What is a good meal? What is a good algorithm?

If I gave you free reign of the larder, and asked you to prepare a good meal, what would you cook? Something rich and creamy, to help me get through this long week? Or a vegetable laden pie, to help me get my 5-a-day?   It depends on your definition of good, right? Meals are not … Continue reading What is a good meal? What is a good algorithm?

Personalisation vs customisation – Do you know the difference?

“Personalisation” and “customisation” are two terms often used in marketing, to refer to ways in which customers are treated as individuals. In some cases, the two terms are treated as synonyms, which is wrong because, really, “personalisation” and “customisation” solve opposite problems. Here is an overview of the main differences.     Personalisation In the … Continue reading Personalisation vs customisation – Do you know the difference?

PhD research topics that I am supervising

I have recently received a number of e-mail inquiries from people asking whether I would be available to supervise their PhD studies. The answer is that I could take on one, maybe two new students. However, if we are going to work together for 3-4 years, we need to have research interests in common. Most … Continue reading PhD research topics that I am supervising

How did the 2008 financial crisis impact on financial exclusion?

Ten years ago, the UK was in the grips of a major financial and economic crisis, triggered by the ‘credit crunch’ experienced in the previous year (1). Major financial institutions like Northern Rock or Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, others like the Royal Bank of Scotland required government intervention to stay afloat, and most – if … Continue reading How did the 2008 financial crisis impact on financial exclusion?

Apple Watch Series 4 will appeal to older customers; and that is a great marketing move

At its latest event, on 12thSeptember 2018, Apple announced a new version of its smartwatch. The Apple Watch Series 4 includes features such as a display that has 30% more usable space than the previous versions, a fall detection mechanism which sends out an alert if the user remains immobile after the suspected fall, and … Continue reading Apple Watch Series 4 will appeal to older customers; and that is a great marketing move

New paper: Big data, big decisions: The impact of big data on board level decision-making

If you are interested on the impact of big data on business, you might want to check a new paper that I co-authored with Alessandro Merendino, Sally Dibb, Maureen Meadows, Lee Quinn, David Wilson and Lyndon Simkin; and which has just been published in the Journal of Business Research. This paper reports on a research … Continue reading New paper: Big data, big decisions: The impact of big data on board level decision-making

Today’s marketers: increasingly specialised, in agile teams, with varied backgrounds, need to embrace experimentation, and be ‘whole brain’

Future Proof is a podcast hosted by Julie Kollman, who is Chief Research Officer at Kantar Consulting, and Andrew Stephen, who is the L'Oreal Professor of Marketing at Saïd Business School (Oxford University). In the latest episode, the hosts are joined by Kantar’s senior partner, Mark Visser, to look at how the job of a … Continue reading Today’s marketers: increasingly specialised, in agile teams, with varied backgrounds, need to embrace experimentation, and be ‘whole brain’

Smart speakers – consumer behaviour, industry structure, and implications for marketing

Smart speakers are very popular consumer electronic devices, and their penetration is not showing any signs of a slowdown. According to the analysts at Canalys, almost 100 million smart speakers will make their way to homes all over the world by the end of 2018, more than double the number in place at the end … Continue reading Smart speakers – consumer behaviour, industry structure, and implications for marketing

Book review: “Finish – Give yourself the gift of done” by Jon Acuff

I am in two minds about Jon Acuff's 'Finish - Give yourself the gift of done' (no affiliate link). On the one hand, I find the writing style a little bit off-putting (dad jokes galore… it is a bit too much). I also think that, at £13.96 (price on Amazon, at the time of writing) this … Continue reading Book review: “Finish – Give yourself the gift of done” by Jon Acuff