Straight from the horse’s mouth
The UK is currently gripped by one of its periodic food scandals. For once this isn’t about food safety – no one has been feeding animal parts to other animals and therefore exposing the food chain to lethal pathogens, well not as far as we know it – but like the others it’s a by...
Made in Britain
Heatherwick studio’s cauldron for London 2012. Provenance has traditionally been the last resort of the strategic scoundrel. If you fancy an early lunch at the Delaunay and you simply cannot think of anything else to say about a brand you fall back on where it is from. Australian lagers, German cars, Scandinavian furniture, French sexual...
Does oxytocin hold the answer?
Chances are that you will be familiar with the properties of oxytocin. Whether male or female you will have enjoyed the sense of warmth it creates just after orgasm, if you are a mum you will probably have experienced its effects during childbirth (indeed its name comes from the Greek ōkytokínē meaning ‘quick birth’) and...
Adland entrepreneurs
Pair 27 were made by Amanda. I know that because she has signed them next to the unique reference number that allows you to record and the life of your jeans at their history tag online. These are of course no ordinary jeans these are Hiut Denim jeans named after the founders David and Clare...
What does your brand need more of?
I’m going to stick my neck out and suggest that I reckon that there are four key characteristics of successful brands. I have no scientific basis for this conclusion or for the four critical ingredients that I have alighted upon. They have simply worked for me (with some alterations) over the past few years and...
What’s your problem?
All great marketing solutions start with a well and accurately defined problem and a correct diagnosis of the course of action that needs to be followed. So I thought I’d talk a little about this to kick the new year off in a back to basics style. There is a very basic diagnostic tool I...
When brand stretch goes wrong – what Boots and the AA have in common
Nice emergency service, shame about the brand extrension. Image courtesy of Ruth Flickr. The Peter Principle maintains that “in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence” in other words as long as people remain competent they continue to be promoted until they reach a level of incompetence where they stay....
Douglas Holt has come to save us all…again
Bureaucracy by Dan_DC. A few years ago I wrote a post about Douglas Holt and his then new book ‘how brands become icons’. The post was called ‘Douglas Holt has come to save us all’ and he may well have pulled this off a second time with his latest book ‘Cultural strategy’.
Nostalgia brands – what to do if you spot one
Image courtesy of NuriaGuttierrez. There are a group of brands that face a specific set of issues and that require specific actions to help them. All too often however, they are misdiagnosed and the wrong solutions are taken to market, solutions that at best do little more than simply waste budget and at worst contribute...
Dynamic micro brands – Toms
Image courtesy of StephanieNguyen I’m a bit of a latecomer to the Toms party but then I’m not an environmental activist and I don’t live on the West coast. So I had to wait until the TED Global goodie bag to come across this brand of ethically driven footwear and mighty fine they are too....
The summer of the comeback
Image courtesy of Dave van Hulsteyn This is the summer of the comeback. Blur are back, Oasis are back, Abba have been approached to take part in a tribute to Wako Jacko and Glastonbury almost saw Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young harmonise with each other once more. And just six months after Woolworths finally threw...