Collected Essays and Writings by Jeremy Bullmore
Jeremy Bullmore has been described variously as "
quite possibly the most admired man in advertising" (Campaign magazine's A List); "
Adland's greatest philosopher" (Campaign ); and "
the best writer I have come across" (Martin Sorrell). Marketing magazine simply observed: "
When Mr Bullmore speaks, the world listens."
As a non-executive director of WPP, and latterly as a member of the company’s Advisory Board, Jeremy Bullmore has contributed an annual essay to WPP’s Annual Report for more than a decade.
Below are some of the highlights.
Polishing the Apples (pdf, 277 Kb)
WPP Annual Report, 1997Consumers buy the answer to their needs rather than the product on offer; likewise, our clients want solutions – whether that be a sherpa or a global positioning system.
Time & Motion Man and the Mad Inventor (pdf, 170 Kb)
WPP Annual Report, 1998The two apparently contradictory forces at the heart of every successful company.
Advertising and its Audience (pdf, 162 Kb)
Advertising Association President’s Lecture, 1998Why audiences often instinctively understand advertising better than its practitioners do.
Why Every Brand Encounter Counts (pdf, 196 Kb)
WPP Annual Report, 1999Each time the consumer experiences your brand, whether it be from the side of a lorry or that incomprehensible instruction manual, their perception of what you stand for is being shaped.
The Clipboard and the Copywriter (pdf, 257 Kb)
WPP Annual Report, 2000The essence of marketing communications cannot always be measured; the rational attributes of the product are transformed by the emotional power of creativity into something of far greater value.
Posh Spice and Persil (
pdf, 209 Kb)
Lecture delivered to British Brands Group, London, December 2001“Products are made and owned by companies. Brands, on the other
hand, are made and owned by people... by the public... by consumers.
A brand image belongs not to a brand – but to those who have knowledge
of that brand. The image of a brand is a subjective thing. No two people, however
similar, hold precisely the same view of the same brand.” Iconoclastic perspective on brands, expressed in seminal lecture.
Benjamin Franklin and the Kuala Lumpur Question (pdf, 150 Kb)
WPP Annual Report, 2002Why greater choice – whether for consumers or advertisers – means that failure to pay attention to small details can prove costly.
The Steak and Kidney Pie That Wasn't (pdf, 1.1 Mb)
WPP Annual Report, 2003How marketing the sizzle at the expense of the steak is coming to grief in consumers’ renewed quest for authenticity.
In Praise of Interior Decorators (pdf, 580 Kb)
WPP Annual Report, 2006Like interior designers, the best brand designers work from the inside out – understanding the intrinsic qualities of the brand before translating these into words, ideas and images.
If We Choose to Believe What Emerson Didn't Say Then We’re All Doomed (pdf, 616 Kb)
WPP Annual Report, 2007In the face of threats from global warming and fossil fuel exhaustion, marketing must rediscover its ability to stimulate invention and promote the ‘better mousetrap’.