It felt like power structures had shifted when retail investors organised themselves on Reddit to collectively buy GameStop shares, forcing the share price to rocket and hedge funds with big bets against the stock to bail out with huge losses. Then, of course, the price plummeted back down to earth.

It seemed inevitable that blood would be spilt on both sides, but whether you think the hedge funds had the last laugh or the retail investors had the first, the bigger, more important, point is that there has been an awakening in the retail investor community. An awakening to the…

What a year. Like pretty much everyone on the planet, March 2020 turned our lives upside down. At Rapp, not only did we have to navigate the impact of Covid-19 on our business, our clients and our people, but we were also going through a merger which saw Proximity become part of Rapp.

Anyone who has been through the M&A process will tell you that even in normal circumstances the year would have been challenging. But then we had the added uncertainty and the start of 12 months of living hand to mouth. …

Where we don’t hear kind words or see kind actions, we need to respond with kindness.

Kindness is my superpower and it very much defines who I am. It is not about being nice and it is not a ‘nice to have’. It is an inner strength which helps me deal with everyday life and keeps me balanced. At work I use kindness to be a leader and to collaborate across the agency to deliver the best possible work. I am not alone in my thinking and we all need to think how we can make kindness our superpower.

The past year has taught us a lot about kindness and the sacrifices people will make to…

Everyone around the world is being called upon to choose to challenge misogyny, stereotyping and gender norms and inequality. We will be updating this over the course of March with new additions, but for now, here are the ways our people are choosing to challenge.

“I choose to challenge my own bias. The way I’m challenging it is by always asking questions and being prepared to be uncomfortable.”

-Emma Kobayashi, Director of Communications

“I choose to challenge the lag in career progression for women by supporting women with their careers and seeking out opportunities to spotlight the women I work with to raise their profiles.”

- Kate Amos, Head of Experience Sciences

“I choose to challenge myself and others on labelling sex as either black or white, which requires us to not dead name, using incorrect pronouns and calling out others who slip up.”

-Rob…

We’re living in VUCA times — volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. A period of instability and acceleration where change happens at the speed of culture — seven years of transformation in seven weeks. It’s exhilarating and scary because, as a business, you either adapt to what the future holds or you die.

In the last three years, what consumers expect from their brands has evolved, what clients want from their agencies has changed and what our industry needs to do to remain relevant has shifted. All of this was happening before the global pandemic.

Because of Covid-19, our economy has become K-shaped with clear winners and clear losers. It’s a brutal place to be. Like the economy, a brand’s fortunes can also be K-shaped. You’re either on the skyward trajectory speeding towards Amazon, or you’re on the steep slope plummeting towards Debenhams. …

Experience strategist Matt Davis delves into the world of Christmas advertising and how the events of 2020 will change it in the long run

Ah Christmas advertising with your implausibly snowy scenes, huge, unfathomably conflict-free family gatherings and lavish feasts with no undercooked poultry in sight. Strangely comforting and wildly unrealistic at the best of times — but clearly 2020, with all its vicissitudes, calls for a mass rethink of how we portray the festive season. So what can we expect?

The fact is that back in the spring, when any existing Christmas 2020 ideas went in the shredder and…

It’s Diwali this weekend and we want to get everyone in the mood for celebrating.

Diwali, or Deepavali, is celebrated by millions of Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and even some Buddhists across the world. Think of it as the Hindu Christmas and New Year. It’s celebrated over five days and is filled with an abundance of food, family time, colourful decorations and presents.

We are getting ready for the weekend celebrations by sharing stories from our people about how they celebrate Diwali and some of their favourite things about the festival.

“My earliest and fondest memories of Diwali are of bright Rangoli patterns my aunts put together on their doorsteps/porches with diyas, and the delicious Bombay iced halwa, jalebi and penda we would devour. Followed by a very competitive game of Carrom!”

Natalie (Nat) Grainger

“Of course Diwali is one of the biggest festivals after Navratri for us Gujjus and I love everything about it. Although nothing can beat Navratri. It’s different this year though.

Below are a few things we do. I try to keep traditions going here in the UK.

My favourite thing about Diwali is… getting to dress…

Introducing our all-agency collaborative playlist to share music by Black artists that make us dance, sing, celebrate, cry, reflect and more. We will be updating this over the course of October with new additions, but for now, here are the stories behind the music that moves us.

Buffalo Soldier — Bob Marley and the Wailers

Music that makes me reflect. The song describes the fight put up by the members of the 10th Cavalry Regiment of the U.S. Army during the American Indian Wars. The “Buffalo Soldiers” were established by the United States Congress in September 1866 and were the first peacetime regiments made up of only Black men in the U.S. Army. Amongst other tasks, the “Buffalo Soldiers” were tasked during the wars to protect white men, settled on Native American lands, from being attacked by the Native Americans.

A song signifying Black resistance, Marley highlights…