Disclaimer: BJ&A is a Founder Partner in the Crater Lake Collective, mentioned here

One of the best, and most under-rated publications in the ad industry is a booklet produced under the auspices of three trade bodies – the CIPS (procurement professionals), the IPA (agencies) and the ISBA (advertisers). Written by an outstanding agency planner, Marilyn Baxter it’s called ‘Magic and Logic’.

The time has come for the Cog Blog to address the biggest problem / opportunity / elephant in the room our industry is facing; at least until the next cab on the rank comes along. The issue of artificial intelligence.

A Cog Blog post a couple of weeks ago raised the whole issue of understanding, and a framework for ensuring we all, and especially those on the frontline, learn more from each other. Omar Oakes, Editor of The Media Leader picked the piece up and amplified it. Both the original blog and Omar’s piece generated a fair few comments and responses.

Last week’s Cog Blog on media qualifications has been picked up by The Media Leader. I aim to return to this next week once I’ve assessed the many responses on the topic.

A recent report from the media consultants, MediaSense concludes that over half of agency staff believe that pitching affects their mental health. This is a story with legs – it includes the magic words ‘pitching’ and ‘mental health’ thus virtually guaranteeing it will be picked up by all sorts of people, including AdAge.

Sometimes a Cog Blog post fits neatly with pieces I come across over the following couple of weeks, more by luck then judgement. I like to put it down to great minds thinking alike. A Media Leader article by Nick Manning, and a thought-leadership piece from McKinsey happen to coincide with this recent Cog Blog. Or vice-versa.