The broad history of consumer culture has been largely concerned with the evolution of goods from commodity status to the sophisticated constructs we now call brands.

'No one packs my bags at the supermarket any more.' 'Is anyone going to let me check out of this hotel today?' 'What do you mean you want the table back at 9pm?'

Pensions are a bit like root canal fillings: not something you want to think about unless absolutely necessary. That time has come. Who pays for pensions and who receives them affects the level and profile of consumer expenditure.

Service-sector branding is a delicate art, akin to theatrical scriptwriting. Overscript, and you risk dehumanisation and audience alienation. Underscript and you risk anarchy and irrelevance.

After a false start when dotcom success was measured by the cash burn rate, reality has resumed and genuine web marketing success stories are starting to roll in.

As every advertising person under the age of 65 knows, television is advertising and advertising is television. And since there's nobody in advertising over 43, that means everybody.

As we approach what is increasingly looking like a recession in the UK, it is timely to review the state of knowledge of how businesses should most profitably approach marketing in a downturn.

Rory Sutherland describes how potential embarrassment is an underestimated force in marketing

Keith Lucas looks at the dangers of alienating consumers with inappropriate product tie-ins

IN 1971, Stephen King’s definitive essay – ‘What is a brand?’ – described the role of the brand as providing reliability and guaranteeing quality in an uncertain world.