The Obvious Advantage

The owner of our local organic store has built a thriving business. It’s the go-to place for people from the suburb who are happy to invest in a story about the benefits of eating well. He’s recently opened a new store in another suburb but hasn’t been able to replicate the success of the first.…

Read More

Just Because You Can

The role of the hotel concierge can be a challenging one. The concierge has to think on his feet. He must immediately earn each new guest’s trust, give people what they don’t always know they want and solve problems on the fly. Some people are better at this than others.  The good concierge knows the…

Read More

The Story Of Successful Ideas

Every product or service that becomes the backbone of a thriving business succeeds because it enables someone to do something they want to do, but can’t do. Before Keep Cup, millions more disposable coffee cups ended up in landfill. Before Stripe, it was more difficult for people and businesses to receive payments over the internet.…

Read More

Good Is The New Average

Meeting expectations was once enough to mark a business out. If every meal was served piping hot, served in a timely fashion, with a smile—the restaurant owner won. Now, efficiency is expected. It’s the minimum requirement for operating any business. Good is the new average. Only the exceptional will survive and thrive. Your goal isn’t just…

Read More

Keep Your Eye On The Ball

It was hard not to get swept up by the Serena Williams, US Open final story this week. It was difficult to avoid joining the debate about how it could all have played out differently if only this had been said or that had been done. That time spent thinking about what should have been…

Read More

Ways To Win

We, the keepers of our culture, keep score. We like to measure our progress. Come out on top. Be first. We like to win. In our attempt to find a way to do that, we have learned to measure and value things in ways that are often disproportionate to their benefit to us. How we…

Read More

The Art Of Differentiation

One day you will find a design you laboured over, taken and copied or several lines of copy you crafted, used and unattributed. And you will rant and rave until you realise, that there are things you can say and do that can’t be copied because those things are only true for you. We spend…

Read More

Is The Consumer The Customer?

When the Old Spice ‘Smell Like a Man’ advertising campaign launched eight years ago, it called out an often unspoken truth about sales and marketing. The consumer and the user are not necessarily one and the same. This insight inevitably alters how you tell the story of the products you sell and the change you’re…

Read More

The Disciplined Marketer

It’s 6.30 am at the hotel gym, and the guests who are keen to get a workout in before breakfast are lining up. The receptionist is taking their room numbers before admitting them. As they turn to walk away, gym towel and bottle of water in hand, she asks if they’d like to book in…

Read More

The Best Fit

Sometimes we take on projects or clients that are a bad fit. Work that doesn’t energise us or customers that don’t value us. It’s hard to pay attention to the reasons why things aren’t working out when you’re knee-deep in the situation. But it’s important to try. We discover how we work best by paying…

Read More