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Archive: My blog has now moved to here December
2005
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Aveda is not somewhere I've ever shopped. But from what I know of it, I expect I would feel at home there. Like Innocent (or a latter day Body Shop), it is an organisation that recognises both the need of holistic brand building…and the need to stand for something. There's a good article in Fast Company this month ("it's easy being green"), which digs a little deeper into the Aveda story. They suggest that ideologically-based brands, such as Aveda, forge the strongest bonds with customers...assuming, of course, they can live up to their promises. The article also gives 4 tips for maintaining a shared belief system with customers, based on the Aveda experience…
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26th Aug 2004 - Innocent pleasures
Innocent are great. They are everything a good brand should be - great product, clear brand concept, consistent (and lived out) corporate ethos. And most importantly, they have trucks covered in Astroturf, others that look like cows, and labels where the small print is always worth close inspection. Whatever way you look at it, you feel good when you knock back an Innocent drink. Which is probably why they get heaps of people writing in to sing their praises. And I guess it could have been oh so different. The dead-end of worthiness must have beckoned. But Innocent show that you can be passionate about product purity and goodness, without taking yourself too seriously (a BIG lesson there). Anyway, I love 'em ! Like to comment ? (top) 24th Aug 2004 - create more than you consume I'm getting a lot of referrals from my good mate John Griffiths over at the most excellent Planning Above And Beyond. So I thought I'd reciprocate. John is currently championing the thought that we should be creators not consumers. You can read his opening gambit here...
Anyway, I couldn't agree more. And this may well be a thought I build on here at some point. Standing on the shoulders of giants and all that. Like to comment ? (top)
So Google's IPO proves the detractors wrong. And the take up amongst small investors shows that its appeal is about more than business success. This is a brand people really like. How has Google achieved this popular acclaim ? By being an organisation that lives what it believes (or at least seems to). And we do appear to like that in our companies and brands. These beliefs can be seen in the "ten things Google has found to be true". All of which are worth a look. As a multi £bn business, it must know something ! 1. Focus on the
user and all else will follow - "Google has (always) focused
on providing the best user experience possible" Like to comment ? (top)
Hmmm. Seem to be keeping up a prodigious posting rate at the moment. Bound to hit the buffers at some point. So come and get it while it's hot. Now this is a great idea…
Bag Borrow or Steal ? It's very simple really. You sign up. You borrow your favourite designer handbag for a few days. You return it. And then you borrow a new one. OK, so hand bags aren't quite my thing. But as a concept this could work almost anywhere - shoes, watches, clothes. All those little special extras you can't quite afford (well I can't)…or justify. And why not extend it to big things ? You've get something similar in cars already with lease hire. But then you're stuck with your Vauxhall Vectra for 3 years minimum. A Ferrari for the weekend would be good though. And what about changing your furniture to impress the dinner party guests. Or maybe because it's spring and you want to lighten things up a bit. Just make sure you keep it fun and premium. And definitely don't get all Radio Rentals (for those old enough to remember the days when you actually hired your TV and video). Like to comment ? (top) Comments...
I love the Olympics. I could sit all day and watch Brits lose at obscure sports I know nothing about. And maybe unusually in this modern professional era, I still feel great affection for the Olympics brand itself. It remains stoically potent, despite the best efforts of the powers-that-be at the IOC to run rough shod over all it stands for. From dodgy financial shenanigans to drug scandals, it still seems to survive as the bastion of sporting purity (at least in my mind). Which I guess is one definition of a strong brand - no matter the mud you throw, nothing sticks. Which is why the following filled me with dread. The IOC are apparently in the process of reviewing the sports which have Olympic status. And driving this choice ? "it's a matter of what appeals to the audience". Which could mean wave goodbye to the likes of Greco-Roman wrestling, a founding Olympic sport. And say hello to...ten-pin bowling ? Skydiving ? "Dance sport" (like ice dancing without ice apparently) ?! And then straying dangerously close to some kind of comedy post-modern "life imitating art imitating life" thing, korfball and fistball. All a bit too dodgeball for my tastes…which is actually a real sport as well apparantly. Maybe I'm just a stick-in-the-mud, refusing to move with the times, but allowing what plays well on prime-time (US) TV to dictate the future of the greatest sporting event in the world, doesn't seem to me the best way to keep the Olympic flame burning.Sporting purity is what makes it special after all. Yet another brand sacrificing long term success and credibility for a few short terms gains ? Like to comment ? (top)
Very cool. And comes courtesy of Josh below (so his cool hunting credentials stand up to some interrogation). Stick a URL in the Touch Graph Google Browser and see all links coming in and out of the site. Great for understanding the world in which a brand or organisation lives. Take UK account planning as an example...
And in a variation on this theme, you can also use the Amazon version and see all the books related to a particular topic...
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Ever wish your finger was a little more on the pulse ? That you could impress friends, colleagues and clients by how ahead of the game you are ? The why not check out the website of Josh Rubin, Cool Hunter.
Of course, he could be making it all up. But who else is to know ? Like to comment ? (top)
Somewhat paradoxically, it always seems to me, brainstorms are often held in the dullest of venues. Which was why the session I went to last week was a rather pleasant surprise. Held in the Sky Lounge of the City Inn Hotel in Westminster, it was a bit more inspiring than the typical boardroom...if only for the view of the London skyline (hence the name I guess).
And though the ideas flowed, it definitely helped to have someting other than grey walls to look at when you felt yourself drifting. Like to comment ? (top)
One of the joys of having a 7 year old son, is that you get to do the things you really want to do...but can't really justify. Like going to see the new Thunderbirds movie. So it's not high art, but it was good fun. Going in you know stuff has changed - wooden puppets to wooden actors, that kind of thing. But also that Lady P's FAB1 is no longer the Roller it should be...
Mainly that's because Rolls Royce didn't want to be involved. So up step Ford...
And the results look pretty cool. Good on em you think. Until about half way through the film when the desire to through something at the screen if another Ford logo appears becomes hard to resist. Every car in close up seems to be a Ford. Even the news broadcasts that feature regularly throughout the film are sponsored by Ford (in what was probably thought to be a terribly post-modern sponsorship within a sponsorship gag). You walk out not remembering the cool new car Ford produced, but wishing they'd not got involved in the first place. Definitely a case of less is more. Like to comment ? (top)
Hmmm, why am I writing a blog ? According to Jeffery Rosen, author of the Naked Crowd, it seems to be because I'm a deeply insecure person….
Sounds a bit like bah humbug to me. But it does make you think about why you do things. There's an article here. Like to comment ? (top) Blogs, it appears, are de rigueur. Although, if my attempts to keep a childhood diary are anything to go by, this will be the first of only a very few posts. But, to paraphrase Confucius to within an inch of his life, you've gotta start somewhere. Like to comment ? (top) |
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