Gemma T

Clients behaving badly

Posted on 17/02/200929/08/2024 by Gemma T in agencies, clients

New Business is turning into a bit of a farce at the moment. A client I pitched for in November (who announced within 24 hours that we were down to the final two agencies) let us know today that they’d finally made the decision to appoint the other lot. That’s three months it took them … Continue reading Clients behaving badly →

Are you saving them money?

Posted on 15/02/200929/08/2024 by Gemma T in Account Planning, agencies, economy, effectiveness, Planning, recession

We are officially in recession, the economy is nose diving and there’s no question that clients have got less money to spend. Unless you happen to work in Digital (where every agency I know is still turning work away because they’re too busy), it’s looking a bit bleak. I’ve already written about how as Planners … Continue reading Are you saving them money? →

Fangs for the distraction

Posted on 11/02/200929/08/2024 by Gemma T in digital, social media, social media trends, technology, trends

I came across a great phrase the other day - Time Vampires. Which seems to be commonly defined as distractions or events that take you away from your working day. So hello, Twitter. And hi there to facebook and just about every other social networking site and blogging platform. It’s very tempting when inspiration is … Continue reading Fangs for the distraction →

Because life’s too f*****g short

Posted on 07/02/200922/02/2009 by Gemma T in agencies

I ended up on Creative Director Dave Trott’s blog today. His latest post recounted him bollocking (his words) an account handler’s boss because the account man hadn’t found out why the client wouldn’t buy some ads he’d presented. As I understand it, the discussion mostly consisted of him shouting and swearing at the account handler’s … Continue reading Because life’s too f*****g short →

not sure where this waterslide is heading

Posted on 05/02/200922/02/2009 by Gemma T in Campaigns, digital

I got a nice email today from Barclaycard’s online PR people linking to their waterslide challenge, the gist of which appears to be that they’re inviting everyone to create their own DIY waterslide ad, upload it and the winner by public vote gets a trip watersliding round the world. It’s a nice way of extending … Continue reading not sure where this waterslide is heading →

Walk this way

Posted on 04/02/2009 by Gemma T in Life

Having spent a lot of time stuck in traffic jams recently, it struck me that as a nation we seem to have taken our advice on pedestrian crossing etiquette from the Ministry of Silly Walks. Everyone dashes across in a stiff legged lollop (as helpfully demonstrated above by The Beatles). It seems that bending your … Continue reading Walk this way →

The naming of things is a difficult matter

Posted on 31/01/200922/02/2009 by Gemma T in Work

I’ve been pondering recently – why do we have ‘shorthand’ names for some places and people but not for others? At work, for example we have The Coffee Man, Sandwich Man (or occasionally Sandwich Lady), Sewing Lady and CityLink Man. Then there’s The Book People, who have cut out the middle man and handily named … Continue reading The naming of things is a difficult matter →

Don’t panic, Mr Marketing

Posted on 16/01/200922/02/2009 by Gemma T in economy, Work

I am loving these posters-for-our-times from the team at LOVE. Good advice for the Planning community: And also for Creative types:

Open plan vs. open to distractions

Posted on 15/01/200928/10/2025 by Gemma T in trends

archive image from Life magazine, hosted by google Sam Leith in today’s Guardian has written about her experiences working in an open plan office – in essence, an ethnographic study of territorial anxiety and opportunities to acquire cake and gossip. Sitting in our very open plan, very noisy office, trying to avoid the siren call … Continue reading Open plan vs. open to distractions →