Mark Ritson

Your weekend reminder that, two months into this horrendous act of Russian aggression against the people of Ukraine, several large multinational companies continue to operate in Russia. I'd like to draw specific attention to Alibaba Group, Benetton Group, Diadora, Emirates, Etihad, Giorgio Armani, Lacoste, Lenovo, Zippo Manufacturing Company

If you are making a customer choice in the near future I urge you not to buy from these companies. If you are an employee of these organisations I urge you to look for a better position at a different company. If you are a marketer that encounters anyone from these organisations on your travels I ask that you politely raise this issue with that person. If you encounter commercial messaging on this platform or any other social site, please post a reference to the company's continued presence in Russia underneath its post.

And if you are comfortable please share this message with your professional network. We cannot do a lot in the marketing world, but we can do this.

#glorytoukraine

A grown up approach to purpose driven decision making from The Guardian. It is banning all forms of gambling advertising.

But unlike the forced, unrealistic dogma of
“Purpose = Profits” the newspaper does not expect the move to be a sound financial call. It will cost them millions. The purpose of purpose is purpose, not profit. And The Guadian is making the move anyway.

LinkedIn is now offering a generative AI tool that writes your posts for you. It’s a proper brand killing idea. This weeks column not written by AI.
#brand #AI #smartloo

Ok, ok I know nothing will come of this other than me looking like a total wanker but I cannot resist.

18 months ago I wrote a scathing but supportive article about Unilever's approach to brand purpose. I think Unilever are an amazing company BUT their obsession applying purpose to ALL their brands ALL the time ALL over the world runs counter to the basic principles of brand management. I wrote a column on it - https://lnkd.in/ebsdzMDM. The main criticism from it...

“The idea of purpose as strategic choice has extra application for multi-brand companies like Unilever, LVMH and P&G. These companies have all learned to operate using a house of brands approach in their brand architecture. That means stepping back and allowing each brand to do its own thing. What works for Peter cannot, should not, work for Pauline. And the capability to allow different flowers to bloom is one of the hardest and most important lessons of multi-brand management. And it’s a lesson that should be applied to brand purpose and the strategic choice to position on it or not. Some brands in a multi-brand group should be purpose-driven and some, by definition of market, heritage, category and competition, should not...If Unilever executives are intent on positioning Hellmann’s or Magnum ice cream using brand purpose, then they are branding morons. But I am sure they are not. Surely a company smart enough to manage such a wide portfolio of brands so well, for so long, has grasped the fact that purpose is a strategic choice not only at the inter-corporate level but also, for organisations like Unilever with multiple brands, at the intra-corporate level too“.

So it's pleasing and relieving to see the news that under its new CEO Unilever is adopting exactly this approach. I actually got a load of shit from a lot of people because I was “anti-purpose“ at the time. The key section from the Marketing Week story - https://lnkd.in/en9xuXJb - is:

“Unilever has become synonymous with the idea of placing purpose at the heart of its brands – but its new CEO looks set to change that. Former Heinz chief financial officer Hein Schumacher took over as CEO of the consumer goods giant in July. Today (26 October) he told investors that the company would stop “force fitting” purpose to all its brands... Schumacher did not dismiss the concept of purpose outright, however, acknowledging the company’s focus on delivering on purpose “inspires many people to join and stay with Unilever”. “When done well, and with credibility, [brand purpose] can be highly effective,” he said, pointing to examples like Dove and Lifebuoy. “But we will not force fit this across the entire portfolio, for some brands it simply won’t be relevant and that’s okay,” he added.

There is a growing tendency on social media to have a quick go on ChatGPT at something, demonstrate how shit the output is, then conclude that AI is a load of bollocks and everything 20th century is safe and superior.

Can I suggest these little experiments are not evidence of the failings of AI but merely proof that doing something amateur, half arsed and in a hurry is always going to be shithouse.

I could take up the piano and by next week have a crack at Mozart. It would not be good. That’s not evidence of the failings of pianos, sonatas or the immortal Austrian composer. It’s proof that fucking about on a piano for a few days is futile and pointless for a bozo like me.

In the same way someone banging away at ChatGPT in their underpants to produce ads/ slogans / synthetic data / jingles and then posting about how bad they are signals nothing. Other than they have too much time on their hands and a total lack of perspective. I’m not saying the AI revolution will be all it’s cracked up to be. But I am saying that these odd DIYChatGPT experiments don’t offer any insight either way.

Now, after three.....

#LesDawson #AI

Friends,

I have been using Alex Sayenko for many years. He is an excel genius - and I use those words accurately. He can complete freelance work via upwork quickly and at an advanced level I have NOT SEEN ANYONE ELSE GET CLOSE TO. Don't think about excel projects, think about any data exercise and Alex can do it. Fast. Cheap. Amazing.

Alex and his wife and family live in Dnipro City and because of elderly parents cannot leave. They are able to work and if you want to do something about this horrible Russian bullshit and also gain a significant competitive advantage please consider Alex for any future projects. I can vouch for him. He is amazing.

Deets below.

mark

The empirical work that Andrew Tindall has done on consistency is outstanding. Perhaps the most important insight of the marketing year. This weeks column.

I had a splendid time talking at Google's big event in Sweden last week. Google specialise in asking for VERY short talks. Which is fine with me provided they pay me VERY large amounts of money to deliver them. Short and sweet and uploadable with all the Fs professionally erased...

One of my great strengths - which frequently humbles me - is how I can adapt my approach to different places and cultures. Here I am in Copenhagen seemleasly switching gears to suit a Danish audience.
#culturalninja

A big deal for MiniMBA. Over the next three years we will train thousands of Omnicom people in the region. In marketing, in brand management, in strategy and in general management. Another significant enterprise client joins a who's who list of the best marketing companies all using MiniMBA to upskill and update their people. And I get to work shoulder to shoulder with the fantastic Nick Garrett, his people, and his clients.

https://lnkd.in/gxmQHrCw

Holy shit! There are way, way, way, too many reflections on LinkedIn today.

Crap! This is another.

Transformation at Nestle. A good, marketing savvy CEO now leads it. This weeks Drum column.

Honestly, I’ve never been involved in anything as delightful and silly and cool as this. It was only later I found out how cool the BK Coffee shop thing was. Who knew?

It was a pleasure to sit down with Jon Evans and the Dark Lord of Penetration for a very long chat about marketing.

For your viewing pleasure: https://lnkd.in/gGnQ7XB2

Despite our obsession with death in marketing, nothing actually dies. Comforting final ADWEEK column for 2026.

https://lnkd.in/gf6G4E2h

What a joy! Off to Amsterdam for Think with Google to talk about Bothism. Here is the whole sexy talk. Only 14 minutes. And they've bleeped out all the bleeping bleeps already. Fill yer boots. #Google #Consumer #Bothism

Thinking about a cheeky discount? Think again. Follow the expert example Procter & Gamble set last week and avoid them at all costs. This weeks column for The Drum gives you not one, not two, but TEN reasons. https://lnkd.in/gjethYFZ

So many interesting angles here. The need for market orientation. The power of pretesting. The value of existing advertising. Great stuff from Tindall..

By now you've seen the three charts showing that students using AI produce better, quicker submissions but flunk the exam. This is NOT evidence of the inherent fallacy of AI. This is proof that our existing educational systems are increasingly out of whack. I've set more exams in my academic life than most people on this forum and the format, effort and assessment always filled me with deep concerns.

And that was two decades ago.

I still run "exams" on the MiniMBA but they are simulation style challenges and I make it very clear that the grade is no proxy for skill in any sense. They work because they pull together all the teaching into a practical, applied, enjoyable mission. Part of the learning not a pointless test of it.

There are profound changes ahead for education. This chart does not argue against them. Quite the opposite.

It's time marketers appreciated the power of Reddit, Inc. Column for The Drum

https://lnkd.in/gt_JMhak

FFS. Dolly Parton. If you want to see what's wrong with LinkedIn just roll through all the nonsense posted here. Including this post I guess. A smashing, wondrous woman but...hey....it's LinkedIn not The Nashville Register.

Playing with your brand codes can be very rewarding, but have British Airways gone too far with their new outdoor ad? This week's column for The Drum. https://lnkd.in/gyeXvMaA

That's one way to frame it. The other way is to assume Byron Sharp and I actually know what brand purpose is and have a neutral, nuanced, more accurate perspective.

Does WPPs new CEO know what she’s doing? Not sure. This weeks The Drum column.

https://lnkd.in/gtxGSnh8

I’ve ben a fan of System1 for a long time. I think they are the very best at what they do. To see them become an investment is a dream come true. Here’s to synergy. Partnership. Growth.

Well done Oli and Theo. Brilliant partners. Could not be more impressed.

Earlier this year, Ipsos did something nobody in marketing had ever bothered to do.

They tested us.

1200 marketers. Across five countries. Real questions on the fundamentals of the discipline they practise every day. Positioning. Pricing. Brand versus performance. The stuff we all claim to know.

Most failed.

Not junior marketers. Not people from adjacent functions who wandered into marketing by accident. Marketers. With marketing job titles. Failing a test. On marketing.

When Ipsos separated out the marketers who had received formal marketing training, the results flipped. Trained marketers were 5x more likely to pass than untrained ones.

Think about what that means. The single biggest predictor of whether a marketer actually knows marketing isn't their years of experience, their IQ, their seniority, or how many conferences they've attended. It's whether anyone ever taught them the fundamentals properly.

We are the only serious business function that lets most of its practitioners skip the training. No CFO learned finance from LinkedIn posts. No lawyer picked up contract law from a podcast. But marketing? We wing it. And then we wonder why the seven marketers around the table have seven different definitions of positioning. Or why others don't take marketing seriously (clue: most marketers don't so why should we?).

This is what I built the MiniMBA in Marketing to fix. Ten weeks. The complete foundation — orientation, strategy, targeting, positioning, effectiveness, pricing, product. Taught properly.

And no plane tickets, no week out of the office, no second mortgage.

40,000 marketers in 40 countries have done it.

The next cohort starts in September. Dozens of marketers signed up today for it. If you're one of the untrained majority, this is your moment to stop winging it: www.minimba.com

And if you're in the already trained minority — congratulations. You're in the 5x club. Send this to someone who isn't.

New data suggest the ass has fallen out of the creator economy. This weeks column for The Drum:https://lnkd.in/gKAZ6wbR

ChatGPT hire a very good marketer and give him a very tough job :https://lnkd.in/gRyqKADS

All hail Atlanta! Why we should be talking more about The Coca-Cola Company and why we aren't. Adweek column: https://lnkd.in/gwxa56zb

Very few smarter marketing brains than Richard Shotton and his cohost MichaelAaron Flicker is not dummy either. So I went on their podcast, sober, and did this. In long trousers.

What's that? A positive column about rebranding you say? Surely not! This weeks column for The Drum: https://lnkd.in/gTFCXMk3

Face it Apple, Siri is a moron: Column for The Drum https://lnkd.in/gFTjY-ZG

I've spent 25 years understanding why brands lose customers. It's rarely one big mistake. It's a hundred small disconnects that gradually add up until the customer quietly moves on.

The kicker is most organisations don't even see it happening while its happening. Departments hit KPIs, dashboards glow green, and no one asks the question: is the overall customer relationship getting stronger or weaker?

On March 11, I'm speaking at Engage With SAP Online to share what's changing in customer experience, what's noise, and where marketers should focus their time and energy.

It's free and online. Worth tuning in if you'd rather hear what's working in the real world than sign up for another trend report that gathers dust in your ‘downloads’ folder.

Register here: https://lnkd.in/g_BrF4Yr

Up yours Kevin Rudd.

I am sad Christmas is over. Not because of the pressies but because advertising gets worse. This week's ADWEEKcolumn asks why can't it be Christmas every day Daddy? https://lnkd.in/gEhPcQ9Q

System1 #advertising #christmas