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Nov 8, 2024 | 
aurora.dawn.com | Julian Saunders
Hope Lies in a Good Crisis We need a huge climate crisis to shake us out of our complacency,argues Julian Saunders. Julian SaundersPublished 08 Nov, 2024 03:02pm “Necessity is the mother of invention” is a proverb that stands the test of time. We saw it in evidence during the pandemic. In normal times, it can take a decade to develop a vaccine, yet it took less than a year to produce one. Governments sacrificed other medical research priorities to do so.
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Sep 4, 2024 | 
aurora.dawn.com | Julian Saunders
Marketers get very excited by change, often presented as pervasive, fast and difficult to predict. AI is the current hot topic – will it produce popular unrest and alarming challenges to the capabilities of states, or gradual change and something more benign? There is no consensus. The late Stephen Hawkins said: “Success in creating AI could be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, it might also be the last.” Feeling anxious? Me too. Some perspective may help.
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Jul 8, 2024 | 
aurora.dawn.com | Julian Saunders
I am making these bleary-eyed notes the morning after the UK’s general election. The Conservatives have been hollowed out by Reform, a party rooted in fear of immigration. Across Europe, the extreme right is on the move for similar reasons. If you are of the rational sort, this is illogical because demography is destiny. Without large-scale immigration, most of Europe will not have enough workers to maintain healthy economies.
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Jun 5, 2024 | 
mediacatmagazine.co.uk | Ben Kay |Josh McLoughlin |Josh Mcloughlin |Julian Saunders |Richard Shotton
On the face of it, political and non-political advertising share many similarities, but they also differ in some quite fundamental ways. To illustrate that point, let’s take an example that’s still fresh in the mind: the rise of Nigel Farage and the effect he had on the Brexit vote. After beginning his career as a euro-sceptic Conservative politician, Farage first became an MEP, then the leader of UKIP, driving a movement to get Britain to leave the European Union.
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Jun 3, 2024 | 
mediacatmagazine.co.uk | Josh McLoughlin |Josh Mcloughlin |Steve Wheen |Andrea Buzzi |Julian Saunders
Make America Great Again. Get Brexit Done. Build Back Better. There are arguments out there, in various publications, which suggest that voters are somewhat tired of political slogans — and yet politicians across the spectrum continue to use them. In what ways can marketers help make political slogans more palatable for people again? And is this even possible? Political slogans are like ads. You bemoan how rubbish they are, then remember the good ones.
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Jan 8, 2024 | 
aurora.dawn.com | Julian Saunders
1. Nike, Go Fly Easy: Nike always creates desire and is the best-loved brand among 18-year-olds in the UK. Their new designs set the standard for sneakerheads (isn’t everyone a sneakerhead now?). The Go Fly Easy is perfect for impatient souls. You can just kick them on and kick them off. 2. Adidas, Terrex: I love countryside walks. So I am thinking about buying these. Incidentally, the second favourite brand among 18-year-olds is Adidas (and not Apple).
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Aug 25, 2023 | 
aurora.dawn.com | Julian Saunders
One of the things I lovedwhen I was an accountplanner* was gettingout of the office to meetpeople face-to-face. I enjoyedgoing into peoples’ homes, rootingaround in their cupboards, seeingwhat they pin to their walls andwhere they shop. I liked to do‘assisted shopping’ – there isno better way to understand thetrade-off parents have to makeon a limited budget than goingshopping with them and chattingabout their choices.
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Jul 27, 2023 | 
aurora.dawn.com | Julian Saunders
When I first heard that Elon Musk had decided to drop Twitter’s iconic bird logo and replace it with an X, I thought it was a publicity stunt. Perhaps by threatening to commit ‘brandicide’ Musk hoped he would trigger an outpouring of love for the departing brand, and that tweeters wouldn’t defect to Threads (Meta’s new clone of Twitter). If that was the idea, it didn’t work. Twitter is famous but not much loved.
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Jul 7, 2023 | 
aurora.dawn.com | Julian Saunders
“History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme,” said Mark Twain. AI has triggered a predictable flurry of techno optimism and pessimism. But what might it mean for communications? This little bit of futurology is the second round for me. Twenty years ago, I was researching a book predicting the transformative impact of digital technology. I attended many conferences and had fascinating meetings with techno visionaries. I got some things right and some wrong.
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May 30, 2023 | 
aurora.dawn.com | Julian Saunders
How Tina Turner Became An Icon Remembering Tina Turner Julian SaundersPublished 30 May, 2023 01:00pm “You’re simply the bestBetter than all the restBetter than anyoneAnyone I have ever met”Tina Turner’s power ballad (originally recorded by Bonnie Tyler) was the soundtrack at many a sales conference during the nineties. As ‘the Salesman of the Year’ collected his award Simply the Best would burst into life as he progressed to the stage, feeling magnificent and dominant and successful.
