Blog - Clear Hayes

‘If you sit back like a stunned mullet, you’re gonna get stuffed’

This piece was first featured on AW360. Click here to see the original post. The widespread enforced lockdowns and economic disruptions and uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have hit the entire world hard. Entire industries are being forced to find new ways of working and marketers are grappling with some pretty large existential questions, […]

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Are young Asia viewers really turned off by emotional content?

Blog / Alex

This article first appeared on the Vidcon Asia website. Click here to see the original post. A recent research study from PR firm Ruder Finn has revealed some startling results about the type of content that interests young Asian viewers. Journalist-turned-content strategist Alex Hayes explains why it’s disturbing news for creatives in the region. There’s a story

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The rise of the…humans

Blog / Alex

The following is by Clear Hayes Principal Alex Hayes, and was first published as the Executive Summary to the Advertising Week New York Trends Report, which Clear Hayes produced on behalf of Stillwell Partners. It’s human nature to be curious. So it was only natural that for the better part of the last two decades

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‘I do have a regret. It was that ad’

Blog / Alex

As the old adage goes, success has many parents. When a marketing campaign has been a hit, it’s amazing the number of people who have their tales of how they were involved. But what we hear a lot less of is the fuck ups. The genuine mistakes people made in business which ultimately let to

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Elves, reindeer and the maturing of an industry?

Blog / Alex

It’s six months til Christmas. What do you mean you haven’t finalised your marketing plan for it yet? The reason I chose the above image is twofold. First, it made me chuckle. Second, it’s a crude segway into the fact this piece is about a Christmas campaign. And it’s June. Yep. For marketers of course

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The 100% Pure case for brand platforms

Blog / Alex

In this cross-posting from the AW360 website Alex Hayes looks at the case for sticking with a solid brand platform. This year Tourism New Zealand will celebrate a rare feat. It’s not its billionth visitor, the opening of a new attraction etc, but something rarer for a marketing organisation – the 20th anniversary of its

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What Happened to All the Creative Technologists?

Blog / Alex

In this cross-posting from AW360 Alex Hayes looks at what happened to all those creative technologists who were hailed as the future of advertising just a couple of years ago. A few years ago, a strange breed of folk started infiltrating advertising agencies across the world. They wore the right uniform, the black t-shirts and

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FOBO And Learning To Kill

Blog / Alex

In this cross-posting from the AW360 site Alex Hayes asks why we’re so obsessed with giving everyone so much choice? Every now and then you come across a new word (or in this case acronym) that captures a feeling you’ve had that you haven’t been able to put your finger on. For me, it’s FOBO.

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