service from the [...]

At blur Group we’ve learnt a lot from marketing professionals about agency relationships.  We know that they’re as intrinsic to most marketers as their quarterly plan, their budgets and their brand’s reputation. As a consequence, when companies are looking for marketing innovation,  the agency is deemed central to any success. Whereas other outsourcing efforts are [...]

When something truly new and innovative comes along, it can be easy to dismiss it as a fad or something that’s already been done before. And even if something has been done before, it’s worth considering why the concept hasn’t taken-off and become ingrained across society. Much has been written about Facebook and how it [...]

Would you read Oliver Twist or Animal Farm over and over? If you’re a fan of Dickens or Orwell, perhaps you would. Would you read blur Group blog posts over and over? Well, we think the more appropriate question would be why wouldn’t you peruse our prose again and again and again…just in case you [...]

Here’s the best of the week from blur Group – put your feet up, draw the laptop closer and enjoy our read: The end of online? Wiped out by social media? This post looks at how marketing has become a bit obsessed with creating more disciplines rather than creating, well, more creativity. And if you [...]

In today‘s guest blog post, Philip Morley, talks about the future of Creativity. Philip began his advertising career at 17 and rose through the ranks to become senior writer at Ogilvy Hong Kong and creative director at DDB Worldwide. In 1997, he decided to go it alone and develop a business selling thinking and now has [...]

The recent publication of a FastCompany piece “The Future of Advertising” has seen the online platforms abuzz with ideas. The #adfuture hashtag generates tweets aplenty and theories abound covering everything from new payment and reward models, to technology-driven, totally-automated agencies, like a manufacturing conveyor belt with campaigns rolling off on to the palettes. In trying [...]

There’s something going on in agency land. The tectonic plates seem to be shifting. Some say a revolution is under foot. Clients are looking for something new. Big brands are voting with their feet and backing the Crowdsourced Creative Agency.

BEWARE – this blog is about us. But then, we think we deserve it. A few weeks ago the marketing services world was shocked to discover that blur Group was ranked as the worlds 7th largest Creative Agency. WHAT? WHO? CHEEEEKY! Since then we’ve been swamped with brands and SME’s wanting to use our Crowds [...]

We’ve been given a sneak look at the latest agency rankings due out next week from a well known marketing magazine. It lists the worlds largest ad agencies. And it will have the industry reeling. blur Group comes in 7th. This is a bit cheeky but we think it’s OK to spill a few beans [...]

Oops! Some of our blur Group writers have gone on their summer holidays recently, and we’ve forgotten to tell you about the latest Crowdsourcing stories… Let’s remedy that right now! From our interviews with entrepreneurs and designers to freaky marketing visions of the future, we’ve still got our finger on the pulse! Have a great weekend!

In 2008 Maurice Levy, the Chief Executive of the world’s fourth largest advertising and marketing company, Publicis, dropped a marketing bombshell upon his fellow professionals. “The very model of our industry is being called into question,” said Levy. “The model today is no longer valid, no longer relevant.” He was right.

Ever fancied yourself as the next Terence Conran or Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen? Imagine if IKEA bothered to ask you (yes, YOU, the customer), to suggest ideas for their next range of products. Nice concept? Now you have stopped salivating, the reality might not be as far-fetched as you might think.

Have you looked into Facebook Advertising to promote your business? Photo by ugo90 via Flickr There is an untold story about Facebook Ads. While most businesses are focusing on Google Adwords for PPC, truth is that those experiencing Facebook are getting positive results. Seomoz.org recently looked at the benefits of ‘in-depth’ targeting and re-published Nielsen’s [...]