Why Your Brand Doesn’t Need A Unique Selling Proposition

In the 90s Pampers’ ‘unique selling proposition’ (USP) claimed it was driest nappy on the market. Procter & Gamble prided itself on this benefit, investing heavily in research and development to maintain its USP. In the end that singular focus blinkered the company’s understanding about what mothers really wanted. And while they believed that Pampers…

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Narrow And Deep Vs. The Market Of Everyone

When you were ten years old all any marketer needed to know about you, or the people in your street was that you owned a TV. In a world of limited choices big companies could afford to cast the net wide across the masses. No depth required. This tactic doesn’t work so well now that…

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The Secret Of Disruptive Innovations

When the online eyewear retailer Warby Parker began selling boutique-quality glasses at a $95 price point they weren’t just trying to undercut the bigger players in the industry. Of course they did that and more, growing the company by 500% in just a year and mostly by word of mouth. The average customer who needs…

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What Does Disney Do?

Only one thing. They set out to make people happy. The Mickey Mouse balloon sales are a pleasant side effect of that. A souvenir of that time when the visitor felt the way she wanted to feel. In business we often set out to sell the cause, forgetting that what’s really valuable is the effect.…

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5 Ways To Tell A Better Brand Story Today

It turns out telling your brand story is more about doing than telling. Here are five things you can do today to begin telling a better brand story. 1. Review and rewrite your about page. A great about page isn’t all about you. It should communicate how you can help or delight the reader. That’s…

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What’s Your Plan For The Other 364 Days?

It’s interesting to watch businesses of all stripes trying to attach a layer of Mother’s Day meaning to their brands. I’m not sure how you surprise your Mum with running shoes from the “40% off women’s sports shoe sale”. Finding a way to jump on the bandwagon of the day doesn’t take a lot of…

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The Real Job Of A Marketer

When a mother of two stands browsing the birthday cake supplies at the local Cook & Dine store she’s not imagining how well the piping bags will work. She’s imagining how she will feel when her little girl’s face lights up at the party on Sunday afternoon. We think our job is to change how…

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Paying Attention To The Clues Your Customers Leave

“People tell us who they are, but we ignore it because we want them to be who we want them to be.” — Donald Draper Have you ever watched someone shopping? People touch things that catch their eye. They buy things that are not on their list because something changed how they feel in the…

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It’s Business. It’s Personal

When did business stop being personal and become an activity we engage in? It wasn’t always this way. In 12000 BC when Obsidian was used for trades, business was about making fair exchanges of value based on trust. When pioneer farmers traded labour with their neighbours to make harvesting more efficient, business was about working…

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