Marketers’ only shot at influence is to embrace the CMO title
Mark RitsonCompanies like McDonald’s are abandoning the CMO role in part because marketers insist on constant, pointless reinvention of the position and its responsibilities.
Mark Ritson – Brand Leadership
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Superdry’s returning founder can restore the brand’s DNA
Mark RitsonFounders live and breathe their brands, and Superdry’s Julian Dunkerton should be able to correct the strategic mistakes of the past, as long as he’s not stuck in the past himself.
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For the first time big tech faces a credible threat of breakup
Mark RitsonIf Elizabeth Warren or another Democrat wins the White House, Facebook, Google and Amazon may finally realise they can’t hang on to their dominant positions forever.
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Tesla’s online-only move doesn’t herald the retail apocalypse
Mark RitsonMany marketers will see Tesla’s decision to shut its dealerships in favour of online sales as another example of physical retail’s decline, but the real reason is more mundane – cash.
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It’s time to shut down digital marketing teams for good
Mark RitsonConsolidation of teams to remove duplication by specialist digital marketers can’t come soon enough, and will allow us to focus on the consumer instead of the media channel.
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Mark Ritson: Wetherspoons ditching social media is brand leadership at its best
Mark RitsonJD Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin has been criticised for closing the brand’s social media accounts, but it shows he’s brave enough to decide they don’t fit his target market or objectives.
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Mark Ritson: Despite Unilever’s good intentions, its demands of digital platforms are futile
Mark RitsonAs long as Google and Facebook are considered intermediaries rather than publishers, policing offensive content will primarily be the job of algorithms rather than those with sound editorial judgement.
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Mark Ritson: Buckle up for marketing’s ‘Big Seven’ in 2018
Mark RitsonWhat are you doing wasting your time on segmentation, targeting and positioning when 2018 is about AI, millennials and Blockchain? Here are seven marketing bandwagons you need to jump on before it’s too late.
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Only the ad industry’s Weinsteins should fear Cindy Gallop’s ‘witch hunt’
Mark RitsonCindy Gallop’s request for anonymous reports of sexual harassment in the ad industry seem to go too far, but empirical and anecdotal evidence shows the problem is real and can only be fought by naming names.
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Google memo reveals the many perils of gender discrimination
Mark RitsonThe Google memo by engineer James Damore, attacking the company for pursuing gender diversity, shows how damaging it is to make sex-based assumptions – but it also reveals big political problems for the web giant.
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Mark Ritson: Marketing debate is so polarised it’s hard to be sure of anything
Mark RitsonWhether it’s targeting, viewability or video, marketing debate is beset by equal and opposing viewpoints of such vehemence that it makes it look like we don’t know what we’re doing.
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Mark Ritson: United’s CEO makes a mockery of the word ‘leadership’
Mark RitsonUnited Airlines CEO Oscar Muñoz gave a masterclass in what not to do when the carrier forcibly ejected a doctor from an overbooked flight. Leadership is about acting on decisions, not responding to PR crises.
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Ritson: P&G’s Marc Pritchard has made the biggest marketing speech for 20 years
Mark RitsonProcter & Gamble chief brand officer Marc Pritchard laid into Google and Facebook’s ‘walled gardens’ and demanded transparency from the digital supply chain, heralding a new era in digital advertising.
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Mark Ritson: Apple can’t claim it is socially responsible while keeping billions abroad to avoid tax
Mark RitsonApple CEO Tim Cook claims his company has an “incredible responsibility” to the communities it operates in and thinks the US should spend more on infrastructure, so why is Apple keeping hundreds of billions of dollars in cash abroad where it can’t be taxed?
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Mark Ritson: Saatchi & Saatchi’s Kevin Roberts is blind to the ongoing male dominance of advertising
Mark RitsonSaatchi & Saatchi’s chairman, now placed on leave by Publicis Groupe for his comments, is wrong to say the gender equality debate in marketing is “over”. Powerful white men are perpetuating inequality, even if they don’t realise it.