Outcome defining metaphors
Marketing is about telling stories, engaging people with them, which builds awareness, affinity, preference, and with luck, persistence, and good management, can lead to a transaction, or two. Metaphors, when well used can make a complicated point in a memorable and...
Managing complexity.
I am not a car nut, but as a young bloke, I used to fix my own cars. There was not much you could not do without a reasonable set of Sidchromes, a block and tackle, mechanical manual, and a jack. No longer. My kids would no more set out to fix their own cars as fly,...
7 ways to argue constructively
Debate and argument fills a vital role in all parts of our lives, it is what makes us human, this capacity to be able to think and communicate, rather than just react. For an extended period with two different employers, I reported as marketing manager to a...
Energy, Innovation, technical capability, and common sense.
It seems to me that the most important emerging driver of success in the economy that must drive innovation and value delivery, is the intersection of technical capability and power generation. Oil has driven the geo politics of the C 19 & C20. The US became a...
Call centre to Social centre
On Friday I got another of those calls from an offshore call centre flogging a product I did not need or want. Some poor person obligingly named "Kevin" whose first language was not English, scrolling through a prepared screed that bore no relationship to the...
Word of mouth is not free
This morning a friend was telling me about a product he had used recently, and how it changed his life. Well, made a small piece of it better at least. Next time I am looking for a product in that category, I will try it. Very little to lose even if I do not share the...
Sporting analogies don’t always work.
Tonight is the first Origin game of 2014, and so I expect to hear lots of people using sporting analogies over the next few weeks, particularly football. Sporting analogies abound in business, "A team of champions does not make a champion team" How many time have...
Show the value
Fountain Tomato Sauce used to be the market leader in NSW, daylight was second and third. This was a long time ago, and responsibility for the Fountain brand was my first real job as a product manager who had real accountability, and the power to make lasting brand...
Sometimes, it is just a cigar
The photo of Joe Hockey and Mathias Cormann smoking a cigar just before the budget has raised temperatures in all sorts of places. I wonder why? After all, it is just a cigar. Some are annoyed that they seem to be promoting a nasty habit Some say that it shows the...
Predicting the future Vs leading edge of current
The future prediction business has so far failed to find a sustainable business model, apart from the fun stuff in the tent with the funny lady with the cards and crystal ball. About the only serious people who still profess to be able to predict the future with any...