For this week’s blog I am issuing a challenge. I am going to write an entire shopping list (of packaged foods) by the first brand name that comes to mind, rather than products themselves (in no particular order). Next week, I’ll reveal my product list. See if you can guess it? (No google searches allowed). Write your thoughts in the comments section. There will be prizes (chocolate) for who gets them right.
Explore our historical blog articles for nuggets of wisdom (and random musings) from our crew.
I think one of the most frequently asked questions I hear from clients or potential clients is, “How much should I spend on Marketing?” There’s no real simple answer to this but here’s some tips on how to work it out.
It’s my 42nd year in the profession I know as ‘Marketing’. I love it as much as I ever have – maybe more? It’s a profession which comes replete with human frailties, wild ideas, emotions, good and bad, disturbing and joyful. It is a variable smorgasbord of knowledge, a varietal delight of products and services all bound up in interpretation, philosophy and the inevitable debate, discussion – passion even. It is an exciting place to be.
On the weekend I visited a shopping centre, intent on finding a new pair of jeans. Any woman knows that jeans shopping is up there with bathers shopping – a dreaded, awful experience; full of disappointing size expectations and pledges of future dieting. Therefore, I was already in a less-than-positive mind-set.
Well it’s that time of year again. I’m planning my annual holiday. This year I’m trying to save money so I’m staying close to home, perhaps with a trip up the coast to beautiful Coral Bay and Exmouth. In my extensive internet searches for somewhere to stay, I stumbled across yet another excellent example of customer service (there must be something about me and travelling).
If you’ve ever spent time working with electronic newsletters (e-newsletters) and time analysing the data reported, you’ll come to realise what a powerful communication tool they can be. Like any communications medium, there are pros and cons, and this technology is no exception. The area in which e-newsletters excels, is the feedback that it offers which is inherent in the technology being used.
So little is understood about the mysteries of an organisation’s culture, is it any wonder that business today shakes it head and simply decides to dispute the existence of cultural issues. As strategists we have no choice but to acknowledge its existence because we see its effects each and every day.
Understanding culture in your organisation, while onerous, is never the less, an essential ingredient to success and a failure to recognise or understand its ramifications is nothing short of dangerous.