Blog
“What Matters Now” – A Wake Up Call For Business Leaders
While we anxiously await delivery of our copies of Professor Gary Hamel’s latest tome, “What Matters Now”, we wanted to share some of the main thoughts being promoted.Clearly, the business world is in a state of flux. Hamel’s book promises to present an agenda for leaders everywhere who are eager to. . . reverse the tide of commoditization defeat bureaucracy astonish their customers foster extraordinary contribution outrun change build a company that’s truly fit for the future In this context, Hamel identifies five issues that are paramount: values innovation...
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See Your Brand From a New Perspective in 2012
Audi dramatically reshaped the viewer’s perspective of their recent offering in Shanghai using dozens of glass plates. This image made us think about what we do for our clients. We work with what is already there. We look at it from different perspectives. As we walk around our client’s brands, we start to sense the meaning hidden within. We pull out the human factors that make the brand work in a unique way. The beliefs. The attitudes. The behaviors. The feelings. The ambition. The passion. We then find ways to bring those human qualities to the surface. Our goal is...
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The Last Is For Our Warm Wishes To You
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Don’t Just Buy Stuff This Holiday. Do Stuff That Matters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uh-FFrDrio Go beyond “stuff”. Give to charity. Give a smile. Give a helping hand. Give a thought. Give kindness. Give consideration. Give acceptance. Give understanding. Give tolerance. Give love. Give. ...
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In Holiday Spirit, Some Thoughts We’d Like To Share
Over the coming days we’ll be offering our reflections on this year gone by, which will add up to one important word and one warm...
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Shaping Brand Experiences to Avoid Alienating People
Cartoon by Tom Fishburne. Every brand moment matters. How often have you found yourself filling in a form that simply asked too much? Where you could not imagine how the information being asked was going to be used? Or worse, the only thing you could imagine was that the information would be used against you. No, not by some dreaded department deep inside the government. But, by something worse: the brand’s marketing department. OK, that’s a bit of an overstatement. But hopefully it has provoked you into thinking about how your brand is reaching out to people. How the experience...
Read more >People Respond to Meaningful Brands
According to a recent study by Havas Media, only 20% of brands have a notable positive impact on our sense of wellbeing and quality of life. The study further reveals how the expectations, judgements and behavior of people are evolving in ways that must make brand-owners rethink their current strategies: For the 4th year running consumer expectations of companies’ responsible behaviour continues to rise Nearly 85% of consumers worldwide expect companies to become actively involved in solving these issues (an increase of 15% from 2010) Those prepared to reward responsible companies by...
Read more >Let’s Get Real: Navigating a World of Meaningless Expressions
We loved this look into modern language by Dan Pallotta from his recent Harvard Business Review blog post, “I don’t understand what anyone is saying anymore.” Another term that has lost its meaning is “Let’s exceed the customer’s expectations.” Employees who hear it just leave the pep rally, inhabit some kind of temporary dazed intensity, and then go back to doing things exactly the way they did before the speech. Customers almost universally never experience their expectations being met, much less exceeded. How can you exceed the customer’s...
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In This World of Decision Fatigue, Does Your Brand Still Matter?
Image from Fast Company Just look at what the average Joe faces when looking for a headache remedy. It goes on: will he pay with Visa, MasterCard or American Express (and which of the twelve or so he has in his wallet will he choose – the points one, the rebate one, the…)? Will he Tweet about his experience, update his Facebook status or share a picture of the mess through Instagram? And to recover from the shock, will he walk into Starbucks and order a coffee using six or more variables? We love having choices. But choices can overwhelm us. We quickly become victims...
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Has Dilbert Summed Up Your Brand’s Attitude Toward People?
How does your brand reach out to people? Is it “pretending to be interested”, or is there a genuine effort to connect meaningfully to the people vital to your brand’s success? Is it stuck thinking about facts, figures, categories, segments, markets, etc., etc., or is is focused on “human beings”? Is it acting like it has the upper hand because of the economy, or is it treating people in the way they deserve? Is your brand’s brain about to fall out of its yawn hole, or is it imagining how your brand can truly matter to people? ...
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