Colin Morley – colleague and associate

Published by Tony Quinlan on

I first posted this a year ago. One year on, it seems fitting to reprint it now.

Sometimes it’s hard to know quite what to say, but I have to say something. A good friend and colleague, Colin Morley, was killed at the recent Edgware Road bombings. He and I have been talking since we first met at the Medinge branding thinktank last year – and the conversations had progressed into designing an Archetypal Branding masterclass for the Ark Group in August. We disagreed healthily on some things, but both felt that Archetypal Branding was an important part of changing the business world, particularly marketing and advertising, to a more humanistic, people-centred pattern that supported employees, customers and the environment.

Colin was an expert in branding, having changed Vodafone, Quaker Oats and One2One among others – yet never shackled by numbers and over-intellectualising. He was also passionate about changing the world to the benefit of all – his obituary in the Guardian on Monday 25th July was headlined "Marketing genius who tried to change the world" and I can’t think of a more fitting description. I’ll miss him – our friendship was barely off the starting blocks.

To steal one of Colin’s campaigns: "Who would you like a One2One with?" You, Colin, one last time.

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