How does value relate to utility?
My go to marketing guru, Albert Einstein said: 'Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another, and relocated'. This has become known as the first rule of thermodynamics. Perhaps 'Value' has a similar characteristic?...
A riff on Mentoring.
I was recently asked to turn my mind and experience to the question of mentoring, and to reflect on the benefits and pitfalls that may be present. Over the years, I have had the benefit of a couple of mentors who profoundly influenced my view of the world, and in...
What can we learn from our kids about brand building?
Kids understand stories, it is the way they learn, the way they absorb the lessons of the past for later use. Why don't we use this instinctive capability more often in our marketing? Take your kids to the pantomime, they love it. They get excited every time...
How much Marketing Automation is good automation?
One of the questions occupying my newly monastic mind over the past few weeks has been: 'what changes can we expect in the revenue generation processes as a result of the 'Bug?'. In the lead up to this crisis, I have been considering how automated everything...
How do you manage the inevitable Corona –led marketing budget cuts?
‘The bug’ has given us a once in a generation opportunity to make change. Things that may not have been possible, have suddenly become not just possible, but necessary. While most of the focus is automatically on cutting costs, the greater long term benefit is...
What is your ‘Teabag Index’ to measure performance improvement?
To measure anything in a meaningful way, you need some sort of baseline. To say you have a 20% increase in market share sounds impressive, but if your starting point is a 5% share, it is less so. By contrast, if your starting point is 40% in a competitive...
What are the 2 common characteristics of useful metrics?
Metrics at their best deliver game changing insight and wisdom. At their worst, they are misleading , irrelevant and a pain in the arse to collect. So, what are the two characteristics that make a great metric? The metric is a leading indicator. A Leading indicator is...
4 critical inputs to a robust forecast
Preparing forecasts is an integral part of most jobs these days, even if it is just how much available capacity there might be on the machine tomorrow, and how best to fill it. Most forecasting I see is based on the financials, and is one of two methods: The...
What do the Christmas bushfires, Covid-19 and ‘Black Lives Matter’ have in common?
It has been a busy year so far for marketing departments, especially those without any real foundation and understanding of why people might engage with them, and their lousy products. Each of the three has been taken as an opportunity for many marketers to...
Where is Batman when you really need him?
Observing the virulent spread of 'The Bug' and the institutional responses from around the world, there is a disturbing commonality that points at a deficiency in political and ethical leadership, until the horses are running free, and the stable almost empty....