Author Michael Goldthorpe

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Michael Goldthorpe is Managing Partner at Hunch.

Opinion
Chaos, marketing and magic
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Way back to high school, I loved algebra and hated statistics. It wasn’t so much the numbers, it was the answers. Algebra was pure math. A+B=C. It’s always true. So B=C-A and A=C-B. Then you puzzle that out with a similar sum and you can actually prove stuff. Quadratic Equations. Yum. Meanwhile, statistics is applied math. It’s the ‘science’ of probability. The ‘answers’ run to multiple decimal places with ‘standard deviations’ and you never really know the “truth”. I reckon it’s way less satisfying. But that’s just me. More relevant here is why does this matter in marketing?

News
Five easy ways to get bad advice
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Look at that, a listicle. Ask anyone in content marketing and they’ll say lists are great at getting clicks. It’s good advice. The world is full of it. But how do you find that great advice? How do you know who to trust? How do you stack the deck to get the best possible results from agencies and consultants? Michael Goldthorpe, managing partner of Hunch, starts with how you don’t.

Opinion
What’s the big deal with the octopus?
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On Wednesday night, a tight bunch of industry types gathered together at Thievery to celebrate the launch of a book. That’s right, a book. If you’ve never met one of those, it’s a bit like an app, but you swipe in a more linear fashion and it doesn’t fit in your phone.

Opinion
People vs Facebook: the beginning of the end for big data?
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It was 10 April, 2018. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook appeared in front of the United States Congress to talk data, privacy and how we should police the internet. 44 senators asked tough questions around privacy policies, business models and consumer protection. Zuckerburg answered honestly and robustly, facing up to criticism, owning up to failures, arguing for net neutrality and outlining plans to “do better”. For a nerd like me, it was fascinating. But what will it actually mean?

Opinion
Well spin my fidget, my Pokemon’s gone
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What colour is your Fidget Spinner? Can you stack and spin? Have you stepped up from standard to stainless steel? These are the big questions buzzing around primary school playgrounds right now. But what’s it all about? What is a Fidget Spinner? Why is it relevant in a marketing blog? And have we just forgotten about Pokèmon Go?

Opinion
How you create an agency, by David Walden
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Having worked at TBWA\ from 2005 to 2010 alongside David Walden, Michael Goldthorpe was asked to share a few words about his mentor and friend at last night’s Effie Awards, which fell on the same day as Devo’s unsurprisingly well-attended and colourful funeral. And he decided to let Devo’s words, which serve as the introduction to a book that will be available to buy soon, do most of the talking.

Opinion
Mouse-to-mouse to smartphone: Michael Goldthorpe on the evolution of DM
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Michael Goldthorpe discusses the evolution/his changing understanding of direct marketing, otherwise known as DM, from when he was a youngster when those two capitalised letters meant one thing: Danger Mouse. And now, as an adult where technology has changed the game completely, where direct marketing is no longer just a targeted letter sent to your mailbox and finally, he discusses whether the fundamentals have really changed all that much.

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