About Alastair Duncan
Alastair Duncan
Participation Marketing. Because people need more than propositions.
“The old order of marketing propositions through measured media alone doesn’t cut it with today’s consumers. It’s not enough to say the consumer is in control.
If you are a brand owner, you have to do something about it, giving up tools and information that help build belief in the brand. If you are a publisher, you have to embrace the consumer and let them participate, engaging with your audiences to create the brand experience that keeps their loyalty.
Now is the time to develop new business models for consumer engagement, and bigger, stronger and faster ideas for the next wave of ‘advertising’.”
Alastair Duncan Biography
Alastair makes creative business profitable, global and digital, and is a board level advisor to several start up companies. He’s been involved in the interactive world since 1990, in parallel with his advertising agency experience. From developing early interactive television and gaming systems to starting up new media firms both inside and outside advertising agencies (Ammirati Puris Lintas Digital and Zentropy Partners respectively) he has remained at the cutting edge of marketing and technology, growing his businesses in scale and profitability year on year.
Zentropy Partners UK, the company Alastair founded in 2000, was twice agency of the year in the UK, and grew consistently and profitably, bucking the dotcom era trend. Under his leadership Zentropy took over McCann Erickson’s nascent direct marketing unit and an acquired database marketing firm in 2005 to form MRM Partners, emerging again under the renamed MRM Worldwide banner as one of the leading digital marketing firms in the UK, ranking at Number 5 in New Media Age’s Top 100 Interactive Agencies Report in 2008. Alastair served as Chief Executive of MRM Worldwide from 2004- 2008, as well as on the McCann Erickson UK and Ireland Board.
Alastair has advised businesses all over the world on digital strategy, communication and creativity. He’s worked for Microsoft, Intel, Unilever, Nestlé, MSN, Sky, Mastercard, Boeringher Ingelheim, the Home Office, Hewlett Packard and the Newspaper Marketing Agency.
He comments regularly on the impact of digital on the marketing and advertising industry, both in the national and trade press as well as on this blog. He also blogs occasionally on Brand Republic. He is a regular awards judge, on the panel for Revolution Awards, New Media Age Effectiveness Awards and guest chair of the 2010 British Interactive Media Association Awards.
He is a Fellow of the RSA, Member of British Design and Art Direction and one of the original members of the Digital Marketing Group at the IPA. He lives in London with wife and three children, enjoys contemporary art, sailing, parenting, travel and coaching mini-rugby.
He can be contacted by email here. Or follow him on Twitter there.
Guest Bloggers
Solving life’s little problems, one post at a a time. There are a few guest writers on this blog joining in the fun discussing the world of participation that new technology and new media provides.
Contact Alastair if you’d like to contribute, comment or have a cup of tea.
