Principals | Brand strategy, brand identity and design agency I Sydney & Melbourne

The only interesting

admin — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:40:38 +0000

How many breakthrough businesses start off as an answer to a question?

For Ray Kroc the question was “Why is this tiny cafe ordering so many of my milkshake mixers?” The answer was that they were busy and the reason behind this was burgers not milkshakes. Ray went on to found what is today known as McDonald’s. Takeaway? Noticing something and noticing that you’ve noticed it are two quite different things.

A rut is

admin — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 01:19:37 +0000

Want to know in which direction oblivion lies? The answer is straight on. Nobody knows what the future will hold, but you can bet your boots that it will be different to today. Hence, proceeding on in an orderly fashion will, more likely than not, eventually end up with you looking down a hole at your own demise unless you start looking sideways as well as forwards.

Look at railway companies for instance. They have a one-track mind. They think they are in the business of transporting people from A to B, when in fact they could be doing so much more. Train operators like City Rail have a captive audience that could be interested in more than fares and schedules. Passengers could be watered, fed, pampered and even entertained. Where, for instance, are the on-board power points? Where is the on-board wi-fi? Currently everyone is just bored on-board.

Knowledge is a process

admin — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 12:07:13 +0000

On 15th December 1979 two Canadian wordsmiths, Chris Haney and Scott Abbott, were playing scrabble. But having piled up a few letters they noticed that a few were missing. So they set about trying to invent a new game based on random bits of knowledge. The result was Trivial Pursuit, one of the biggest selling games in history. Moral? A problem is just an opportunity in reverse. Great ideas, more often than not, rely on the simplification of complex questions and categories.

A mind once stretched

admin — Sun, 22 May 2011 11:41:09 +0000

Here’s a rubbery idea. Once upon a time cars had ‘tyres’ made of solid metal and wood. Rubber tyres came around the corner pretty fast, but they too were made of solid material, which was not very good at absorbing bumps and liable to become sticky when hot and brittle when cold.

Enter one Charles Goodyear. He discovered that when lead, sulphur and rubber are mixed together and then heated, the result is a material that snaps back to its original shape after being stretched. Flexible thinking, you might call it. Mr Goodyear’s idea went on to expand both the auto industry and his bank balance.

We have no ear lids

admin — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 00:17:03 +0000

Shells and trumpet shaped devices were the earliest forms of hearing aid, but it was not until 1902 that Miller Hutchinson, of Mobile Alabama, designed a table-mounted microphone and a set of earphones. This was soon improved upon with the invention of the vacuum tube and then, in 1940, Sam Posen invented what we recognise today as the hearing aid.

By 1950, scientists were experimenting with direct stimulation of acoustic nerves with electrodes and, by 1970, cochlear implants had been successfully tested. Does this mean that we should now stop listening for new ideas? No. Invention never ends. It’s a case of from hear to eternity, you might say.

In a time

admin — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 10:40:25 +0000

You’ve probably never heard of Roy Brooks. He was a real estate agent who told the truth. Back in the 1960s and 70s he wrote honest advertisements for real estate that appeared in the Observer and the Sunday Times. Warts and all headlines included gems like “seedy, fly-blown family house with peeling décor” and “distinctly undesirable residence.”

You might think that candour such as this would be bad for business but quite the opposite. Roy Brook’s advertisements became required Sunday reading, even if you weren’t in the market for a house. There is even a story that one newspaper offered Roy free ad space because his ads were boosting circulation.

Time to put the ‘real’ back into real estate once again perhaps?

Skating over thin ice

admin — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 04:05:26 +0000

There is a tendency, especially within large organisations, for preparation to take so long that the relevant circumstances have completely changed by the time a task is finally carried out. As a result, initiatives tend to sink. This would be less of a problem if external circumstances were stable. But they rarely are nowadays.

Consider, for instance, how long it took most of the world’s major airlines to respond to low cost carriers. It recently emerged that Ryanair, the Irish low-cost carrier, now carries four times as many passengers in the UK and throughout Europe as British Airways. How did that happen? Because Ryanair got their skates on and just did it.

Laughter is the shortest

admin — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 00:52:53 +0000

It’s not rocket science. The best people enjoy what they do and if they enjoy it they get good at it. A perfect example is retail. The best retailers employ people because they are passionate about the product and then teach them about retail. It rarely works the other way around.

Vintage Cellars is a good example. People that work for Vintage Cellars are actually interested in wine. And because they are interested they are knowledgeable. And guess what? They’re also interested in customers that are also interested in wine.

You might argue that drinking wine all day isn’t work but that’s our point exactly.

We are so busy

admin — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 10:58:36 +0000

Why are people so obsessed with following numbers? The reason is defensive. If you follow the numbers, you follow the herd and odds are that you won’t come unstuck. And if the bubble bursts, you won’t be alone. But following historical data is no guide to the future. The best case scenario is growth that matches your sector.

The alternative is to become a creator of data. Be someone who is aware of all the numbers but just says “what the heck, we’ll do it anyway.” Examples? Almost any entrepreneur you can think of. Including a group of brave thinkers, back in 1898, who sensed the potential of bottled water. It was Dr Perrier of course, with some sparkling ideas from St John Harmsworth and Gustave Leven. They thought that spring water sold with a provenance and ‘50 million bubbles’ just might work, even though the French, at the time, were much more interested in drinking wine, beer and absinthe. Et voila, an entrepreneurial hunch becomes a global institution.

Essence of retail

admin — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 10:56:59 +0000

All the world’s a stage and every retailer plays a part. Now, admittedly some retail isn’t very theatrical. It doesn’t need to be. If you are buying milk, you just want to find the milk, pay as little as possible, and get out of the shop as fast as possible. Indeed, if someone could deliver it to your doorstep you’d be pretty happy about it (now there’s an idea). But for everything else that isn’t a commodity or habitual purchase, it is the sizzle that usually helps sell the steak.

If you don’t believe us, visit a beefed-up butcher called Victor Churchill in Queen Street, Sydney. No pre-packed meat here. The steaks here are displayed like fancy frocks and the staff perform like actors in a well rehearsed play. Some people watch, some people buy but all are equally entertained.