and then what ideas are an essential
part of the creative industry yet time
and time again individuals step into
this exceptional world with decidedly
and exceptional ideas if any at all
taking the time to look around you
absorbing what’s going on in the world
and seeking inspiration at every
opportunity can make you stand out and
really make a difference not only for a
single organization the company that
you’re working for but for the industry
as a whole in a millennial world where
information is food how can you turn
that nourishment into something truly
pioneering so I am a marketeer but I am
also a marketers dream from the coffee I
drink to the books I read to the
restaurants I go to to the clothes that
I wear I fall for it every time not that
long ago my friend colleague and I were
walking through the streets of Chester
we’ve been to a meeting we should have
been concentrating on work we were
completely transfixed by the smell that
was passing to the center of Chester we
followed that smell down to Penn
Halligan’s and proceeded to buy some
perfume so I fall for it every time but
where would we be without these
marketing campaigns and ultimately the
ideas that are driving them imagine a
world with no imagination the high
street would be a pretty dull place to
be we’d all be wearing the same clothes
which would be very disappointing we’d
all be eating exactly the same food and
there will be no exciting tourism
campaigns we would just look in a book
find a place we want to go get on a
plane go to a beach that’s it and there
would be nothing inspirational about it
websites would do the absolute bare
minimum we’ve all done that thing where
we’ve clicked on something we like which
I can’t quite afford it and then it
doesn’t leave us alone followers us
everywhere that we go on the Internet
well that wouldn’t be happening you just
be going onto websites getting what you
wanted and then leaving even cavemen had
ideas so what makes a great marketing
idea this is symbol I don’t know whether
any of you have heard of it before it’s
a fantastic mattress company it was one
of the first mattress companies in the
UK to deliver a mattress in a box
it’s basically changed in the way that
we’ve purchased match
from the clever technology to the fact
that if you sleep on it you’ve got a
hundred nights of sleeping on it if you
don’t like it you can send it back but
the best thing of all is the fact it
comes in a box and when it gets out of
the box it unfolds itself how many times
have you moved into a new flat a new
house you have that thing where you’re
trying to push the mattress up the
stairs someone’s pulling you fall out
everybody gets hurt it’s just a huge
mess but what about the fact you can get
this mattress delivered to your home in
the room that you want it to be in in a
tiny box and then it gets unwrapped into
the perfect mattress so through digital
and print campaigns is whether other as
well as other elephant elements like
influencer campaigns gifting tube
advertising they’ve been all over the
tube I’ve seen them everywhere this
brand is now so great that everybody is
trying to emulate him Mike we all know
about Mike in the 1980s their campaign
just do it basically transform the
company Nike was a marathon runners
company it was for people that ran and
they decided to diversify and in order
to diversify they had to look at a
different way of doing that and getting
people’s attention so this just do it
campaign meant that everybody could get
involved can i really be bothered to go
to the gym just do it don’t like phoebe
from friends when i run just do it in
1988 night sales were at eight hundred
billion dollars which to you and i is
not doing that badly but by 1998 sales
had exceeded nine point two billion
dollars Boddingtons some of you may have
heard of the brand i’m sure lots of you
had a drink of it and Boddingtons was
famed initially for being one of the
first companies to introduce the widget
into their cans but it was also
responsible for an amazing campaign in
the 1990s which not only raised the
profile of the product itself but it
also managed to raise the profile of a
whole city the City of Manchester with
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
Boddingtons dream of a manchester
campaign I certainly remember from my
childhood so there are these campaigns
and then there are the new spin
campaigns and a new spring campaign is a
company that’s doing really well and
then all of a sudden something happens
and it’s things start to go wrong so
what happens in this situation is a
really good example of this is Burberry
it was a brand that everybody started to
avoid in the 1990s because it was
starting to get really bad press from
certain undesirables that started to
wear the label they were famously to
burbs pubs in Leicester that actually
banned anyone from wearing Burberry in
their pubs
so Berry’s creative director had a great
idea and he wanted to overhaul the brand
they snapped up high-profile celebrities
like Kate Moss and Emma Watson
and they basically raised the
desirability of this product again they
also use people like Romeo Beckham who
himself has a massive profile and it’s
just drawing attention to a brand which
is still doing clothing amazingly well
but it’s just putting a different spin
on it
McDonald’s is another one and everybody
loves a cheeky McDonald’s my
nine-year-old son told me to put that
part in the documentaries such as super
fights emphasise me and it was doing
nothing for the brand supersize me was
basically saying that Madden’s is one of
the big contributing factors to obesity
in America because it was all of the
large portions it was unhealthy eating
so they need to think about what they
were going to do and they need to turn
things around so they again looked at
their product but also their campaign
the products they started to use a sort
of healthy salads wraps that sort of
thing and they then brought in this I’m
loving it campaign and they featured an
original team by Justin Timberlake on
there which was a really really great
idea because everybody could everybody
like Justin Timberlake he’s a likeable
guy and it allowed them to draw
attention to the I’m loving it campaign
which worked really well the image then
moved quite swiftly from fast food to
good food served fast Apple everybody
knows
Apple it’s an amazing company pretty
much everybody has some kind of Apple
products somewhere along the line but
according to Business Insider in 1997
Apple was very dangerously close to
bankruptcy 20 years later the company is
now stronger than ever before so what is
their secret what their product is
fantastic
it’s a beautiful create
project it’s well-made but it’s not too
loud doesn’t shout too much and that’s
exactly what they’ve done with their
campaigns they’ve created very
incredibly sophisticated campaigns that
gets people’s attention and gives them a
trust in the brand the impatient
generation we think it’s just part of a
generation actually were all the
impatient generation these days I heard
some of the other day that people don’t
get bored anymore and it’s so true
we never sort of take time to sit still
and get bored
we’re always picking up our phones or
fiddling with something or worth playing
on iPads whatever it is no one’s
actually taking the time to just be
bored and in my opinion that’s when you
get some of the best ideas when you just
out there not looking at anything not
doing anything things start to pop into
your head
so in this fast-moving world we don’t
have much time to get people’s attention
it’s just so quick and we’ve got to do
something truly exceptional to get
people’s attention people are spending
just over two hours a day online on
their smartphone I think it’s probably
more than that or for all honest with
ourselves but when they were on there
and when we’re on there we have to
remember that people are looking at a
lot of content so you’ve got to be quick
we’ve got to be different we’ve got to
be shouting out but what are people
looking at and what are the
inspirational bits where should you be
looking for most inspirational
information the news the news has
changed so much it’s so much faster
these days but a lot of people are
getting their news from social media
these figures absolutely blow my mind
fifty-one percent of people use social
media as a source for news each week one
in 10 say that it’s their main source
and more than a quarter of 18 to 24 year
olds that’s 28% of people that survey
say that social media is their main
source of news figures like that blow my
mind I’m kind of quite a traditionalist
when it comes to news but if that’s what
people are getting it then it’s good for
me people are still interested in the
broadsheets they’re still popular so the
likes of The Telegraph the Guardian The
Times but people are doing a lot more
snippet reading Daily Mail strip of
shame we’ve all been there everybody
looks at that before they go to sleep
don’t they anyway The Huffington Post
this is one of my favorite publications
actually online it’s really great for
short bursts
new-snippets but it also has really
really in-depth stories as well that go
into the
roots of stories that we just don’t seem
to tend to have the time to do anymore
BuzzFeed BuzzFeed is a really
interesting Marmite sort of site it’s
really great for information but whether
all the information is the stuff that we
should be asked after I’m not sure
however BuzzFeed have actually been
responsible for breaking quite a few
important stories over the last few
months so don’t say no to anything
according to the Pew Research Center in
the US people are spending on average 57
seconds reading short burst news
articles but just watch what you’re
looking at not too many puppies please
for me documentaries are an amazing
source of information and they cover
everything from animals in captivity to
the true cost of fashion to the earth
which I found absolutely fascinating and
I would recommend watching as much as
you possibly can but I would also
recommend watching outside of your
comfort zone you’re sure to learn
something truly fantastic and there’s so
much content out there if you’ve got
access to Netflix or anything like that
there are just literally thousands of
documentaries that you can have a look
at bloggers versus influencers and
myself and my team work with influencers
every day and this is growing literally
by the minute and blogs were the way
that blogs are used is sort of changing
now it’s definitely more heading towards
influencers for product placement and
blogs are being used more for sort of
topical stories that people can talk
about and going out on Instagram YouTube
businesses are putting huge budgets
behind these people now and we do so
much work with influencers we’re about
to take a load of influencers out on a
trip to the Arctic because a watch brand
that we work with is influenced by the
Arctic so these lucky people get to come
with us to the art taking go husky
sledging
everyone’s looking for different ways of
getting their attention just to get
their products onto them and to wear
their clothes to travel to their
destinations and basically giving these
businesses access to not just hundreds
but thousands and hundreds of thousands
of followers some of these people have
got millions and followers it’s really
incredible so the opportunities are
endless from everything from like health
lifestyle fashion everything you want to
get involved with you can and but
equally from an interest perspective
again
like I said of the documentaries it’s
really good to think outside the box
look at some unusual influences there
aren’t necessarily there’s honors that
you would currently follow at different
ages different countries father of
daughters his wife is also in influence
there and they get to do some incredible
stuff and they have many many followers
basic follows the life as them and their
four children podcasts I would
personally like to think I’m responsible
for rebirth of a podcast I am absolutely
obsessed with them I never shut up about
them from feminism women in business
LGBT communities medical advisors
specialists in table manners
entrepreneurial minds
there’s a massive broad spectrum of
people that you can listen to on these
podcasts I really enjoy the business
podcasts everything from the guy that
invented the trunky that kids sit on in
airports when you get run over your toes
and to the people that invent it or that
launch leon the healthy food chain
there’s just so much to be learnt from
these people and they’re happy to talk
about where they went wrong and where
they went right and share their share
their stories there are many many ways
to listen walking to work driving to
work in the car on the bus in the bath
on the beach I recently went away on a
romantic holiday with my husband for a
week with no children
I took a massive pile of books with the
expectation that I would read every
single page of these books it I didn’t
read a single page I just listen to
podcasts the whole time which I don’t
know what that says about me but there
we go so carrying out activity that
regenerates the mind and also feed your
imagination I think is really really
important I like to go out I go running
probably can’t tell but I do like to run
it just gives me time to get out and
think and I quite often will go for a
run I try to go for a run once in the
week before work and I will come into
work so psyched and so full of ideas and
really irritating and make people do
laser things that they didn’t want to do
but I just think it’s really good to get
your imagination going do any anything
like sport yoga pilates mindfulness is a
fantastic thing to do I’m literally just
going for a walk just extend your trip
to work or school or whatever and just
go for a walk let your imagination feed
itself so I’ve always been a huge
advocate of
experience I built my career based on my
experience when I was at university I
went and sought it as much as I possibly
could I did a year in industry when I’m
when I was at university and I feel that
it really really made my career for me
but I was quick I was lucky and that I
knew that I wanted what I wanted to do
but I also think work experience is
massively beneficial for people that
don’t know what they want to do it
doesn’t matter if you don’t enjoy if you
don’t enjoy it great now you know now
you spent a week of your life finding
out you don’t want to do the thing you
really thought you wanted to do it’s
just getting out there and trying things
and seeing whether you like it but if
you do like it it’s so good for your CV
and go out and you can get more
businesses are happy to give you work
experience because they always need
support but equally I would like to
think that they understand how important
it is for your career as well it shows
enthusiasm and drive and ambition and if
you get out there and get experience it
doesn’t matter where or for how long you
really don’t know until you try so how’d
you get hurt and you’ve got to be seen
to be getting out there you’ve got to be
getting interested in making an effort
effort really is the key word here and
when you do get an opportunity don’t
just be the one sitting in the corner
ticking boxes and then catching the
number 41 bus home and be heard and be
heard for the right reasons get as much
information as you possibly can from as
many different places you possibly can
as I’ve said be different but not too
different watch listen and learn because
the people around you have experience
and then they know what’s right much
wrong what’s gone wrong what doesn’t
work so really learn from everybody that
you’re spending time with and speak up
no idea is a bad idea and no question is
a stupid question I think that’s one of
the biggest fears when people go into
companies or sort of working
environments they’re afraid to ask
questions or feel they should know how
things work well how are you supposed to
know how things work unless you are
asked in less you watch and learn so
please don’t be afraid to speak up and
do ask as many questions as possible so
when all this comes together and you can
help build exceptional campaigns that
will hopefully make a difference and
possibly give you access to millions of
people or
in the case of WestJet 47 million people
this is one of my favorite PR campaigns
on the eve before flying the guests were
in their beds visions of traveling
danced to their heads while out on the
runway
something secret had arrived it was left
what are you looking for christmas this
year : what I need is new socks and
while the guests told their Christmas
wishes to good old signet westjetters
took notes and got ready to stop quick
it was a great rush with the two flights
in the air to get all those presents not
[Applause]
he gets never expected with a cast of
st. Nick would actually appear it was
all quite a trick a West Jenner would
say there was more than mere fun
miracles do happen when we all work as
one be the pioneering imagination thank
you [Applause]