Issue 37: A Bulletin for Big Ideas and Better Business

Pinch and a punch 🥊

Welcome to October. We look at why beer fans are taking a break, the British obsession with greetings cards. We also mark ADHD month. Plus: CERN turn 70 (it wants cash instead of presents this year), K-Film keeps rolling and why your creative legacy is safer than before.
But first: Sir John has an HR suggestion.

OPINION/ MARKETING

Fire your CMO: then appoint a chief entertainment officer

💬 Sir John Hegarty

Havas – the vast public relations company – made a splash in 2008 when it unearthed a statistic that left marketers reeling. It reported that most people wouldn’t care if 74% of brands went ‘poof’ and left this world without a trace. The factoid became a consistent trope at conferences. Its ancestors are still going today. Havas’ latest report has a diversity angle and features an adjusted version of the same question: today, 54% of diverse consumers in the US wouldn’t care if your brand vanished.

Of course they wouldn’t. The public has more pressing concerns than your latest product launch, celebrity tie-up or OOH campaign. But somehow, marketers have retained an inflated sense of importance, and – worse – continued to serve up brand content that does nothing to enrich the lives of the people it’s aimed at. More of us than ever are turned off by advertising that’s boring, annoying, invasive and vacuous. It’s time to re-think the job itself. Brands should stop hiring chief marketing officers. And in their place, put in chief entertainment officers.

More of us than ever are turned off by advertising that’s boring, annoying, invasive and vacuous

Marketing teams have fallen into the belief that their work can’t be as culturally impactful as a music video, as enthralling as a motion picture, or as insightful as a documentary. And in the pursuit of a sale, they’ve sacrificed quality. This is a mistake. The job of the chief entertainment officer will be to give audiences (note, our abandoning of the term ‘consumer’), the sort of thing they’re already dying for. That is: story, truth, beauty and exhilaration.

Some have gotten the memo – consider how the Barbie movie drove up sales for Mattel last year, or how luxury brands are making in-roads into the film industry. It’s time for a new epoch in brand-building. Stop selling to audiences. Entertain them instead.

THE AGENDA

✏️ Pencil it in: your agenda for the coming week

1.
Members of the British Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) are the most committed of beer drinkers, but October offers a shift in routine – one that involves cider instead. Switching up keeps things fresh.
1st – 31st October

2.
The Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie is an association dedicated to French-speaking culture. Its big summit happens this week. English is the language of business, but a Gallic phrase thrown into conversation adds a certain je ne sais quois.
4th – 5th October

3.
Yehudi Menuhin was a prodigious talent on the violin. He also gave the world International Music Day. The big idea? Use the aural mediums to create harmony.
1st October

4.
The British are zealous card-givers. The Henries is an award that recognises excellence in the card industry. It’s named after Sir Henry Cole (who introduced the first commercially produced Christmas card in 1843).
3rd October

5.
ADHD awareness month begins. While the condition causes difficulties, some of the most creative people in the world are known to have it – like Alicia Keys, Bill Gates and Albert Einstein.
1st – 31st October

SWITZERLAND / INNOVATION

There’s light at the end
Contributor: Pascal Boegli / Alamy Stock Photo

CERN turns 70

It’s a big day for people who like to study small things. CERN, the particle physics lab, has spent decades trying to unlock the hidden mysteries of matter – and today marks its seventieth anniversary. As scientists gather to celebrate the milestone, there’s a looming question of how the research institute will fund its next epoch. The European member states that usually chip in are facing straightened times, so bosses at CERN are contemplating more private sector investment. Highlighting the political importance of the lab is an appearance from Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission. Any EU lawmakers who complain that the fundamental research carried out by CERN is a nice-to-have ought to remember a simple fact: its experiments created the World Wide Web. Creativity first, applications later.

ON CREATIVITY /

Credit: Sir John Hegarty

BUSAN / CULTURE

Cinema city: The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF)
Contributor: Nathan Willock-VIEW / Alamy Stock Photo

Film is key creative export for South Korea

South Korean culture has been in world-domination mode. A myriad of categories has been given a ‘K’ prefix: K-pop, K-fashion, K-beauty and K-food have all taken the US and EU markets by storm. In recent years, another group has joined the Hallyu – film. Tomorrow the 29th annual Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) kicks off in South Korea’s second city, with opening and closing ceremonies taking place in a purpose-built Busan Cinema Centre. The event has grown in line with the stature of films from the country, but has faced some setbacks lately – one was its subsidy from the Korean Film Council being slashed by 50% from last year. Organisers remain set on the future, however. Specifically, its emphasis on streaming titles. The show will open with Uprising, a Korean historical action film, which airs on Netflix. The K-wave surges on.

US / CREATIVITY

Hold on, he’s coming
Contributor: ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo

Can you control your creative legacy?

Great art takes on an erratic life of its own once its creator has died. The great example is Vincent van Gogh – the Dutch master only found commercial success after his passing. Today, more creatives appear to be taking steps to safeguard their creative legacies. The Trump presidential campaign recently found itself in hot water for pumping out soul singer Issac Hayes’ hit ‘Hold On, I’m Comin’ at campaign rallies. Fast Company reports that a federal lawsuit filed in August claims the song has been used unlawfully by the former Us president more than 133 times since 2020 (a recent outing was at the 2024 Republican Convention). The Hayes estate is looking for $3 million in royalties. Artists in the US are – under copyright law – able to retain rights to their work for 70 years after their death, with an appointed estate receiving royalties and stepping in when abuses are made. Life is short, but art is (still) forever.

Cinema is a matter of what’s in the frame and what’s out.

/Martin Scorsese