Author: Patrick Anderson

When I was five, my family and I went on a holiday with some friends to a small rural town in France. It was a little community complex – comprised of three cottages, an old barn and a swimming pool – frequented predominately by unattended Gallic chickens, who would idly wander about the place with poetic nonchalance. Not quite like modern holiday complexes today, but hey, this was the late 80s. And it had a swimming pool. A pool! My best friend and I could hardly believe our eyes.

Author: Kerry Rice

I have a paradoxical relationship with the use of research in PR. Having studied research methodology at university, I chuckle quietly to myself as a certain UK newspaper (which shall remain nameless, but really you all know which one I mean don’t you?) runs entirely contradictory ‘research’ headlines mere days apart. Yet despite this, I also write page after page of long-form content that just wouldn’t work without research to inform it.

Author: Joanna Muggeridge

Having lived and breathed marketing and communications for more years than I care to admit, I know all of the benefits that we tell clients about when we advise them to have a multi-faceted marketing campaign. Communications should reach out across all areas – social media, editorial, advertising, branded content etc.  (Or shared, owned, earned and bought as we like to refer to it at AD.)

Author: Michael Grass

I have a theory. Not a revolutionary theory involving chaos or relativity I must admit, but one that’s controversial enough to turn some heads or at the very least raise a few eyebrows. So, here it goes: the appeal of an unfamiliar product lies not in its function, but in its packaging.

Author: Kerry Rice

I love receiving postcards. And I love sending them. But I very much resent buying them. They always seem to use poor quality photographs and layouts that were à la mode in the 1980s.

Author: Alexa Mills

I found it fascinating to learn that 40-50% of the footage shot for the BBC documentary that aired recently ‘Dolphins – Spy in the Pod’ was of activity that has never before been seen, let alone filmed. This got me thinking about how video capability has developed over the years.

Author: Cerys Traylor

Having worked at AD for a few months now, I’ve come across a lot of technology and jargon that I’ve never seen before. One of the most fascinating to me is the idea of augmented reality – in which the lines are blurred between what is real and what is computer generated and enhances what we see, hear, feel and smell.

I often feel surrounded by people who do their job without care. Rude waiters, laid back shop assistants, together with arrogant managers, can prompt me to blacklist a shop or a restaurant for the rest of my life. I can’t stand someone who executes his tasks without courtesy and interest.

Author: AD Communications

Am I the only one who stands there for a good 5 minutes squeezing my avocado to determine whether it’s ripe? No? Just me? Too often has my kitchen knife doubled up as a saw as I’ve battled my way into this fruit. Cue the produce sticker. Short of saving my arm muscles a much needed workout with their ‘Ripe!’ shout out, these stickers benefit us in several ways. Not only do they save the cashier that inevitable sigh as they punch in a product code, they also inform the buyer whether what they’re buying is organic, non-organic or genetically modified. For those of us who are conscious about what we eat, these pesky little stickers are enormously important. Pesky because, like the infamous hair band, they always seem to turn up in strangest of places. And if it wasn’t annoying enough having to prise the sticker off your shoe, the place we least want to find it is in our compost heap.

Author: Fabien Jusnot

“I know all those words, but that sentence makes no sense to me.”
― Matt Groening

If you’re running marketing campaigns that are targeted at customers in multiple geographies, the cost of professional translation can prompt some marketing managers to look for cheap alternatives, such as free online translation services.

Author: Richard Allen

AD Communications’ founder Richard Allen reflects on thirty years in the business

Peering into the well of my memory I’m struck at how much has changed in my 30 years working alongside the print and packaging sectors.

Author: Ellie Bunce

Moving house is meant to be one of the most stressful times in life, which I have recently found out! However, once the stress of signing contracts, packing and unpacking boxes and moving furniture ends, the fun can begin.