Brand league tables are reversed when you look at value, then switch to their perceived power, and then again when you look at ad spending. The message to adland is that while the high-tech big players dominate one set of tables, the ones actually spending the money are the household names that never make it to the top ten of brand value rankings. It may be reassuring, but the question remains: if Apple and Google really are top of the pile and have overtaken every brand you've ever heard of, how did they do it without topping the list of …

It's the gig you've been waiting for. Ryanair wants to be nice -- and it needs your help. Sounds like Mission Impossible? With a profit warning issued as passenger numbers struggle it does seem that the airline is serious in turning itself around without motor mouth O'Leary winding up the travelling public. It's a huge challenge, but in a few years' time a roster of agencies will be boasting to prospective clients, "we're the guys who made people only half hate Ryanair, and we could do the same for you."

Has London really lost its creativity? Are agencies really out there just keeping clients happy -- and does that really stifle creativity? More to the point, is keeping clients happy not what it's all about? To listen to views bandied around London, particularly among senior guys behind creative agencies that are typically known for a couple of great ideas back in the '90s, you would be forgiven for thinking that the capital is washed up. However, take a look at the Commercial of the Year in last night's British Arrows and the Best New Team award and you have to …

Local media is very similar to libraries. If someone dares even question asking both customers to leave a library an hour earlier to save on electricity costs -- or heaven forbid, suggests a closure -- you can bet there will be trouble. People will line up from every social corner and every side of the political spectrum to denounce the plans. Ask them when was the last time they used the library or how often they go there and you usually hit a brick wall. It's the same when radio shows or stations close. People say one thing but their …

You know native advertising has gone mainstream when Number 10 joins the fray. A little like getting a text from your nan, there are certain bellwether signs that a route to market has gone beyond webinars and breakfast chats. Where native goes will be incredibly interesting because agencies, advertisers and digital publishers are going to have exactly the same issues thrown up by the good old-fashioned advertorial. Marketers are turning to online thesauruses to come up with new terms and any combination of words that say native is a lot more than advertorials served online -- but let's face it, …

An interesting time for supermarket advertising and marketing right now. Just at the very time that the big chains have admitted to being hurt by the no-frills, cut-price operators, Lidl changes tack. Just at the time when Chief Executives were pointing out the price-based offerings were cutting in to their bottom line, as results were examined, Lidl chooses to change direction. It will surely still maintain a competitive price edge in-store, but to the outside world it is repositioning itself as a place to indulge in life's luxuries -- namely sumptuous tables packed with wine, desserts, chocolates and other treats.

The term "patronising" has had a big week. Grant Shapps had the insult levelled at him for his rather crass creative suggesting the Tories had helped working people do what "they" want to do, although it wasn't quite clear if it was a spoof that had backfired or his heartfelt view the working class really is motivated by bingo and beer. Then the term was levelled at Labour for their sniping at the Chancellor allowing Britons to take their pension pot at retirement rather than being forced to buy an annuity which, anyone can tell you, will turn tens of …

You could be forgiven for thinking that the main advertising news to have come from the Budget was Tory Chairman Grant Shapps' tweeted advert referring to cheaper beer and bingo, which was criticised for being patronising. However, the big news not only allowed the Chancellor to truly rehabilitate a national wartime hero, but also to place the UK advertising and marketing scenes at the forefront of innovation.

BA's decision to align its advertising and CRM accounts under BBH, in a new partnership with 7 Seconds, is a shrewd move and is almost certainly something we're going to see more of. For years experts have been talking about "customer hubs" through which all parts of a business have a single view of the same customer. Talk, though, has led to very little action. How often have you been asked to sign up to a service you're already subscribed to or find that one part of a large company has your new address while another keeps writing to the …

There is probably no more emotive an issue in the British media landscape at the moment than who should regulate the press. Today's news, that Hacked Off has launched a campaign supporting the Royal Charter, mostly serves to prove one thing, however. It has been a year since Parliament drew up the proposals for a Royal Charter to govern the press -- and in that year, precious little has changed.