Anthony Clifton’s Post

Spending hours at our desks can be a danger to our mental health. So ahead of World Mental Health Day on 10 October, we’ve enlisted Brian Cox to play the role of the ‘World’s Scariest Boss’ in a Public Service Announcement for office workers. Research shows our mental state starts to decline after only two hours of continuous desk-based working and stress levels rise significantly after four hours. But the good news is that just 15 minutes of physical activity can help to reverse the effects. So we’re encouraging those who can, to take a Desk Break to move your mind. Dr Brendon Stubbs, Esther Turkenburg, Gary Raucher, Alice Henly Mitchell, Fiona Berwick, Almeri Solomon (Pelser), Christopher Tyrer, Larissa Drumond, Rio Speller-Drews, Katheline Coudon, Golin London, Alex Wood, Elliot Riordan, Hannah Giles, Gemma Combellack, Sam Mildner, Jessie Brooks, Migle Kriauciunaite, Amy Paton, Ellie W., Vicky Plato, Natasha Weeks, Lydia Goldman, Born05 | part of ACE, Job Bilsen, Timo Wilbrink, Mathilde Dalibard, Francesca Wallis, KODE, Pete Banks, Lindsay Mandeville #SoundMindSoundBody #DeskBreak #MoveYourmindwithASICS

LIDL is trying to steal Tony's strategy Here is why it will fail 👇👇👇 Tony's Chocolonely is one of the best challenger brands around. They have grown 23% YOY and generated a revenue of over EUR150M. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗟𝗜𝗗𝗟 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 Here is why they will ultimately fail 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 Tony’s mission is to make the chocolate industry 100% slavery-free. It's choc bars are unequally divided to highlight the inequality within the sourcing of cocoa. All LIDL has done is copy the look of Tony's bar without enacting any meaningful change. People will see through this purpose washing and call it out. 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲  The unequal divides on Tony's bars are distinctive brand assets. Simply you see them and you think of Tony's. Ironically by stealing Tony's look, all LIDL are achieving is reminding people of Tony's brand instead of building their own. 𝗖𝘆𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 Whilst many love LIDL for their cheeky stealign from bigger brands like M&S, this feels like a step too far. They are stealing from one of the best and most beloved brands around. A brand trying to do good in the world. ♻️ Repost if you found this useful Credit to Mads Oscar Haumann for first bringing this to my attention. Well worth a follow. ___________________________________________ Join over 6,200 people who read my newsletter on all things strategy, brands and creativity. Sign up free here: https://lnkd.in/eNwQzfGr _____________________________________________ #marketing #brand #strategy

Elon Musk desperately needs to run a global ad pitch for Tesla. Someone needs to tell the man who told advertisers to go F%#€ themselves, and is also suing them, that he needs to hire a brilliant agency to sort his brand and do some brand advertising. Perhaps Mark Reid CEO of WPP who celebrated him at Cannes could give him a call. The truth is, even in a slowing market for EVs, it’s the likes of the stronger branded manufacturers who are winning in Europe. BMW sold more electric vehicles than Tesla in the European Union last month—the first time it has outsold its American rival in EVs. According to Jato Dynamics, an industry-analytics firm, the German carmaker shifted 14,869 EVs, while Tesla managed 14,561. Meanwhile, BYD (the Chinese manufacturer many have never heard of) is battling Tesla globally to do the most sales. It undercuts Tesla on price. It’s only a matter of time it wakes up to needing brand building as the next lever. One can’t dispute the genius of Musk or his innovation, but unlike other tech disrupters & innovators like Apple, he’s never really built the Tesla brand to defend it when the competition increases. It’s been defined by him and by being first. Musk did the hard yards of disrupting the market, making EV cool, attracting the early adopters and then broadening the audience. But truth is if looking to buy an EV buying a Tesla now feels like joining the herd. You turn heads less when you see one and owners no longer advocate why they are smart. You can now get the benefits of an EV and a differentiated brand choice too. Whilst Musk was once a brand asset, unlike Jobs, the values that rub off on Tesla are those of an ego-centric maniac. Media is looking for bad news stories on Tesla and not good. So cars catching fire and self driving car incidents are giving a level of attention of someone who has become the enemy. Yet, he remains a genius and Tesla has so much more in the brand he’s built. It’s fixable. Here is my change advice to Elon. Run a global pitch. Pay 3 or 4 great agencies to solve Tesla’s brand dilemma and go again. Then sell the pitch process to Netflix as a reality documentary. I know I’d watch.

It's official. Lee Henshaw and I are veterans:) Thanks to Andy Oakes at NewDigitalAge for covering the launch of our Marketing for Startups Masterclass on @Maven on September 2nd. This masterclass is a five-week course with two live lessons a week. The epigraph is from Franks Herbert's Dune: ''The young reed dies so easily. Beginnings are times of such great peril.' Most startups die within the first few years. We think "die" is a better word than "fail" because it captures the finality and the feeling of absence for the grieving founder. We want to help UK startups beat those odds by teaching them marketing skills that will transform them into businesses that treat marketing as the advocate for the customer. We've got space for 12 students on our debut course. And we've designed it with three types of people in mind: • Founders who want to keep their startups alive. • Founders-in-waiting who are ready to take the plunge. • People working in marketing at startups who want to be more effective at their jobs. If you're interested in studying with us, let us know, and we'll invite you to a free class we're doing in a couple of weeks titled 'How to Find Your Founder's Story.’ https://lnkd.in/eF96q_Kk..

Brand CMO's, we're hosting a breakfast event with Stitcht this Thursday on the subject of Brand Authenticity in Marketing, with speakers from Yorkshire Tea, Maybelline & It Takes A Village, if you'd like to join drop me a message as we have a few spaces available.

How about politicians doing National Service? Rishi Sunak and the Conservative Party have launched an election pledge to re-introduce mandatory National Service for 18-year-olds in the UK. The idea isn’t revolutionary. Other countries in Europe like Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Estonia already have similar schemes. But this is nothing but a performative announcement to win favourability (and headlines) and scapegoat young people for political incompetence. The militarisation of the youth scheme will cost £2.5 billion and would be rejected by young people who are actively protesting for global peace and justice. Here’s a wild idea. What if politicians had to enrol in National Service for 12 months before getting into office... 1. Volunteering at the NHS  2. Working in Food Banks 3. Supporting youth charities That way, maybe they would understand the problems and needs of ordinary people. Give young people opportunities, not disadvantages.