Freelancers versus agency – Who wins on strategy?
First, this isn’t going to be a shameless plug for agencies from someone working in one. Full disclosure, I used to be freelancer and, I did some awesome creative (ahem, if I do say so myself!). But it boils down to this: more people equals more ideas, skill sets, experience, resources…The list goes on. More […]
Getting a leg up in a duopoly
Visa vs. Mastercard, Apple vs. Microsoft, and Woolworths vs. Coles; all duopolies relentlessly battling it out to uphold their collective market share dominance. Both key players in their respective markets spend big marketing bucks to stay on top, yet are constantly bombarded with challenges to maintain their position in an environment of ‘imperfect competition’. Organisations […]
How often do you review your marketing resourcing strategy?
Let’s assume you spend time on a regular basis reviewing your customers, your brand, your market position, and your message. How often do you think about exactly how you are going to deliver that plan? Do you have the flexibility to allow for increases and decreases in tempo and project requirements? Do you have enough […]
How to maintain brand integrity, and why you need to
Personal integrity means behaving consistently with your beliefs. “I’ll take the bins out tonight,” “The annual report will be on your desk by 9am,” “That mint slice is absolutely the last biscuit I will eat today.” Being a responsible householder, delivering your work commitments on time, staying healthy. It’s about knowing what you believe in, […]
Strategic thinking: How to come up with the “I Wish I Had Thought Of That” idea
How many times have you looked at a brilliant solution and thought, “That’s so simple,” or “Why hasn’t someone thought of that before?” A doughnut and a croissant = the cronut. A simple piece of wire bent to hold up a shirt = the coat hanger. Airbnb. The submarine umbrella. Some are the result of […]
The pressure of good publicity
A tale of woe to be sure… as they would have said in the old days. A while ago my better half read a story in Epicure, in The Age, about “Australia’s Best Vanilla Slice”. It was purportedly served from the fish and chip shop in Flinders. For the uninitiated, Flinders is 96 kms from […]
Playing to your strengths…
It’s something we all should do, right? Especially in business, and even more so in marketing. Negative marketing and off-selling on others’ weaknesses is, in my opinion a poor way to build a brand. The only way it ever works is if you have a large budget and a very strong sense of humour. I […]