When I wrote about Sari Niemi’s MindUnwired Sundays in 2024 (turning your phone off for 10 hours every Sunday), I used the term Digital Fatberg.

The term has, with a giggle, been quoted back at me. So I’m going to mention Digital Fatberg again. To encourage you to follow Sari on LinkedIn, and do your own MindUnwired Sunday, too.

Here’s what I wrote, about what I learned from turning my phone off for 10 hours on a Sunday:

“Everything can wait. When I turned my phone back on, 99% of what was new was all the shit I usually get – but in one lump. Instead of sprinkled. Like the digital equivalent of one of those fatberg things that fuck up sewers. A Digital Fatberg.”

What I wrote was true for me. And it’ll be true for you too. I turned my phone back on to a Digital Fatberg of unnecessary notifications, absolute drivel and one or two unurgent messages. That was it.

Life’s bigger when you look at it face-on. Must do more.

PS. If you do turn your phone off for 10 hour each Sunday, you get 520 screen-free hours back. That’s 22, 24-hour days to do what you want with. Every. Single. Year.

The brands people most warm to tend to be ‘for’ something, not ‘against’ something. Their narrative shines light on the positive outcome they crave. Encouraging you too to love the positive change they’re driving, so you might just help them on their way.

Seedlip’s narrative is not that alcohol is bad. Seedlip makes non alcoholic drinks better. That kind of thing.

Knowing this, if we take a look at Just Stop Oil (and avoid polarisation around, ‘Get off that snooker table, you nob’ versus, ‘They’re actually stopping us all from dying’) – maybe Just Stop Oil shouldn’t be called Just Stop Oil. Maybe they’re trying to appeal to us in the wrong way. Maybe their narrative is just too negative to cut through in the way they want.

Marketing can be moany. You can be moany. And me. We should avoid that. Because the brands people most warm to tend to be ‘for’ something, not ‘against’ something.

Here’s a useful list.

I’m helping a small-but-growing accountancy firm at the moment. In one of my Associate (part time) Brand Director roles.

We chat about (…here’s the useful list…) sales projections, brand positioning, brand framework, messaging framework, logo, visual brand assets, onboarding, photography, slogan, website design, copywriting, advertising, advertorial, LinkedIn footprint, email footers, interior design, exterior livery, uniforms, awards entry, promotional pieces, stationery, credentials, events, direct mail and marketing strategy.

I don’t ‘do’ all of the above (although I do do most of them). I do however pay attention to, drive and oversee all of the above. Checking creativity/standout, consistency and quality.

This is a useful list because it reminds me that, when you’re a brand (a brand is a business with a laser like focus on the unique and ownable change it is set on making), every decision is a brand decision. Everything is connected.

Well built and run brands are much more compelling than businesses. And if you’re brand rich, you have the very best chance of being money rich, too.

So… ‘You a business? Or a brand?

Happy 2025.