The use of images in advertising is powerful and effective.  Images using universal archetypes are supercharged.   

Archetypal images are very ancient pictures that have been shared over millennia and which have hidden meaning for the unconscious mind.  Carl Jung believed that they live in the collective unconscious and that they have power beyond the superficial.

The use of archetypal images in advertising has been chronicled by Margaret Mark and Carol S. Pearson in their book “The Hero and the Outlaw: building extraordinary brands through the power of archetypes”.  This led to innumerable workshops where brand managers and agencies debated whether their brand was in fact, hero, outlaw, magician, king, jester or mother.  The role of the archetype is to link the brand story to an ancient narrative which gives it layers of meaning.

The authors write: “Advertising has always used archetypal imagery to market products.  The Jolly Green Giant is, after all, the archetype of the Green Man, a figure associated with fertility and abundance.  The judicious use of such symbolism can fuel a leading brand.  Brand icons go further.  It is not just that archetypal symbols and images are used to position the brand, but that, over time, the brand itself takes on symbolic significance.”  A powerful tool then in the arsenal of brand building.

In one example the book cites Apple’s logo, saying that it evokes the first act of rebellion in the Garden of Eden, “a powerful distillation of the brand’s iconoclastic identity.”

In 2022 Professor Islam Issa hosted a documentary feature on BBC Radio 3, “Forbidden Fruit” which explored the imagery of the apple in the Garden of Eden, (and by the way claimed that the forbidden fruit wasn’t in fact an apple!) and discussed with me the use of the apple in advertising and branding.

I was reminded of the power of the archetypal image when I recently saw the “Enough” campaign to deter stalking and harassment against women and girls.  The Home Office is to be congratulated for investing in this important issue.  This campaign is going to raise awareness of the importance of relationship boundaries and hopefully act as a deterrent to violence which statistics show is increasing.

The images in the posters running in my local gym use snakes to show abhorrent and inappropriate behaviour.  The snake is often wrapped around a woman in an everyday scenario waiting for a bus or at work, in order to highlight controlling and abusive behaviour like constant texting and sharing intimate images. 

The snake is a complicated, even nuanced, archetype.  A snake was guilty of enticing Eve to taste forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.  It makes a victim of Eve, who however, still took the blame for the ending of paradise.  (I personally think that Adam would have been bound to try the apple himself anyway.)  In Genesis the snake is the bad guy, to blame for the fall of humanity.  However, across other cultures the snake’s practice of shedding its skin makes it a primal symbol of immortality and growth. Carl Jung’s serpent archetype is of unconscious and personal transformation.  In “Thus spoke Zarathustra” Nietzsche links snakes to wisdom, renewal and growth.  It appears both as a loyal companion to Zarathustra, offering support, but also as a dangerous creature that thrusts him into extreme confrontations.  Nietzsche’s depiction is of creature that represents the bravery that is required to navigate the complexities of life.  At the recent “Le Mystere Cleopatre” at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris there was an entire room dedicated to paintings of Cleopatra and the asp showing how fascinated the masculine gaze of artists has been over hundreds of years by her and her death by snake.

So, a nuanced image in archetypal terms.  I’d like to see a cockroach representing the hideous and dangerous practices in the “Enough” ads.  Or a rat. No complexity there. 

There are four stages of adult competence according to a study from New York University in the 1960s. 

The first stage is unconscious incompetence.  It’s when we arrive at a new workplace, it could be for your first job, or it could be starting somewhere new.  You think that you know what you’re doing, you may even believe that you know a much better way of doing things, or so you imagine, than the current ways of working, but you do not.  Sometimes this is pointed out to you by a kindly mentor or work buddy.  Sometimes you find out the hard way by screwing up, as I did back in the 1980s when my then boss Christine, shouted at me because she thought I had made a mistake.  (For the record I actually hadn’t made a mistake at all.  However, I didn’t know how to explain that I hadn’t.  I learnt then a valuable lesson that it isn’t good enough to be right, you need to know how to explain it).

The second stage is conscious incompetence.  We are aware that we need to learn how to do something, but we are not sure exactly what it is or even sometimes how to learn it.  It can feel really mysterious.  Many women in the workplace have recounted their experience of being told that they cannot be promoted yet because despite their technical skills they “lack gravitas”. If you’ve ever been told this, you might remember that no-one is particularly clear about how you obtain it or even what exactly it is.  It certainly does not come same day delivery on Amazon, or Ocado.  It can feel very uncomfortable to be in this stage at work.  You are doing what has been asked of you, and you are doing it well, but there is something missing, and you just don’t know what to do about it.  A good mentor, or manager, or buddy will help you through the process, or you will figure it out eventually, but it is frustrating all the same.

The third stage is conscious competence.  Now you have learnt some new skills, and perhaps these are the soft skills of how to get stuff done in your organisation, how to manage up and across and an understanding of the hidden rules of work.  You might be required to negotiate the politics of a new merged mega corporation or find your way around a start up.  But you are new to these skills, they might not come naturally to you in the way that technical ability does.   Or conversely you have the softer skills nailed and you have learned new techniques in AI or the creator economy.  You’re on top of the tools, information and ideas but you are not yet expert at using them.

And finally the fourth stage: unconscious competence.  You have internalised the new skills and tools.  They have become routine and you do everything without having to think about it every time.  This final state, which not everyone is going to reach, shines out from people at the top of their game whatever that game is.  Those people, be they actors, surgeons, athletes or advertising executives, have achieved this level of learning.  And they make complicated and difficult things look deceptively, even annoyingly easy.

They have worked hard to reach this level.  They have fought for it.  It is not achievable simply from a training or coaching course (although they can help).  It comes on the back of significant experience.  If you want to see it in action, watch Francesca Lollobrigida winning her second gold medal in the women’s 5000 metres ice speed skating at the Winter Olympics.  It is her fourth Olympics, and she was significantly older than her rivals, but also significantly more experienced.  (For film buffs out there she is the great niece of the film icon Gina Lollabrigida.)

I think you can see this unconscious competence too if you watch Claudine Collins interview candidates on The Apprentice.  She makes this look like a walk in the park. Which it is not. It takes confidence, skill but especially experience. She is now clearly standing out from her interviewing colleagues on the show for her warmth, intuitive understanding and also her ability to see through well practiced facades to the real humans being hiding beneath, a characteristic that I experienced while working with her for so many years. 

It is not expertise or learning alone that shapes your impact at work.  Experienced people are an asset to our business, even in a time of disruption and change, or, in fact, especially in a time of disruption and change. 

Its not just opinion it’s science.

January has, of course, become a month for improving health and wellness after the excesses of the holiday season.  The gyms are packed with enthusiastic reformed characters, promising themselves that this year will be different.  Many people trudge their way through Dry January with February 1st coming as a huge relief to those that have given up alcohol. At which point some people more than make up for the drought.  There is a notable rebound and surge in alcohol sales (28% more wine bought versus Jan.)  Veganuary sees a boom in launching new vegan products: this year has seen La Vie Salami Sticks, Aldi’s vegan salted caramel choc spread, Richmond’s veggie sausages, Wagamama Vegan Carbonara and Juicy Marbles Umami Burger among many others. 

How many people though are turning to culture, creativity and art as a health booster?

According to data from a new book, Art Cure: the science of how the arts transform our health by award winning scientist Daisy Fancourt, everyone should be.

Professor Daisy, (yes, she is an actual prof.) has trawled through years of research in neuroscience, behavioural science and epidemiology, to pull together a wealth of evidence that proves the power of art to improve health, including evidence that participating in the arts improves the functioning of every major organ system in the body.

So going for a run or sweating at the gym is great.  But pop to a museum, see a ballet or join an art class.  That’s even better.  Even reading this blog, if you are doing if for pleasure, contributes to your health.

Or do some knitting.  A study of 8391 people who crochet found that 75% reported a sense of being useful and making objects that could bring joy to others.  I’m not sure how much joy a crocheted object will bring you (I guess it depends on what it is), but making one apparently will.

The author says that her research is like a jigsaw where every study design contributes a piece. In an explanation of her process, which sounds a bit like many media research studies she writes “when the pieces of the puzzle align we gradually build up a clearer and clearer overall picture.”  The outcome is a triangulation of findings.  And the findings in this respect are a multitude of reasons for increasing your creativity.

In our latest book, A year of creativity with co-author Kathryn Jacob OBE, we urge readers to break the normal patterns of their day to day lives in order to exercise their dormant creativity muscles.  That is why there are 52 techniques across the calendar year.  January is a good month to begin boosting innovation and inspiration at work.  A time to burn bridges, strip things back and just to make sure that you go outside convention, outside heritage practices and literally outside.  Sometimes it can feel like January is a month for hunkering down and getting through things.  Especially when the industry at large is undergoing so much disruption.  And sometimes, it is true, you should go with the flow.  But sometimes, and perhaps more often than most people do, you should consider uprooting your current work routine, to follow your heart.  If you have a dream, what is stopping you?  Who is stopping you?  Consider this, question it, and then push ahead.

My co-author Kathryn Jacob and I cannot yet cite a body of medical evidence to prove that more creativity at work specifically will lead to a healthier 2026.  But there is plenty of evidence to show that it will make you happier and more motivated.  Analytical thinking practices are important, but creativity needs to counterbalance the conclusions from known data to take you, your life and your work forward.

Here’s 25 things I have learnt in 2025

1.        Great leaders make other people feel special.  This started as a quotation I read from the consultant and coach Mark Evans, but it evidence has been building through the year that proves it again and again.

2.        Some CMOs are shifting power to influencers and fans.  Evident in Cannes in speeches but also in the kind of work that is winning awards.  If you can harness the truth that the community surrounding the brand knows about it, then you can use that power to grow.

3.        Politics is the Achilles heel of business.  Sir Martin Sorrell said that if he were ever to write a business book it would be on this topic, (although I think he is busy with other projects.) No matter how many transformation consultants surround an organisation, silos seem to be resilient and are always a barrier to growth. 

4.        If you want to captivate an audience, watch out for the “lean in moments”.  This is how the producers of successful musicals, including Burlesque, spend their time.  Watching for lean in moments and honing the production as a result. This is one reason that performance advertising can be successful: constant iteration.

5.        If you want to succeed, try Chutzpah.

6.        At a time when the industry can feel like it is collapsing around you, you need to take a moment to find the fun, the joy and the love of what you do.

7.        Breaking patterns of thought is really important.  We all have fixed channels of thinking.  Breaking out of them, deliberately, will make you better at thinking through the new challenges facing you next year.

8.        AI will not kill creativity, but you need to hone your creativity to survive it.

9.        There has been a longterm trend towards regarding creativity as something to be feared or shunned.  Just as educators now recognise “math-phobia” we must look out for creativity-phobia and ensure that it is not allowed to take hold in our businesses, in our enterprises, in our schools and colleges.

10.  The reason that Christmas advertising works so well is that it leverages a relatively new “lean in” occasion.  There’s no reason not to join the party, if you have a way to get talked about at Christmas.  And there are other lean in comms moments to leverage – cinema and out of home in particular fit this opportunity.

11.  Creative thinking is ageless.  Bob Dylan at 84 is rewriting his own songs on stage with his band as well as writing brilliant new ones.  Mike Yershon wrote his 20 year business plan at age 78.

12.  How often to do you think about the Roman Empire? According to social media women rarely do, and men frequently do.  In fact some men, perhaps most of all those in power, according to Dame Mary Beard are basing their entire personas on Roman emperors.

13.  AI can be your friend.  Ask it for help about a difficult conversation or event, and it will offer you sympathy as well as a solution.  In dark times, it can feel like a friend.

14.  AI is not your friend.  Evidence is building, that it is perhaps unsurprising, that AI is shoring up the traditional and heritage patriarchy.  Is it too late to stop it?

15.  The first twenty years of this century were the golden age of OpCos.  Everything is changing now, and the new winners will be from a different business model.

16.  Having just made a forecast I would also say that I have learnt this year that forecasts really can be a waste of time, long term ones anyway. As far as the weather goes (and I have been spending quite a lot of time outside) you might as well just look at the sky.  You don’t need a weatherman.  All the 5 year business forecasts in 2015 that claimed to be getting ahead of the game named “20:20 vision” failed.  And the same will have been true of long term advertising predictions for 2025.

17.  The best story wins.  True. A brilliant book by Mark Edwards.  Storytelling is crucial.

18.  LinkedIn is not Twitter, nor is it Facebook.  Keep it business.

19.  You can train for a lot of things, but you cannot train experience.  If you throw away your senior team who have more experience, it is irreplaceable.

20.  Strategy will die if it keeps being fragmented. Brands need one strategy to win, one strategy to rule them all.

21.  Marketing that mainly focuses on what Pete Buckley, comms director at Meta,  calls “the clicky people”, ie those that interact with advertising, will eat itself.

22.  There are fewer women CEOs in the FTSE 100 today than there were ten years ago.  An updated ‘The Glass Wall, success strategies for women at work and businesses that mean business’, with Kathryn Jacob, coming in 2026, needed more than ever.

23.  More days in the office are not enough to build a sense of belonging.  Thanks to Campaign for pointing this out.  Only good leaders can bring people together, see point 1.

24.  We are all creative – Jonathan Mildenhall pointed this out, amongst other people.  Creativity is critical.  A year of creativity will unleash your own and your team’s power to create and to win.

25.  When you are out in the cold you find your true direction and your true friends.

Happy new year.

The meaning of Christmas (advertising.)

It isn’t about the content, it is about the moment.

It isn’t the medium or the message (for once), it is the occasion.

It isn’t the relevance of what you say, it is how you get talked about.

It doesn’t matter what the ad is, it is all about the communication strategy.

There has been a cracking batch of Christmas adverts this year.  LinkedIn is buzzing with expert and inexpert opinions.

Private Eye has chipped in on the John Lewis ad with a cartoon featuring a teenage son saying to his dad : “I know what vinyl is, and I know what a record player is, but what is ‘a shop?’”.  John Lewis’ much anticipated Christmas 2025 commercial has a lovely narrative, which somewhat excludes the actual J Lewis Christmas shopper who is in the main a woman over 40. But nice ad.

McDonalds is an example of great Christmas product to tie in with the ads.  Could there be more Grinch products to buy?  Can’t think of anything they missed.

The loveliness of the Waitrose ad is a wonder.  Never mind that Keira Knightly really doesn’t look like she eats many pies the sentiment is beautiful.

The Google Pixel ad even features product benefits, as Dave Trott points out, as well as a Love Actually star or two.  I don’t know that the branding is quite as prominent as a classic Trott ad would have made it, and I’m not sure that its going to win over iPhone fans but it’s a great piece of entertainment.

As is the Disney advert, which has led friends of Tom Curtis to wonder if his instagram account has become more famous than he knows.  A child’s drawing comes to life, making the wonder of Disney manifest.

But it doesn’t really matter what the content of the ad is, or how much is spent on a director, or production, nor even the media spend.  Christmas ads work, because is it is Christmas and the newspapers, the media in general and social media in particular are talking about Christmas ads.  Just watch James May watching the ads for us before he shows us his own gin’s baffling Christmas message.  AI has of course been a talking point too, but even if Coca Cola has spent less on their ad than in the past, and even though it has been criticised, I still hear people talking about how much they love seeing “The holidays are coming” as part of the run up to the big day. 

Effectively the communication strategy for all of these ads, whatever the creative brief and whatever the media plan, is the same.  Join the conversation at a time of year when, for once, people are looking out for adverts, sharing them on their social feeds and having an opinion on their emotional resonance.  (The only other time people are as eager to be entertained by adverts is when they are waiting for a delayed late night train on the Northern Line.)

The Christmas ad moment is a relatively new development.   The first John Lewis Christmas ad was in 2007 but the tradition of looking out for the breaking advert developed a few years later.  Many pundits think that the twist behind The Long Wait in 2011 when the joy of giving rather than receiving presents was celebrated put the store’s ads on the map in a new way.

Most retail brands have joined the party. 

There are plenty of other sectors where brands could benefit from the increased salience that a Christmas celebration of emotion would bring.  For example travel, where TUI’s Elf celebration gets the brand front of mind, just as the post Christmas booking season kicks off.

The strategy is about being part of the conversation. There is one question that strategists and creatives need to deliver for.  Getting yourself talked about should be the primary question, what will make your ad lead the conversation?  What will it take for your ad to win Christmas?  And more brands can join this Christmas party.  In fact, of course, you have to be in it to win it.  

If you want to build brand fame, brand warmth and brand saliency then joining the Christmas conversation is a brilliant way to start the year ahead.