intention
258 posts
The Best Opportunity
One of the best things about our family’s move to Melbourne two years ago has been the rediscovery of local shopping strips. In beautiful Perth, where we lived for ten years, our grocery shopping involved a car trip to one of the dominant, big chain supermarkets. In Melbourne, we live a two-minute s
What You Want To Say Vs. What People Need To Hear
Every one of us has a story to tell—something we want someone to hear. So we begin crafting our messages by prioritising our need to be heard. The irony is the best way to make an idea resonate is not to start with all the things you need to get off your chest, but instead…
Getting The Story Formula Right
I often get emails asking about the right and the wrong way to tell a brand story. Questions like: How long should the story be? Should we start this way or that? What’s the best medium to use? The more important point to consider is not the length of the story or where to begin…
How To Build A 21st Century Brand
Forty years ago a brand was an identifier. Branding was what we did to the outside of a product or service after it was conceived and created. Brands became tales woven to increase visibility and memorability using design, clever copy, print and TV advertising to make sure the product was known by t
The Good Marketer’s Dilemma
People (including you and me) often convince themselves that they make logical decisions about what to buy based on things like quality and price. If this were true, then there would be no need for businesses to invest in packaging, design or user experience. Packaging, design and copy tell a story
Change Making
The story changes the value. The value changes the perception. The perception changes the experience. The experience changes the outcome. The outcome changes the customer. The customer changes the story. Image by Matthias Ripp.
The Potential Downside Of Maximizing
There’s a great cafe in East Melbourne where you can order half a sandwich. This addition to the menu seems trivial, but it tells us a lot about the values of the cafe owner. He knows that a peckish diner will order the whole sandwich and leave what she doesn’t want. Of course, this would…
Understanding The Value Gap
You may have noticed how commonplace complimentary gift wrapping has become this festive season. In years gone by this service was offered by bigger department stores or as a fundraiser for charities in local shopping centres. This year though it seems that every retailer from the bookstore to the p
The Genuine Article
When I was a child growing up in Dublin the biggest compliment you could pay someone was to say they were ‘the genuine article’. Sincerity was something to aspire to, and we witnessed it daily in people’s actions and words. In our carefully curated, photoshopped and filtered world, we are more drawn
The Upside Of Ignoring Your Competition
In his memoir Bryan Cranston (the actor who plays Walter White in the cult drama series Breaking Bad), describes a mental shift he made about auditions twenty years ago. He and the other actors would smile politely at each other while they sweated it out waiting for their turn to audition. Every per
Lucky To Have You
The customers at Estabar are lucky to have Bec and her team creating a welcoming space where they serve the best food, gelato and coffee in Newcastle with love and care. Why are your customers lucky to have you? You probably haven’t asked yourself this question in a while. This is your invitation to
Why We Need Brand Stories
Anthropologists tell us story is the universal language that has quite literally ensured the survival of the human race. Our Neanderthal ancestors told stories to pass on information that would keep the tribe safe—tales of misadventure and survival about what to fear or to embrace. We tell stories t
Creating A Sustainable Advantage
The two bookstores on Bourke Street have very different layouts, but they mostly stock similar titles. The three nearby cafes all serve eggs, porridge or toast for breakfast. Both convenience stores along the street stock the same brands of chocolate, snacks and emergency litres of milk. And the web
The Quiet Marketing Opportunity
It was 6am on a wet and windy Melbourne morning. The two tourists wandered out of their hotel on Exhibition Street, each armed with a giant red golf umbrella plastered with the hotel’s equally giant logo. At first glance, you might think how thoughtful it is that the hotel anticipates the traveller’
No Success Without Fear
When Elon Musk unveiled his audacious vision to colonize Mars this week, commentators had as much to say about his hubris and lack or fear as they did about the plan itself. They remarked that Musk’s greatest strength is probably that he has never been afraid to fail. That’s just not true. Of course
What’s Your Customer’s Value Story
You may have read some version of the recent Tech Crunch article by Tom Goodwin that began with this observation. “Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content. Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And
Everything To Everyone
While I was consulting with a client last week we got talking about people who had built powerful personal brands and the reasons for their success. When we stopped at one in particular, her reaction was immediate. “I don’t like him.” she said, as her nose wrinkled. Of course, she has never met this
The Difference Between Saying You Care And Caring
I’m not sure when we became defensive about customer care became. I suspect it might have been when we began to put more distance between the customer and us. In the days when there was a cash register that rang with ‘real money’, when we sold eye-to-eye and transacted hand-to-hand, instead of digit
How We Drive Change
When we want to improve our diet we monitor what we eat and how much we exercise. When we want to change a toddler’s behaviour we look for opportunities to praise the good, instead of constantly shouting down the bad. We measure and reward the behaviour we want. In organisations, the things we measu
A Reason To Come
“Hey! Are you after some lunch?” asked the young woman on the pavement waving flyers during the 1 pm rush. She gestured to a place on the side street as she tried to lure people down it with the promise of a discount. Most diners who eat at a restaurant down a side street go…
