Harjot Singh

Comprehensive growth

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What makes a great, future ready WPP Global Client President? Find out in the final episode in Anna Hickey's brilliant 'Mechanisms that Matter' series; a deep dive into how to build a better agency/client operating model. Watch the wrap up discussion between Anna and WPP's Chief Client Officer Jane Geraghty here 👇

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Day 3 at Cannes Lions has provided some great insights on leveraging systems and tools to scale creativity and innovation. One of the key takeaways is the importance of empowering participation. By shifting roles within brands, we enable everyone to contribute, democratizing creativity and fostering a richer tapestry of ideas and innovation. This may mean designers write copy and copywriters can ideate on designs. And this was really fascinating—a new idea of blending brand consistency with individual creativity. By creating unique versions of a brand while staying true to its core, we can foster a mix of brand and individuality. This approach allows for individual uniqueness while maintaining brand integrity. Finally, the need for careful curation of taste and quality is more important than ever. With the sheer volume of content and visuals being produced, maintaining high standards ensures that quality isn’t sacrificed for quantity. Essentially, moving away from brand standards as a “control mechanism” to creating standards that allow more people to express the brand while maintaining consistency and brand ethos. #CannesLions #CreativityUnleashed #Innovation 💡

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Organizational transformation is broken, with any model only delivering the goods less than 1/3 of the time. It's time for a pragmatic approach to Culture Innovation that addresses real challenges in virtual real time from the bottom up and peer to peer. > Excited to be discussing the power of Culture Innovation with Brandpie at CHARGE - Powering Energy Brands in Houston on May 16-17. > Equally excited to be discussing Culture Innovation at The Conference Board - Brand Strategy & Management Council in New York on June 3. Learn more > https://lnkd.in/gS-PKngD #culturechange #brandculture

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“A strategist should be able to explain the role of group chats in modern social dynamics, explain the messaging limitations of OOH, debate doomscrolling, write a creative brief, have a coherent discussion about the difference in a brand tone adapted to TikTok vs. one used in a full page newspaper ad, and help sell a client on an idea.” (At least, they should be *trying* to be able to do all of those things at an elite level. Thanks, Strategy Online) https://lnkd.in/gc8mN4gC

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Now I said to myself I won’t do the ‘as I reflect on a week at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity..’ post but every other person and their dog has done one so here goes... Just 2 big themes and the talks that supported them. Go find a friend who went and get their log-ins and watch the talks 😉. They're all great. 1. A shift of language to Brand and Value, versus just Creativity and Campaign Effectiveness Dr. Marcus Collins and Kory Marchisotto proving that the era of Brand is absolutely not dead. instead the Brand Ideology of ‘Democratising’ powers everything e.l.f. does. Not just the marketing. Karen Crum David Tiltman and Laura Jones made the case for a tighter, more consistent definition of Brand - with an excellent investment case study for Instacart proving the ROI when you balance back from performance-dominated spend. To a more holistic brand-first approach. Diana Frost showing how strengthening and simplifying the foundations of the Heinz Brand allowed for creativity to thrive across all aspects of the marketing mix from all partners. And how playing the long game enables Grand Prix level Creative Effectiveness for Rethink Marcel Marcondes championing a true creative culture and agency collaboration at AB InBev to power real brand value creation. Mark Ritson finally conceded to talk / was allowed onstage and told us Creativity is not Enough and remember the other (f----g) P's Now we are seeing this shift in conversation, will it trigger a change in the type of work that gets measured, submitted and awarded next year? 2. The Industry seemed to finally open up to some hard truths this year Whether it was Adam Morgan and Jon Evans putting some hard facts (& hard £$€¥) on the table around just how much advertising output is dull. And the price we pay for it. Or Lisa Smith Eleanor Thornton-Firkin Aditya Kishore and Karen Nelson-Field PhD lamenting the Sea of Sameness / Age of Average / Blanding / Normalisation of culture. Showing that only 15% of all branded assets are truly distinctive. Wasting $Billions. Or Sir John Hegarty and Orlando Wood looking to fix problem that a paltry 6% of all advertising spend is truly effective. Are we finally admitting to the world the output of the industry is predominately generic, dull, average and ineffective? If so, maybe 2025 is the year where we tackle some of the underlying reasons behind this? To change those numbers significantly for the better. So, now I have become that person who posts ‘my reflections on my week in Cannes..’ feel free to use / ignore / agree / disagree / doom-scroll past The obligatory last word from Mike Cessario from Liquid Death “Marketers can be too literal about making sense. If you can confuse people, you can stop them. There is value, to some degree, to something that doesn’t make sense. Not crazy for the sake of crazy. Contextualize it so the crazy makes sense.” https://lnkd.in/eHaysvdk

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Something you might not know about Mischief: we have access to all of MHP Group's behavioural science insight and expertise. Our work may be a little bit naughty, but at least its backed by science 😈 #strategy #prstrategy #behaviouralscience

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Sable&Hawkes are experts in brand strategy, design and advertising, executed in print, digital and social. One of the key pillars of what we do is our advertising service which rests on a set of core principles and delivered by our in-house team of highly experienced strategists, visual designers and creative copywriters. Those principles drive our approach and shape our creative. We thought we would share: Go to where your customers are. Use a simple, strong hook To emphasize how your solution fits their needs. Communicate a clear, single message. Credibly, ttruthfully and consistently. Making benefits easy to understand. And the argument difficult to resist. Always always be relevant, likeable and optimistic. ---------------------------------------------------------- Branding | Design | Digital | Content | Social Based in Cambridge, Sable&Hawkes help organisations stand out, grow audiences and drive results across multiple channels through inspired content and creative. Our services: / Brand proposition, positioning and identity / Graphic design, creative concepts and campaigns / Marketing strategy and lead generation / Content production for digital and social campaigns / Copywriting for business and social media / Website UX and UI design / Environment design and events Sable&Hawkes Do good work. Be good people. For further information contact Adrian: Mob: 07712 270198 adrian@sableandhawkes.co.uk The Studio: 21 Aylestone Road Cambridge CB4 1HF. www.sableandhawkes.co.uk #branding #marketing #graphicdesign #strategy #positioning #visualidentity #corporateidentity #design #logo #digitalmarketing #brand #business #socialmedia #advertising #socialmediamarketing #graphicdesigner #logodesigner #brandidentity #designer #logodesign #freelancedesigner #marketingdigital #startup #brandingdesign #webdesign #instagram #illustration #logos #photography #graphicdesigns #contentmarketing #contentwriter #marketingstrategy #storytelling #webdesigner #webdesigners #webdesigning #webdesigns #webdesignagency #webdesigncompany #strategyconsulting #marketingdigital #marketingtips #marketingonline #marketingagency

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❤️ How can your brand build stronger customer connections by understanding what makes them tick? 👇 Discover how neuroscience and behavioural science insights can help you tap into the psychology of ownership and self-identity. Dr Simon Moore

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'Do you think the level of disruption could ever get to that point where a large holding company would want to move from their inertia and shift their perspective? After all, they do hold most of the so-called ‘power’ in the industry.' Honestly, in every industry sector we've seen the fall of companies that people thought were too big to fail. So yes, it is entirely possible. 'Is that something that's foreseeable within the next 10 years or will it will be a much longer journey?' Oh, no, I think it's entirely foreseeable within the next 10 years. And I'll tell you something else that that factors into that, which I will also be talking about [at Campaign 360], and again, something I've been saying for years. We as an industry have colluded in our own devaluation for decades. People value you at the value you are seen to put on yourself. Clients value you at the value you're seen to put on yourself and we have, as I say, been colluding in our own de-valuation. And it isn't even that the industry has lost sight of this, somehow, the industry never really understood this to begin with, which is that we are the business model for the Internet. You know TikTok, you know Google—all of their billions are derived from advertising. We are the business model for the Internet and we've given that power away because astonishingly, of our industry's pursuit of the new shiny thing over the years. It's been, 'Oh Facebook, please allow us to work with you!' Oh, TikTok, please let us in!' You know, the industry has spectacularly failed to realise that we are in a position to call the shots. We are in a position to decide how we want to leverage these platforms and how we would like to do it in a way that benefits us and we've completely given away that power. I think that there is huge opportunity going forward to completely change that as well. Not least because I'm going to be talking about how huge an opportunity there is around reinvention through the female lens. And it’s a special opportunity, because it is one of the gigantic ironies of our industry, that we as women are the primary target for all advertising because we are the primary purchasers, and the primary influencers of the purchase of everything. And yet the advertising industry is dominated by men. That is utterly ridiculous.' I talk to Rahat Kapur Campaign Asia-Pacific ahead of speaking at Campaign360 in Singapore next week: https://lnkd.in/eydGaXaR #campaign360

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Can you bully a brand? Claire Huxley, Strategy Director, writes in Campaign UK, that Abrdn can choose to use its time in the headlines as an opportunity to double down on what the brand stands for, or choose to stay silent, comfortable in the fact that bold moves always ruffle some feathers. At the end of the day, the rebrand itself should do the talking. Can you bully a brand? Yes. Does it matter? Only if you let it. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/ewEADDyz

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Colour is creative, evolving and limitless in potential for brands. The thesis on colour as a brand asset, memory structure is well known. Yet, colour is a creative aspect and by definition evolving, limitless in potential. Pink for instance transcends just girlish or feminine associations and is a colour also tapped for boldness, progressiveness, vibrancy, creative richness. A legendary Vogue editor once remarked that pink is India’s navy blue. And nowadays pink, even pale pink, is tapped for modern day male wedding couture, resort chic. Black is the new black. It is resurgent beyond formal associations, like office or school shoes and is tapped for signifying cultural cool of athleisure chic, new age cuisine. And more. Blue goes beyond associations of uniforms, knowledge to potentially signify some of the best in artisanal craft in ceramics, art, dyes, textile etc. Cream once associated with sombreness is reframed as also associated with celebration, sophistication, oft accompanied with accents of gold. So called dull colours like beige or grey or greige or taupe once dismissed by amateurs as dull, have been given prominence by professionals. Dull colours are reframed as neutrals. Neutrals are an acquired taste among the aspirational urban elite. Neutrals as colours rule in design. Nude as a colour palette rules in colour cosmetics. Brands across categories are crafting fresh creative possibilities of colour. #colour #brands #marketing #trends #future #vml #wearevml #vmlindia #innovation #beauty #fashion #brandbuilding #design #colours #wpp

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In The Times today, from a study of 800,000 patients in the US - this has been supported by other research studies over the years. I cited this fact five years ago in my 3PercentConference talk, 'The Future For White Men In Advertising', where I presented seven ways white men's lives will be vastly improved when they welcome in gender equality, diversity and inclusion, that are true for white men in every industry (re this particular finding, see No 4: "You'll be safer.") Watch my 30-minute talk here: https://lnkd.in/ezTekEuz

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Final day of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Here's the Brutally Simple M&C Saatchi Group South Africa snapshot for Day 5. Neo Mashigo, Jacques Burger and I will be sharing a consolidated thought piece off our time at Cannes this year - what this space. > IN A WORD < Commitment From hearing Ynon Kreiz (CEO, Mattel) talking about how their commitment to the Barbie brand's purpose ("To inspire the limitless potential in every girl") and the role of Barbie the movie (which prior to the movie was one of the top selling toys in the world, so no it wasn't sales) to hearing from Ipsos, Burger King and Karen Nelson-Field PhD, what is clear is that we are living in the age of average. A world where everything looks, sounds and feels the same and therefor hard to get attention. It seems the safety and comfort of the familiar outweighs the risks of standing out (the very job marketing should be doing!). Ynon commented that when they saw the concept and the script for the Barbie film it was impossible to compare it to anything, it stood out. To achieve brand distinction takes full organisation-wide commitment, and what's clear is that it isn't easy. > IN A QUOTE < "Mr President, I just need an aircraft carrier." - Jacques Séguéla to the President of France Séguéla was awarded the Lion of St Mark honours for lifetime achievement on the last day. At 90 this advertising legend is full of insight, and still full of energy. He spoke about the commitment needed to make brave ideas happen. When he had an idea of a Citroën car racing a fighter jet off an aircraft carrier production houses around the world said it couldn't be done. So he took it upon himself to go ask the then President Mitterrand if he could use one of France's aircraft carries for the iconic French car brand's ad. He said yes. A quick search using these words should find it for you: Citroen aircraft carrier ad > IN A PIECE OF WORK < Corona - Sunset Bottles Such 'Brutal simplicity of thought' in this work. Designed to run in markets with limited budgets, the team simply found low cost stock images of sunsets (they cost $100 each!) and placed their logo on them. And it works beautifully and brilliantly. But only because the brand has remained committed to its brand assets. The most important question - are you and your teams clear on what you are committed to as a brand?

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What's your favourite brand jingle....? Really interesting blog this week from David Taylor building on research by Distinctive BAT into the underrated power of a jingle to drive brand distinctiveness. My current favourite is Domino's. A great example of a business that understands the importance of sonic branding in building distinctiveness, having invested consistently over recent years to create a super catchy, instantly recognisable, highly versatile brand jingle. https://lnkd.in/eft6ScuF

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Four Havas agencies have lost their B Corp certification because their sister agency Havas Media has a contract with oil giant Shell. This decision underscores the stringent standards B Corps must adhere to, particularly regarding environmental sustainability and corporate responsibility. 🌍✅ How will this affect the perception of corporate responsibility in the advertising world? Does this decision signal a shift towards more accountability in business partnerships? Read more about the implications of this decision for Havas and the advertising industry. https://lnkd.in/gG8JSsNd #CorporateResponsibility #Sustainability #Bcorp #AdvertisingIndustry

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Marketers, this is your chance. Brands have an invaluable opportunity to use their size and influence to support the LGBTQ+ community and to drive the equality agenda. Join our webinar to learn about how to make your brand an ally with impact. 🌈 Jiri Nozicka Josh Smith-Johnston Mark Fisher Leigh Kelly Andrews

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Ever wondered why OOH (Out of Home) #advertising is often overlooked, yet holds such immense potential? In this new Ipsos Views, we reveal how OOH strategic placements, unique #creative experiences, distinctive #brand assets and engaging and empathetic #storytelling forge meaningful connections with consumers to drive Brand Success. 📖 Read POV now: https://lnkd.in/gCcaNuGF #BrandSuccess #campaign #digitaladvertising

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A brilliant talk by Mark Kirkham and Mauro Porcini of PepsiCo at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity on 'The Human Side of Growth'. My key take-out? Human-centricity means we must widen the lens to see the whole human and then sharpen the lens to get granular. Both spoke passionately about how PepsiCo has embraced seeing people as humans - not just consumers. As we say at Brand Genetics, 'You're a consumer of a brand for a fleeting moment, but you're human 100% of your life'. Too many businesses zoom in on the so-called 'moment of truth' - purchase and consumption. However, true insight lies in understanding the human journey leading to that choice and the underlying goals. By uncovering human motivations and the human jobs-to-be-done, we can discover richer, deeper opportunities. Mark and Mauro both spoke to how how being truly human centric could unlock growth by helping brands become more creative, more innovative and more experiential. They made a compelling case. Mark and Mauro showed that being truly human-centric can unlock growth by making businesses more creative, more innovative and more experiential. They made a compelling case for the power of people in love with people. #HumanCentricity #CannesLions #BrandGenetics #Creativity #Innovation #Marketing

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