Principals | We build brands people can believe in

We are so busy

admin — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 13:16:53 +0000

Why are people so obsessed with following numbers? The reason is defensive. If you align yourself (your brands) with trends then you are following the herd and odds are that you won’t come seriously unstuck. And if the bubble bursts you won’t be alone. “Hey, the numbers said that…” But following historical data is no guide to the future. That best case scenario is usually growth that more or less matches that of your sector.

The alternative is to become a creator of data. Someone that 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. Or how about the first person to seriously try and sell bottled water. It was Dr Perrier actually with some sparking ideas from St John Harmsworth and Gustave Leven. They all thought that selling water to the French would work, even though the French, at the time, were more interested in drinking wine, beer and absinthe.

Essence of retail

admin — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 07:44:18 +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.

Computers are

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:21:51 +0000

Insight, invention, innovation. They all require thinking. But not the everyday kind of thinking. If it’s a breakthrough you’re after, you need freewheeling thinking. And this doesn’t come from just anywhere.

First, you need some neural nutrition. An apple for example. Second you need a mental workout.
Try switching your computer on and visit vibrantbrains.org. This is a San Francisco-based brain gym that aims to do for mental health what various sweatshops have done for physical health over the years. The target market is obviously ageing baby boomers but it seems that members of Gen Y are also happy to pay US$60 per month to stretch their brains via a bank of computers.

What’s next? Neurobics circuit training perhaps?

Silly things

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:20:53 +0000

James G. March is a very silly man. He is Professor Emeritus at Stanford Business School and one of his key insights is that companies should mess around more. What he means by this is that people should try more things out even if, when looked at rationally, they seem like silly ideas. For example, people should incorporate more ideas from outside their domain, or even make mistakes on purpose just to see where this takes them. A silly example is Paul Cave. He didn’t plan to invent the Bridge Climb. All he wanted to find was a fun day out for some people attending a conference. But silly ideas sometimes have seriously profitable consequences.

Think left

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:16:38 +0000

Like a good meal, a tea bag should always be square. Right? Wrong. The tea bag was invented in China in 1903. The idea was then imported into England in 1953. But then in 1982 there was a storm in a teacup. Someone in a brainstorming group at Tetley had the idea of circling the square. The idea wasn’t straightforward though. It took a total of eight years to get the idea steaming. But in 1990 the round tea bag was finally launched in Britain. Followed by the pyramid bag and the drawstring bag. Just goes to show where thinking outside of the bag can take you.

Magnitude

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:15:01 +0000

In the words of a previous edition (of Moving Minds) you have to bite off more than you can chew. And then chew. In our humble opinion it is always important to remember that you need a mission. Not one of those lovely generic statements that so many companies use, but something that is quasi-religious and will get you out of bed in the mornings.

For example, when Steve Jobs was trying to persuade John Sculley to defect to from Pepsi to Apple he said ‘Do you want to sell fizzy water for the rest of your life, or do you want a chance to change the world?’ Amen.

The Opera House was built by three extraordinary men. One man designed it, one man that engineered it and one man that said yes. Perhaps the moral here is threefold. One you get what you ask for, two execution is underrated and three you earn iconic status by trying to do hard things very well.

Think outside

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:14:10 +0000

Blue Sky Thinking, Granular Thinking, Thinking Outside of the Box blah, blah, blah. They are all just words. But every so often a company does come up with an idea that’s a little bit new. Something that’s not immediately obvious.

For example, wealthy people tend to be time poor, so a Dutch-based private bank called Insinger de Beaufort came up with the idea to send its clients a shoe box. That’s right, a small box in which to drop anything finance or expenses related. Every month, the bank sends a courier to collect the box and, within three working days, sends back another empty box together with an itemised list of the resulting bills that have been paid. Genius.

See the future

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:12:53 +0000

Is it possible to predict the future? Of course not. But it is sometimes possible to see what’s coming, if you look far enough to the sides, which is where most new ideas tend to start. Heretics are the great unwashed of corporate growth. They see things that others don’t and they change things. For example, Dell started off by questioning an orthodoxy, which was that computer makers couldn’t sell computers directly to the public via customisable components and mail order. In a sense, Dell therefore anticipated both the rise of online retail and the personalisation of electronic devices.

Or how about Nicholas Negroponte’s One Laptop per Child Project (OLPC). This was intended to provide a low-cost ($100) alternative to conventional laptops, but ended up creating the sub category of netbooks or sub-notebooks. As Michael Dell once said: ”It’s through curiosity and looking at opportunities in new ways that we’ve always mapped our path”.

Bite me

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:10:34 +0000

If you want to get out in front it’s important not to start from behind. Unless, of course, you set up a clothing brand called Aussie Bum. This, as you probably know, is a leisurewear, swimwear and underwear company that’s come out of nowhere. The trick? Pick a big market and become a global micro-national from day one by using the internet to drive international sales.

Started by a beach bum with just $20,000 eight years ago, the $20 million dollar business manufacturers everything down-under, not because it’s easy that way but because it’s better to keep an eye on the quality of the merchandise.

Hammer

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:09:41 +0000

A one, two a one, two, three, four… If I had a hammer, I’d hammer in the morning, I’d hammer in the evening, even if the hammer was wrong. Enough said.

In advertising agencies, for example, the solution is usually advertising whatever the nature of the business problem is. Or take the humble parking space. If you see the problem as not having enough public parking spots in urban areas you are missing an important opportunity.

A start-up called ”Park at My House” gives drivers the chance to park their car in private parking spaces across the USA, Canada, Australia, NZ, the Netherlands and the UK by allowing home owners to rent out driveways and garages when they are not in use. Posting the availability of spaces on the website is free but the company takes 10% of any ensuing transaction. Urban congestion? Maybe they’ve nailed it!