The Bullmore Collection

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.

Listen with Jeremy
Polishing the Apples
The value of marketing communications
• Read More (pdf)
• Download MP3 (13 Mb)
Why Every Brand Encounter Counts:
Seductive, Anarchic or Catastrophic
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• Download MP3 (15.7 Mb)
Benjamin Franklin and the Kuala Lumpur Question
"Sometimes A Little Neglect May Breed Great Mischief"
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• Download MP3 (12.5 Mb)
If We Choose to Believe What Emerson Didn't Say Then We're All Doomed
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• Download MP3 (9.2 Mb)
I'm Sorry - You've Lost Me
Five Words No Brand Should Ever Have To Hear.
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• Download MP3 (8.8 Mb)
In Praise of Interior Decorators
(Or at Least Some of Them)
• Read More (pdf)
• Download MP3 (9.6 Mb)
Why is a Good Insight Like a Refrigerator?
On the value of high potency insights in marketing planning and research.
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• Download MP3 (11.1 Mb)
Plonk and Placebos
The curious truth about strong brands and why people are right to prefer them.
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• Download MP3 (6.4 Mb)
The Steak & Kidney Pie That Wasn't
How marketing the sizzle at the expense of the steak is coming to grief in consumers' renewed quest for authenticity.
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• Download MP3 (6.7 Mb)
Giles and the End of Admass
You have never met Giles and have heard nothing but praise for him. Yet the chances are you already dislike him intensely.
• Published on More Bull More
• Download MP3 (6.7 Mb)
The Clipboard and the Copywriter
The rational attributes of the product are transformed by the emotional power of creativity into something of far greater value.
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• Download MP3 (6.1 Mb)
Posh Spice & Persil
Both big brands; both alive; and both belonging to the public
• Download PDF (209Kb)
• Download MP3 (45 Mb)
Time Motion Man and the Mad Inventor
The two apparently contradictory forces at the heart of every successful company.
• Download PDF (171Kb)
• Download MP3 (6.7 Mb)
On the Incalculable Benefit of Not Going Backwards
In no other aspect of marketing is personal judgement both so critical and at the same time so exposed.
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Why a Ruritanian Poltergeist can be as valuable as an Automated Processing Plant
Mere products may have life cycles, but if nurtured and nourished by its A&P, a brand can be for ever.
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ESSAYS
Polishing the Apples (pdf, 277 Kb)
WPP Annual Report, 1997
Consumers 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, 1998
The two apparently contradictory forces at the heart of every successful company.
Advertising and its Audience (pdf, 162 Kb)
Advertising Association President's Lecture, 1998
Why audiences often instinctively understand advertising better than its practitioners do.
Why Every Brand Encounter Counts (pdf, 196 Kb)
WPP Annual Report, 1999
Each 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, 2000
The 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, 2002
Why 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, 2003
How 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, 2006
Like 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, 2007
In the face of threats from global warming and fossil fuel exhaustion, marketing must rediscover its ability to stimulate invention and promote the 'better mousetrap'.
I'm Sorry - You've Lost Me
WPP Annual Report, 2008
Five Words No Brand Should Ever Have To Hear.