theboxBlog2010

Explore our historical blog articles for nuggets of wisdom (and random musings) from our crew.

Want to be a designer?

by

Part of our philosophy at Jack in the box is to help the future design stars of tomorrow. Almost any given week we will have up to 3 senior high school or university students in the strategy or creative room soaking up as much knowledge as their minds can absorb. All of us here are happy to help because we know what it was like to be starting out and we too have our own mentors to thank for passing on their valuable knowledge and time.

So it was when a family friend asked what I thought is the most important aspect of design they can learn while at university if they want to become a designer.

My answer is in two parts: what to learn and what not to worry too much about.

Read More

Wallets, hearts or minds?

by

At the moment I am studying a postgraduate marketing unit as part of my quest to continue to fill my mind with knowledge, and despite my scepticism, I have really learnt a lot. Interestingly, something I have noticed along the way is many Jack in the box concepts and philosophies have resonance and relevance to some of the biggest companies in the world. A recent text book reading (author of which was the ever faithful Kotler and his marketing buddies) cemented that thought by talking about winning consumers’ hearts and minds, as the pathway to winning profits. It made me ponder how many companies truly have a distinction between winning hearts, minds and profits as part of their corporate objectives (or understand the difference).

Read More

Marketing on a budget

by

So everyone wants to know the secret to ‘marketing on a budget’. Well after years and years of being asked, I figured it was time to reveal the secrets behind the magic…

Read More

Meaningful movement

by

One web trend I have noticed becoming more and more common recently is the use of intrusive animation. It seems you can’t log onto a news site, a blog, your Hotmail account or even a font website without being bombarded with unnecessary moving graphics mostly in the form of advertisements. These advertisements may get your attention, they do little to convince me to buy their product or even click to find out more.

Read More

Ownership over ‘i’

by

When a word is described as a ‘generic’ term, it can no longer be registered or enforced as a trademark. It happens as brands or slogans become common place, and don’t differentiate any longer. The famous ugg boots case is a prime example – ‘ugg boots’ can no longer be ‘owned’ by anyone – it is a generic descriptive term for woollen boots. Another recent and interesting example is Apple, and the loss of the right to the iconic ‘i’ prefix.

Read More

Deadlines

by

It’s been a crazy few weeks in the creative room and hence I haven’t blogged for a while. It is the usual case of leave your own jobs and get on with the paid work first. But now I have a moment so here I go with a bit of a whinge.

Read More