Month: March 2021

  • NatWest + more things

    NatWest FCA brings money laundering charges against NatWest | Financial Times – UK banks have a reputation for industrial scale money laundering; with the anti-laundering regulations only inconveniencing small players. That the NatWest my only surprise is that it wasn’t HSBC. Why HSBC rather than NatWest? HSBC have long had a reputation for money laundering.…

  • Saudi Arabia & things that caught my eye this week

    Saudi Arabia I spent a good deal of this week listening marketing research interviews including respondents from Saudi Arabia. What became apparent in the interviews is that Saudi Arabia and its society is changing. What would be expected to be minimum standards and norms acceptable in ad imagery is changing. The same phrases kept coming…

  • UK China relations + more things

    UK China relations What to know about UK China relations in 2021 — Quartz – interesting that the author frames UK China relations in terms of Brexification. The reality is much more nuanced Culture The Gen X Culture Warriors Who Never Grew Up | The New Republic – interesting take on things, though I disagree…

  • Ben Liebrand & things that caught my eye this week

    Ben Liebrand Ben Liebrand has been a name for as long as I have been buying records. According to Discogs; he has remixes that have appeared on over 800 albums, compilations and singles. This tells you a lot about the quality and longevity of his remixes. Dutch YouTuber Twan scored an interview with Ben Liebrand…

  • SITA + more things

    SITA SITA | SITA statement about security incident – this gave limited and basic information – specifically your name, membership number and tier, seating preferences and a code corresponding to your meal preferences. – according to Cathay Pacific. It looks like this attack on SITA was more about tracking the travel of persons of interest…

  • Declare ads & things that caught my eye this week

    Declare ads YouTuber Tom Scott delves into the marketing industry and laws that force influencers to declare ads. It is worthwhile watching regardless of how involved you are in marketing. Scott points out what he considers to be inconsistencies in the principles of when to declare ads. In particular, he focuses on the role of…

  • Digital sustainability

    Digital sustainability Wunderman Thompson Intelligence highlighted digital sustainability as a trend. The internet is the seventh biggest polluter in the world. Data centres energy consumption is comparable to that of the largest ships. Web designers have been looking to do their part by designing leaner, faster web pages that take up less memory. Samsung is…

  • HSBC bank + more things

    HSBC bank China and the UK test HSBC Bank divided loyalties in Hong Kong — Quartz  – If HSBC Bank were to spin off its China operations, it wouldn’t be the first bank to reconfigure its ties due to a changed political situation. In the 1980s, the British banks Barclays and Standard Chartered pulled out…

  • Nexta & things that caught my eye this week

    Nexta Nexta media operation and its role in the Belarus protests was the main article in this weekend’s FT magazine. A few things about the article. The old maxim of ‘hearts and minds‘ is still true despite technology. Secondly, Belarus seems to view media and propaganda as a tactic rather than something strategic. This surprised…