Author: Maximilian
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The Great Creative Work Survey
How do we get to great creative work? I’m launching a new side project to explore opportunities and obstacles on our way to great creative work – and I need your help. After months of faffing and idling around and keeping the blog dormant, I realise it’s time to get back into this: the thrill…
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Unfollow. Why following each other won’t get us nowhere new
Over the past weeks I tried to get back a bit more into my old “reading interesting stuff the industry is talking about” routine. Staying up to date on strategy, planning challenges, the industry and their thought leaders is, after all, part of what enables a strategist do to their job. Or at least that’s…
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The Risk of the Customized Agency
And here it is: another ‘customized agency’ It’s been in the press for a while, but today it got some more exposure. ThyssenKrupp and Thjnk (where I’ve worked before moving to Amsterdam) are launching a new agency, a customized agency. Which seems to be the latest rage among bigger brands, not only in Germany (McDonald’s,…
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The Sciamachy between Big Data And Big Ideas
Much to my surprise, the last couple of weeks saw an increase in conversations I had about a topic that apparently does neither get old nor boring. It’s been around for a while but still creates a natural tension – which is, in a way, exciting for strategists: the sciamachy between the Big Idea and Big Data. It is a debate…
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How Creativity Benefits From Noise. Or: Jump in the Pool
The past months have brought some changes in my life. Nothing dramatic, but still significant enough to allow some of these finding their way onto this blog in the next couple of weeks, because in a way #everythingisnieuw. About three months ago, I moved from Hamburg to Amsterdam, from a German agency to an international one: from thjnk…
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What Advertising Can Learn From BuzzFeed
A few days ago I attended a panel discussion/interview with Juliane Leopold, founding editor of BuzzFeed Germany, at betahaus Hamburg. She talked about how everything started, how she set up the team, how BuzzFeed wants to be political and opinionated, etc. All of this wasn’t really surprising until the moment when she opened the site on…
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2014 In Review
These are the last hours of 2014. Time for a very short review: 2014 was a year almost like any other. A lot of work. A lot of learning. A lot of torn ligaments in my knee. A lot of burgers. And a lot of champagne. Agency of the year. #effie #euroeffie #thjnk #thjnkhamburg #thjnkberlin Ein von Maximilian…
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JWT’s Take On Marketing Trends 2015
With the new year right in front of our noses, it’s time to look at what 2015 marketing trends might hold. Thankfully, many agencies are happy to provide their predictions. One of the more extensive looks into the future (110 pages) is served by JWT Intelligence: The Future 100 offers a glimpse into trends in food,…
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3 Reasons to Favor Direct Over Indirect
Last night there was a party in one of the apartments facing my backyard. The music was playing annoyingly loudly – or so I thought. Suddenly another neighbor started to play his electronic guitar at an even higher volume. His plan was to get the other party’s guests to stop the noise. The lesson here?…