Common sense it often not common.
The case for employing intelligent people, and letting them get on with their jobs exercising common sense has been made again and again. In this lovely example of the hubris of rules, Safeway in Honolulu ensured they stuffed up by following a voluminous rule book,...
Rent or buy media.
Since I was a kid in this industry, the standard terminology has been to "buy media" meaning stick an ad somewhere, and hope somebody you want to reach sees it, and takes action as a result. However, the reality is that we have just rented an audience from a...
The parallels of Europe and Billy Bloggs & Co.
The chaos in the European monetary system, and the appearance of a lack of the required backbone to address the issues has parallels in every commercial change situation I have ever seen, irrespective of the size of the oranisation: It takes a while to stuff up a...
Setting the marketing budget
This process has many forms, I have probably seen most of them over the years. Percentage of sales, opposition activity, what the P&L can bear, what was spent last year, what seems like a nice round number, what the new CEO says, the last and "balancing" item in...
Collaboration created by the price of participation.
Scientific collaboration is a challenging proposition, most scientists would agree that collaboration is a key component in problem solving, but few practice it beyond their immediate research group, as their careers are dependent on publishing. As a result, they...
What next for the Woolies/Coles stoush.
Woolworths and Coles price and promotion strategies are often shaped by what happens in the UK, as there is a history of successful imitation in Australia. The resurgence of Coles has taken the initiative from Woolworths, and the short term outcome has been price...
“Unlearning”
Most acknowledge that the future will be different from the past, so why is it that we seem determined to manage our way to the future by repeating the recipes of success from the past. Future success relies on doing things differently, and this is uncomfortable,...
Meeting conduct.
The conduct of meetings, whether they be the AGM of a major company, or the committee of the local raffle group should run by the same basic set of rules, worked out over a long period to ensure that a meeting comes to a conclusion at the end of a comprehensive "due...
Business planning rethought
Writing a business plan is usually a priority in business, some do it well, some do it poorly, but what most do not do is write a business plan that evolves. Effective business planning considers the long term context in which the business operates, and how the...
Innovation, does yours make it?
Every product manager I have ever seen sees his/her pack change, flavor extension, or new size as an innovation, and every marketing manager who lets this mediocre stuff take up valuable time, the only resource that is really irreplaceable, is culpable. Sometimes,...