Thoughts

By the CEO of FOUR · An integrated agency, since 1963 The single most important fact about AI search is that you cannot directly edit what it says about you. There is no admin panel. There is no submission form. There is no Wikipedia-style "request a correction" button. When ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude or Google's AI Overviews describe your business to a potential customer, they are synthesising signals drawn from across the internet, weighted by criteria you do not contro

The inaugural Brandland Awards are here; aptly named ‘Gather’, the awards event brings together the people and businesses shaping brands in and around Norwich. Hayley, part of the FOUR family, has been part of the steering group since 2022, so it’s fantastic to see the event finally come to life in 2026. Gather is the culmination of four years of conversations, conferences, and collaboration, and is designed to put the very best creative thinking firmly in the spotlight. Thi

Having the opportunity to contribute, even in a small way, to shaping the next generation of local creatives is incredibly rewarding. So being invited back to Brandland’s Creative Futures for a second year made the experience even more special. For me, there’s something genuinely exciting about spotting a student who clearly has a natural talent for design. It sparks a real sense of curiosity about what they’ll go on to create and how they’ll develop that talent beyond their

Your website traffic is declining. Your SEO team insists your rankings are strong. Your analytics show engagement is steady. So what's happening? The answer is both simple and seismic: your customers aren't finding you on Google anymore because they've stopped using Google the way they used to. The Invisible Shift Last month, we ran an experiment. We asked 100 business decision-makers in professional services, technology, and financial services the same question: "Where did y

I’ve always been drawn to that point where people and purpose meet. Early in my career, I worked in external branding - campaigns, customer research, positioning - and it quickly became clear: when employees don’t believe in what you’re selling, customers feel it straight away. That realisation pulled me towards internal communications, culture and values, and eventually into developing Employee Value Proposition (EVP) programmes that connect the internal and external experie

This autumn, ITV celebrates 70 years on air, a huge milestone in British broadcasting history. On 22nd September 1955, Independent Television first went to air, bringing with it a bold new alternative to the BBC and changing the shape of television forever. From Survival to Midsomer Murders and Minder to Downton Abbey, ITV has produced some of the nation’s most memorable shows, entertaining millions while also driving social conversation. At FOUR, ITV’s 70th birthday has go