Trust is the proverbial bad penny for financial services. Pages of analysis have been devoted to rebuilding it. Has any of it made a difference? By understanding trust more deeply trust can be rebuilt.

I contributed an interview to an article published by Marketing Week on Marketing Moving Beyond the Boardroom. There are many challenges for marketing how we respond to these will determine whether marketing prospers.

A great example of loyalty communications from Virgin Media with their Wow you're amazing email and web animation.

My presentation at the 3rd Annual CMO Conference in Zurich later this month will be on - Leadership in Marketing: from shareholder value to stakeholder value

What is the Future of Marketing? Marketing is on a collision course with the future. Our current marketing paradigm is inextricably linked to the driving of consumption and the creation of habits of consumption. Economic growth has been the single minded outcome upon which we have built our brands, our marketing models and our rasion d'etre. But unabated growth cannot continue. My hunch is that the future of marketing is not merely, or even, a "more consumer focused / digital / growth oriented / sustainable" (delete as appropriate) future but a complete reversal of the current paradigm.

I'm a Natwest customer of long standing, around 30 years in fact, ever since I took out my first bank account. Together with their stable mate, RBS, they have launched to much fanfare of posters and advertising their "Customer Charter - 14 commitments to make them Britain's most helpful bank". Yesterday in a comedy of errors I spent 25 minutes in a Natwest branch in London. So let's see whether my experience and those of my fellow customers matches up to their commitments:

Yesterday I followed Lord Currie's keynote speech at the Reputation in Financial Services Conference 2010, in London, with some reflections on Trust in Financial Services.

Malcolm McLaren was the marketing genius that propelled the punk movement into the spotlight and amplified its effect on our society and consciousness. He did such a good job that even now we all still hold a visceral understanding of the feelings and motivations behind the punk movement.So how do you Punk your brand?