Ben's been in The Drum giving advice on how to nurture creativity. 

"What creatives put into a brief is often what the consumer will feel from it. So, to make the best work that consumers feel great about, your creatives need to feel great, too. 

Take the pressure off. Don't bog them down with any heavy stuff surrounding a brief. 

If you're selling bananas because they're about to go off in two days' time, don't tell your creatives that. 

Instead, let them know everything great about the bananas and help them really believe it. It means the work will feel positive as opposed to desperate. 

The last thing a cynical consumer needs is a whiff of desperation. They'll kill you."

Ben On Nurturing Creativity 

 at the 2024 Oystercatchers Awards—judged by a top-tier panel of marketing experts and brand directors. 

Agency of the Year

Why 2025 Will Be a Terrible Year to Suck 

Italian communist Antonio Gramsci is maybe not the obvious starting place when thinking about marketing trends in 2025, but he had some pretty killer lines with some relevance to today:- One is his classic, "Intellect makes me a pessimist, but my will makes me an optimist".

Today, with the two faces of Janus, let's look on both sides of 2025: What will the pessimist see, and what will the optimist see?

THE SEMI-MANAGED DECLINE OF LEGACY BRANDS

Walk through a supermarket, retail park, or even scroll Instagram, and you'll notice how often certain brands will make you feel nostalgic - but in a bad way... These are the living dead, trading on the brand building efforts of the past, but enjoy them while you can as they won't last long, thanks to...

As consumer hype comes under the sway of everyone's favourite algorithms, increasing numbers of brands will be generated and dumped within short cycles. Influencers have been the best positioned to quickly notice and exploit this potential, but they're not going to be the only ones, thanks to...

It has never been easier to generate the stuff that surrounds a brand, particularly if you don't care too much about the quality. This creates a dangerous environment for any brand that thought Good Enough was going to be good enough, as everything sinks into an ocean of uninspired churn. But on the other hand...

Any brand that enters this phase of turbulence with a solid foundation is going to benefit from the chaos. Consumers don't like change, so strong lighthouse brands with a clear and simple idea that they have been able to hold to for the long-term will reap the rewards of the disruption beneath them. As for the rest...

In 2024, Nike hit reset, stepping back from digital sprawl to refocus on their core brand identity. It was a masterclass in course correction, but it's not only giants that can adapt and thrive by returning to their essence. For brands willing to act decisively, it’s never too late to benefit from...

Disruption opens doors. In 2025, agile new brands will rise, free from legacy baggage and ready to resonate with modern consumers. With an authentic mission driving everything forwards, there’s never been a better time for bold entrants to seize their moment, because...

It's all a matter of perspective. 2025 will challenge brands, but it will also reward the fearless who have clarity, purpose, and the courage to sculpt a new world from chaos. After all, for another quote from our Italian communist; "The old world is dying, a new one struggles to be born... Now is the time of monsters".

Ben On Nurturing Creativity

Ben On Nurturing Creativity

Agency of the Year

2025 Optimism