Go All The Way

A local cafe is trying to tap into the ‘ladies who lunch’ market with a three course ‘ladies lunch special’ on Thursdays. Recently I noticed they’d stuck a handwritten note over the top of their sign which read, “men welcome”. Halfway to the edge is just average poorly disguised. Neither this nor that. If you’re…

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How Do Your Customers Feel?

When was the last time you stepped into your customers shoes? Sat in your packed restaurant, queued at check in, ordered from your website, read your label, stopped to digest an email you sent, analysed your design brief, slept in your rooms and really experienced what it feels like to do business with you? Every…

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The Best

The best teacher isn’t always the one who has a class full of students that get the best results. The best designer isn’t always the one who knows the exact amount of white space to leave. The best brand isn’t always the one that makes the most money. The best athlete doesn’t always win. And…

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Create What People Want

When Ken and Nick lamented the passing of old-style pastrami and then decided to do something about it, they probably had a hunch that there were people who felt just like they did. Once they set to work tasting and testing and re-inventing the ultimate American comfort food they knew they were onto something. Their…

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Why Startups Stall

It’s easy to start something today. Now that the gatekeepers are leaving their gates and the barrier to entry is lower than ever, anyone with an idea and an Internet connection can start a business. You don’t need a big staff on payroll or a factory to get the work done. So more people are…

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A Reason To Decide

She spotted the black dress just as she was about to give up. It was perfect. She imagined how it would cling in all the right places at the party on Friday night. And how she would feel when he spotted her across the crowded room. The reason you buy the dress isn’t the same…

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Don’t Worry So Much About Awareness

Just the thought of the kind of marketing dollars the big brands will have invested in advertising for the Olympics is enough to make my eyes water. The result, millions of dollars worth of beautifully shot, feel good commercials that probably won’t sell many more phone plans or gold cards. Awareness, not sales is their…

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When Will You Draw The Line?

When my mother left school aged just 14 she was sent to the Royal Candy sweet factory, to dip caramel by hand into big vats of icing, (pink or white). On the evening of her first day she told her widowed mother (who was raising 11 children single-handed), that she hated it and she wasn’t…

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The Sure Thing

If you’ve ever watched surfers you’ll know that they spend far more time reading the waves, than riding them. And despite all of the waiting, watching and experience, they still sometimes choose the wrong wave to ride. In the end they take their best guess, commit and go. And so it goes for ideas too.…

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