News and insights
In September, LinkedIn did something unusual for a platform that sells AI writing tools: it published a newsroom post titled "How LinkedIn is tackling AI slop". A month earlier it had added a button […]
Five years ago, it was hard to get through an ad break without a polar bear, a sweeping drone shot of a field, a wind turbine or a promise about 2030 (which felt a long way away, rather than just around […]
There is a version of the creator economy conversation that still gets stuck in the wrong place. It talks about reach, CPMs, engagement rates, and how to measure influencer ROI against a campaign objective. […]
November is here, Black Friday is on the horizon, and the internet is already getting into the festive spirit. The Christmas wish lists are growing, the shopping carts are filling up, and social media […]
Two calls come into the comms team in the same week. In the first, a trade journalist is asking questions about a customer complaint that's been bouncing around a Facebook group. In the second, a national […]
Too many brands are still creating social content like a media placement, but in feeds shaped by algorithms, creators and culture, the traditional brand post is starting to look increasingly out of […]
People judge brands on far more than what they sell. They notice how a brand speaks, what it responds to, who it collaborates with and whether it adds anything to the communities around it. For […]
When people hear "communications audit", they tend to picture someone reviewing press releases with a red pen: tightening the boilerplate, scoring the messaging, recommending a fresher tone of voice. […]
A room full of influencers and/or creators doesn’t make a successful influencer event. The guest list can be impressive, the venue can photograph beautifully, and the content can still fall […]
Ask a company for its corporate narrative and you'll usually be sent a messaging framework: a slide with a purpose statement at the top, three pillars underneath, and approved proof points below that. […]
Brandnation has been shortlisted in two categories at The Drum Awards, with both nominations recognising the agency’s experiential work in sport and outdoor.Merrell, Trail Sonified: Experiential, […]
For years, the sponsored post was the whole deal. Now the strongest creator partnerships start with an experience, and the post is how everyone else finds out about it. That shift makes more […]
One minute your feed is full of Labubus. The next, everyone is recreating the same TikTok sound and Ryanair has somehow already made a joke about it. Welcome to the internet. Trends move […]
In June 2015, after the Smiler crash at Alton Towers left five people seriously injured, Merlin's chief executive Nick Varney went on television and did something corporate lawyers tend to discourage. He […]
Another November, another inbox full of “BIGGEST SALE EVER” subject lines. When every brand is offering 20%, 30% or 50% off, does the discount actually make anyone stop scrolling? People […]
New work from Brandnation sees Altra unveil The Legacy Team, Britain's oldest running team with a combined age of 321, to share a lifetime of running wisdom with the next generation of runners. The […]
The October edit Trumpets in the bathroom. Dinner five metres below the North Sea. A ring that needs its own watering schedule. Welcome to our favourite corner of the internet, where […]
October has arrived, and social media can't quite decide which season it's in. Feeds are full of pumpkins, costume reveals and spooky-season content, while behind the scenes most brands have already […]
Reach tells you how many people saw something. It doesn't tell you whether anything changed as a result. That gap, between visibility and impact, is where most KOL measurement currently lives, […]
New year, new me. Except apparently, we’re not waiting for the new year anymore. The September reset has taken over TikTok, with creators swapping the post-summer slump for freshly organised […]
On the biggest morning of his career, announcing Sainsbury's proposed merger with Asda, chief executive Mike Coupe sat waiting between broadcast interviews and quietly sang "We're in the Money" to himself. […]
For fifteen years earned media has been the awkward middle child of the marketing budget; loved in principle yet squeezed in practice. PR has at times been seen as the problem child of marketing in […]
Follower count is easy to read on a dashboard. It’s also, increasingly, one of the weaker signals of creator value. A follower is someone who pressed a button once. An audience watches. A community […]
A creator makes content. An influencer moves behaviour. On paper, that’s a small distinction. In practice, it’s one of the most expensive mistakes we see brands make when planning a campaign […]