Ashley Cooksley

The last Cog Blog post introduced what's become known as the 'Advertising: Who Cares?' initiative. Nick Manning who co-wrote the post and I have been surprised by the response - and so we are planning a number of follow-ups, culminating in an event on September 12th to try to do what we can to improve the advertising business and to remind us all that it's about the ads. Not the dubious numbers, nor strange concepts like the 'one-second battleground'. The blurring of lines between buyer and seller (as in principal-based buying, or as we used to call it, broking), the lack of transparency (remember the Jon Mandel affair from 2016) the ad fraud scandal, MFAs and so on all lead to one place - the diminution of great advertising, and of the industry. All are welcome to join our growing band of supporters, those who care about advertising. Message me here.

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Another month, another batch of rich, culturally relevant insights for brands from DRUM. This time from our Strategy Director Adam Wyatt on all things AI, entertainment and a renaissance in analogue formats... 👇👇👇 #brandsinculture #brandpartnerships #media #advertising #genai #music #brandedcontent #entertainment #culturalinsights #brandstrategy

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In this article, Marie Haynes shares her thoughts on Google’s understanding (or really, lack of understanding) of the accuracy of our content. She looks at an example faring poorly in Google's systems despite potentially having more accurate and helpful information and shares her thoughts on why this is happening. It shows how Google doesn’t understand documents, but rather they fake understanding by studying searchers' actions. It's an interesting read... https://lnkd.in/gQVgxpWa #undersandingsearchersactions #unhelpfulcontent #googlealgorithm #assessingaccuracy #googlessystems

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Really grateful to two market-leading Editors of subscription-led businesses and terrific ex-colleagues of mine, Catrin Griffiths and Alastair McLellan, for spending time with me last week on B2B content strategy. If you want to watch on-demand there is a link below. Highlights for me included: Impact on content strategy of the move to a paid subscription business model 17min46 Building a high value B2B content proposition 14min02, 23min05, & 31min29 How to motivate editors & editorial teams 29min42 & 50min47 Removing Print as a platform 45min02: https://lnkd.in/gbwftfwR

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"The cost of dullness" brilliantly summarized in two bullets: 1) Dull ads need 7% more ESOV to deliver results. That is serious $$$ down the drain. 2) Half of the ads tested are less interesting/engaging than watching a cow eat grass (literally). Now, I happen to like cows, but even so, beating "cows munching grass" must be the minimum benchmark for any ad from now on.

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The importance of accurately reflecting the prevalence, diversity, and intersectionality of disabilities in society… -The Valuable 500 #Disability #DisabilityInclusion #Advocacy #Inclusive #Accessibility #AuthenticRepresentation #Marketing #Advertising #Inclusion #Diversity #Intersectionality #InclusiveImpactBranding #TheResourceKey #Community

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Engagement metrics provide valuable insights into digital performance, but they should be seen as a means to an end. Ultimately you need your digital content to make a real-world impact. In our latest article, we look at what impact is, and how it can be measured.

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Scoop: Bumble is removing ads with the tagline “a vow of celibacy is not the answer,” following backlash from consumers. Tess Allen, a senior marketing manager at Stay Ai, wrote on LinkedIn that the celibacy ad is “icky because it’s insinuating that Bumble knows better than me — stop questioning women’s autonomy.” Full story here: https://lnkd.in/etxpj726 #communications #publicrelations #marketing PRWeek

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Why is a strategy offsite necessary and important for all departments? (Even if it's just a bunch of sticky notes and socialising). A process document has never created something ground breaking or innovative. Processes are risk mitigation, so it's the easiest new internal product to make as no one can say no to a new one. Too many of them, and an organisation grinds to a stagnant shadow of its former glory. Requiring more and more granular information without supporting a North Star is just delaying the inevitable. A recursive death spiral of more admin... If there's a north star set, when a new process document is inevitably proposed, if it's antithetical to the set goals, there's grounds to pause and ask if it's even needed. All the best with your offsites this new fin year, past, present and future.

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📰 The Future of News: A Two-Tier Media Landscape? A stark warning from parliament.uk: without action, we risk a fractured news ecosystem, with informed citizens on one side and disengaged communities on the other. 💡 “Having informed citizens with a shared understanding of facts isn’t guaranteed—and may not endure.” The UK’s media has defied the odds these past 15 years, with exciting new formats and diverse perspectives. But it’s not all good news… 📉💔 🔎 Trust in journalism is falling 🙈 News avoidance is rising 💸 Revenue streams are drying up 🤖 And AI? It’s shaking up EVERYTHING The risk? A “two-tier” system where some stay informed while others fall into news deserts or questionable online sources. So, what’s next? Tax breaks for local news 🏡, smarter AI policies 🤝, and more innovation💡 could help us steer away from the cliff edge. We are doing our bit at Contribly by trying to innovate the audience engagement side of the news, by getting real people’s voices included and heard in a safe way that social media doesn’t provide. The aim is to build trust and relevance! Let’s keep the news serving everyone, not just the privileged few. 🌍💪 What’s your take on this? Let’s chat! 👇🗣️ https://lnkd.in/enjesFrY

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The UK general election is a timely reminder for consultancies about the importance of clear messaging. Political campaigns SHOULD generate support by: - Targeting specific audiences - Clearly stating their goals - Showing a proven process or plan to achieve them - Communicating without jargon And whilst I can’t say that’s how this current election is panning out, it’s a healthy reminder that the same principles should apply to businesses. Your consultancy must articulate: 👉What you do 👉Who you do it for 👉How you do it 👉How you are different Avoid jargon and buzzwords. If your potential clients can't understand your message, how can they trust you to solve their problems? Deliver on your promises consistently, and you'll build trust and loyalty. P.S. REMEMBER TO VOTE TODAY (AND BRING YOUR I.D. WITH YOU)! P.P.S Remember that much like in politics, the best marketers aren’t always the best candidates. #generalelection #positioning

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Well this is very exciting! Join our Agency Lead James Hargrave for a must-see virtual panel discussion with agency experts Steph Marques (Head of UX @ Bernadette) and Oren Kravetz (Associate Director of Experience Design @ Dentsu Creative) Expect insightful conversations on:  🎙️ How research has changed post-Covid 🎙️ Strategies for securing stakeholder buy-in 🎙️ Techniques for effectively scaling UX research efforts in the modern agency landscape Link to register in the comments 👇 Askable  #Agency #UXResearch #ResearchAgency #ExperienceDesign

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This month's edition of Talking Points by JSA tackles the important topic of PR Measurement which is near and dear to my heart. At JSA+Partners, we have been working on our own solution to this problem for the past year in order to show value to our clients and their key stakeholders. Read more about what we're working on in our latest issue (along with some other insights on current comms trends). And please subscribe if you haven't already! #thoughtleadership #prmeasurement https://lnkd.in/g8TA_wFr

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Some super interesting insights here - a must read for agency leaders!

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The story of how I introduced a zero-cost, low-tech and highly effective comms channel: 🖥️ Digital screensavers When I worked in the Irish police, our channels were limited and I didn't have much budget to make changes. I knew I had to get creative. I collabed with the IT team to push out digital screensavers onto all desktop and laptop computers in the organisation. This was a secondary or supplementary channel - in other words, this is a channel that I knew some people may not see, so the messages on the screensavers were also distributed in a primary channel to ensure reach. Here's my top tips for using digital screensavers in your organisation: ➡️ Be the gatekeeper of the wordcount. Max of 10 - 12 words on each screensaver to ensure that people can read it quickly. YOU own this - not your stakeholders. ➡️ No jargon, no acryonyms, no corporate-speak allowed. ➡️ Use this channel to reinforce important actionable messages to remind employees what they need to DO e.g. "Wear a face mask" / "Fill out your performance review by 30th May". If there was no call-to-action then we didn't use it. ➡️ Use hi-res photos for your background or a nice design from Canva or Photoshop. This is a very visual channel so it really has to look pleasing to the eye. ➡️ Create a clear process and workflow. For us, we put up 4 screensavers at a time and they would rotate after 12 seconds. We had a clear workflow with IT for how often they would be updated, when we would send them and how quickly they could upload them. We also had a clear process for what kind of requests we'd accept from stakeholders and how it all worked from start to finish. When we introduced this channel, I was expecting some pushback but to my surprise we didn't get any at all. People liked them, found them very useful and we were absolutely bombarded with requests to get involved. Btw I have zero design skills so all of this beautiful creative work was owned and designed by the very talented Laura Griffin MEIC.

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This is why I always like to start strategic change with 1:1 conversations, rather than a massive group feedback session. 👇🏼Lots of great practical questions in here that you could use to help push through your next big idea.

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The UKGC’s quarterly data is out, and - believe it or not - it’s genuinely a decent read and a well-presented way to ingest trends that maybe don’t always make the headlines.   Here’s my two chips' worth:   📈 Stricter regulation and marketing restrictions don't seem to mean much to customers with Slots GGY up 10% YoY and Euro 2024 fever pushing ‘real event’ betting up 16%. 🎮 Esports betting is still one to watch with growth looking steady, but it still has a way to go to justify all the hype and I'm not sure the UK is ready to bite yet. 💪 And retail betting is powering on. OTC figures are holding strong. Has the slow evolution of the betting shop finally created a breeding ground for the next-generation of high street bettor? You can take a look yourself here: https://lnkd.in/en3Yb8Hk   #UKbetting #UKGC #bettingtrends #igamingmarketing  

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