Strategy

David Alexander

What do Sainsbury’s and Beyoncé have in common? Until recently, not very much. But, thanks to a stroke of reactive marketing genius, this unlikely association brought Sainsbury’s a surge of engagement on social media. What can marketers learn from it in order to capitalise on other brands’ publicity, turn a PR disaster into a PR triumph or score serious engagement from a single post? One thing is clear: when it comes to reactive marketing, fortune favours the fast.

James Trowman

When you think of Tom and Jerry, it’s likely the first thing that springs to mind is their natural rivalry – each episode erupting into mayhem because of the comedic competition between the two characters. But if you think harder you might remember that, from time to time, the pair set aside their rivalry and defied nature to pursue a common goal. Although cat and mouse were created to be enemies, deep down they were always friends – “frenemies” before the term became mainstream.

Saxon Wyatt

Back in 2014, Kelly Slater, an 11-time world surfing champion and one of the greatest athletes of all time, made the surfing community question whether his brain was waterlogged when he parted ways with his long-term sponsor Quiksilver to pursue his own clothing brand. Walking away from a 23-year, multimillion-dollar partnership that had him made the face of surfing for three generations looked like a strange decision, to say the least. It was the equivalent of LeBron James leaving Nike or Lionel Messi dumping Adidas to start their own sports brands.

Sakiko Suga

I went to an event last month that opened my eyes to the future of finance. It was at the London headquarters of a startup called Monzo (formerly Mondo). You might have heard of it – it crashed crowdcube’s website within seconds of its crowdfunding campaign going live three weeks ago after enthusiastic backers pledged £1 million in a minute and a half in exchange for equity in the startup.

Ben Bush

The rain came a day too late to save England’s blushes at The Kia Oval. We got to celebrate anyway yesterday, as Alastair Cook lifted the little urn after a successful – if gloriously unpredictable – Ashes campaign. As his players rightly enjoyed their moment in the sun, spraying Veuve Cliquot and swigging Cobra and Peroni from the neck, I was reminded of some slightly different scenes a couple of weeks earlier at Trent Bridge.