Diary of a Fractional CMO

July 11, 2025

Give the people what they want

Lessons from Live Aid

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February 9, 2022

Why it’s good to espresso yourself ☕️

We know it can make you more alert, but did you know that caffeine can also make you more open to persuasion?

February 3, 2022

Five’s a nightmare

TV series Succession chronicles the dramatic relationship between a dysfunctional family in charge of giant media conglomerate Waystar Royco.

January 26, 2022

Do you like your name?

Seeing our name in an email subject line no longer feels revolutionary. Today it’s a natural part of the online experience.

January 19, 2022

Blue Monday 💙

I hope you got through Blue Monday ok. We know that 17 January, AKA the most depressing day of the year, is an invention – designed as a PR stunt for travel firms looking to sell holidays. But travel firms are in a tricky position...

January 12, 2022

Welcome to fat January

How are you getting on with those New Year Resolutions? It’s probably better not to ask. The idea of giving up treats in the coldest, darkest, dampest month of the year is surely a cruel joke. So where does it come from?

January 6, 2022

Happy New Year

I hope you had a thoroughly enjoyable Christmas and are feeling fully refreshed. Once you’ve polished off all the cheese and taken the last dregs of the Baileys, how do you prepare for reality? To navigate the workplace in 2022, you need an up-to-date phrasebook.

December 15, 2021

All I want for Christmas is a good tech stack

How are you going to do business in 2022? The information superhighway is taking us to all sorts of places, how are you going to use technology next year?

December 9, 2021

A niche sit down 🪑

Fun fact #1: eBay stands for Echo Bay Technology Group. It was founded in 1995 in San Jose, California by a computer programmer called Pierre Omidyar. Fun fact #2: The first item to appear on eBay was Omidyar’s very own item: a broken laser pointer, which he sold for $14.83.

December 1, 2021

Trading hamster bites the dust

There’s no shortage of serious news stories at the moment, and I’m afraid we’re going to look at one more: the sad passing of Mr Goxx, the cryptocurrency-trading hamster, who died due to unknown causes last week.

November 24, 2021

Luncheon vouchers and a tea trolly

A dilemma for the big orgs out there is how to get people back into their offices without forcing them. There’s a bit of an awkward gap between what employers are hoping for and want staff want.

November 18, 2021

Content isn't as hard as you think

Googling things is such a habit, isn’t it? I prefer to think of it as outsourcing rather than laziness: some things are better left outside your head, so they don’t clog it up.

November 10, 2021

When was the last time you were truly bored?

In 2014 social psychologist Timothy Wilson asked participants to sit in a lab room and do nothing but think for 15 minutes. The room was empty except for a device that emitted a mild but painful electric shock. What happened next might surprise you...

November 3, 2021

Squid Game and diversification

You knew it was coming. A reference to Squid Game. The most popular show in Netflix’s history, now at 111 million viewers, and being watched in 90 countries. But there’s a reason. If you haven’t seen it, this blog might annoy you.

October 27, 2021

See you in the metaverse

For those of us who find that the real world simply isn’t enough, don’t worry because the metaverse is here. The metaverse is the Next Big Thing online. A virtual world that allows you to work and socialise with people who aren’t in the same physical space as you.

October 20, 2021

Just call me Tony

Tony Blair opened his first cabinet meeting with the words "Just call me Tony" and with that, chucked away centuries of British custom under which ministers always addressed one another by their titles.

October 13, 2021

Goodbye, small talk

According to research, people secretly crave deeper conversations with strangers. However, they’re more likely to stick to small talk.