The hottest branding trend of the year is also the worst
The worst branding trend of 2018 is the one you probably never noticed. I call it blanding. The main offenders are in tech, where a new army of clones wears a uniform of brand camouflage. The formula is sort of a brand paint-by-numbers. Start with a made-up-word name. Put it in a sans-serif typeface. Make it clean and readable, with just the right amount of white space. Use a direct tone of voice. Nope, no need for a logo. Maybe throw in some cheerful illustrations. Just don’t forget the vibrant colors. Bonus points for purple and turquoise. Blah blah blah.
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The Future of Ads Is Digital — But Not Quite the Present
There were plenty of signs that Democrats found success online this election cycle: catchy videos went viral; a burgeoning army of small-dollar donors produced eye-popping fundraising numbers; and voters targeted online showed up at the polls.
ROLL CALL
How data analytics could transform your business
Organisations are increasingly adopting cloud-based applications to reduce costs and give them the scalability and agility to transform in an increasingly fast-evolving business landscape. Through doing so they are, but few are implementing data analytics strategically.
RACONTEUR
IT strategy: How to be an influential digital leader
From the internal IT department to the boardroom and out into the wider marketplace, modern CIOs must be able to influence a broad sweep of individuals. The success of a CIO will be directly related to their ability to get people to buy into their vision. But how can CIOs get people to follow their command without being too controlling? Five experts give their best-practice techniques for influential digital leadership
ZDNET
The 10 toxic psychological traits that make so many people suck
It’s a question that’s reverberated through the ages–are humans, though imperfect, essentially kind, sensible, good-natured creatures? Or are we, deep down, wired to be bad, blinkered, idle, vain, vengeful and selfish? There are no easy answers, and there’s clearly a lot of variation between individuals, but here we shine some evidence-based light on the matter through 10 dispiriting findings that reveal the darker and less impressive aspects of human nature:
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