Ten years ago, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by then-unknown author J.K. Rowling was published in the United Kingdom. Today, Harry Potter is a global brand worth $15 billion. The seventh and final book in the saga, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, was released in 93 countries and broke the sales record for the fastest-selling book ever. Just what makes Harry Potter such a global success?

Last week Russell Davies, former global planning director of Nike and former head of planning at Wieden + Kennedy, was a presenter at the DigitalAge Conference in Istanbul. Because some of my friends have spoken highly of Russell’s thinking, I dropped by with MB colleague Joseph Ciprut to hear him speak. Russell did raise some important and challenging issues in his presentation, but some of what I heard made me wonder whether many of his ideas were simply designed to promote creativity at the expense of the media budget.

Yesterday at MARKA 2007, the International Brand Conference of Istanbul, I heard Kenneth Cole talk about his approach to business and branding. Given that he is a New Yorker and I am based in New England, it seemed odd that I was hearing him speak in Turkey, but that made it no less worthwhile. In fact, it reminded me of something a colleague in Connecticut had said many years ago. Back when he was at Millward Brown, Don Frillici described creativity as problem solving. In the space of one hour yesterday, Kenneth Cole shared some of the creative problem-solving ideas he had used to build his successful $1.7 billion company.

Can you use the marketing tactics of big business to change people’s minds about environmental issues? Fran Crowe, an artist and environmental activist, thinks so. She is combining her knowledge gained as a senior buyer at retailer Tesco with her training as an artist to open peoples’ eyes to the problem of plastic waste. Ultimately she is challenging businesses to use less plastic and consumers to dispose of it more thoughtfully.

London is as crowded and hectic as ever. The “Congestion Charge” levied on private vehicles driving in the city center reduced traffic when it was introduced a few years ago, but now the traffic nightmare has returned. Unlike the streets outside, however, the Marketing Week Branded Content Forum was not packed, which was a shame, because a lot of good content was shared there.