Author Archive: Jonathan A. J. Wilson
Senior Lecturer and Course Leader in: Advertising & Marketing Communications Management; at the University of Greenwich, London, UK. Editor of Emerald Group Publishing's: Journal of Islamic Marketing. Jon was awarded a PhD in the area of Global Brands, Culture & Management. Read his blog introduction here. You can contact him by emailing: j.a.j.wilson@gre.ac.uk
Who says everyone’s coming to London for the Olympics – what about Ramadan?
Bloomberg recently ran a piece with the title “The Harrods Hajj: London Braces for Ramadan Rush”. They report that ‘As the holy month approaches, London’s luxury stores are seeing a spike in shoppers’. http://www.bloomberg.com/video/the-harrods-hajj-london-braces-for-ramadan-rush-POJ3FJxFQ5uESHRywTpcmQ.html Now crassly, some might class this as ‘selling sand to the Arabs’, but Harrods has enjoyed successes with selling high-end abayas […]
Islamic designs in the modern world
In April, I was lucky enough to be invited to speak at the 2012 World Halal Forum, in Kuala Lumpur. One of the other speakers was designer Peter Gould. For those of you that haven’t heard of him, check out: http://www.peter-gould.com/about/ Peter’s session went down really well, so I asked him to share some of […]
UNHATE – edgy marketing, stirring up hate, trying to grab headlines, or a viral stunt?
Benetton launched a new campaign, which I am sure will test the adage, ‘there’s no such things as bad publicity’. On their website they state that: The UNHATE Foundation, desired and founded by the Benetton Group, seeks to contribute to the creation of a new culture of tolerance, to combat hatred, building on Benetton’s underpinning […]
Halal and Kosher meat under the cosh – can there be a meeting of minds?
Recent debates in the Netherlands seem set to have a significant effect on Jewish and Muslim mean slaughtering practices. Here’s a great piece that gives an overview of the landscape and varying perspectives: Should animals be stunned before slaughter? The interesting thing will be whether Jewish and Muslim communities can use this issue as an opportunity […]
Transformational Leadership, Communications and Cultural Branding
We are seeing how stakeholder networks and Web2.0 are driving increasingly dynamic communications, which are both influencing and engaging more parties. The result is the creation of ‘collective individuals’, who converge around culturally embedded and ‘human’ brands; and supports the idea of Global identities, which enhance local cross-border sub-cultures. In the face of this, Transformational […]
Riots, consumerism, hyper-communication and a moral compass
In my last post, when I wrote that some people were unhappy in London and were looking forward to further consumerism, little did I know how far they would go! England has been hit by a terrible spate of riots and my fear is that this is an evolutionary form of behavior, which is the new […]
“This time next year it will be Ramadan and the Olympics”
“This time next year it will be Ramadan and the Olympics” That was one of the comments I made, as a panellist at the University of Northampton’s recent conference on the London Olympics 2012. Now, this topic of Ramadan and 2012 Olympics has already been discussed (here, and here.) I live in East London and […]
Modest fashion, or fashioning modesty?
Last month, I was able to catch up with Professor Reina Lewis (Artscom Centenary Professor of Cultural Studies, London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London), following her Symposium entitled: ‘Mediating Modesty – Fashioning Faithful Bodies’ at the London College of Fashion. Prof Reina makes the following observation: “We are already seeing a ‘second […]
Muslim Youth Cultural Codes – black zebras with white stripes, or white zebras with black stripes?
Gaining insight into stakeholder perceptions – concerning individual and group identities, are central components of any good marketing. Arguably, the youth market is tough: because how many brands can predict whether they’ll be the next cult, or cool thing – especially when tastes change so quickly? If we add into the mix the fact that […]
Is the Muslim Market the new Hip hop?
Hip hop and Islamic Youth Culture go together like cookies and cool milk. Some of the words that exemplify both are: subculture, renegades, underdogs, slang, conspiracy theories, ethnocentrism, collective individualism, self-expressionism, avatars, social networks, fashion, and politics. However, in this post I’d like to shift the debate slightly and look at things from a different […]
