Content marketing or Marketing content?
These two things are different, absolutely different. Content marketing means different things to different people. Last week I attended a presentation of a self-styled content marketing expert. He was pontificating from the stage about the value of content, and...
The cost of preventing errors
Prevention of waste is a core tenet of lean thinking, and has been systematically used to optimise processes of all types. However, it is not universally useful. Prevention of errors in an existing process is one thing, you have the process established, and can...
How to get really big, important stuff done, and win!
40 years of observing business and life, success and failure, has led me back to a conclusion that smarter people than me reached thousands of years ago, and winners in all sorts of fields keep using today. Follow the process. Achieving big goals is what we are all...
5 strategies to ensure your innovation ideation workshop delivers
People quite like the freedom of a workshop where there are no limits, where the objective is to generate as many ideas as possible. They then feel satisfied that they have done their bit for the innovation efforts of their employer. Nonsense. Unfocussed...
Please sir, can I buy another ‘Indulgence’?
These days, we indulge ourselves in an ice-cream after going to the gym, an extra piece of cake, a new dress when we do not really need it, but they make us feel good. A bit of harmless indulgence seems OK. Except when it is not. The word originated in the middle...
The curse of knowledge in marketing
Human beings are unconsciously subject to confirmation bias, and marketers are no different. We tend to see the things that conform what we already believe, and not see, or dismiss the things that go counter to those existing beliefs. This is a dangerous...
The 7 principals of business success.
Over a long career, I have seen many successes, and just as many, if not more, failures. In both cases, there are a small number of common factors. The successes all have most, if not all, of the factors below, and the failures are typified by their...
How can you build a relationship with an algorithm?
You cannot. Building a relationship with an algorithm is beyond even the wildest imaginings of the 'AI forever' set, which is why I prefer people. Algorithms are there to be gamed. On the provider side, wherever you see a platform that uses ranking...
Is this statement a turning point in Corporate Culture?
In 1970, Milton Friedman wrote an article for the New York Times that set the tone for enterprise management and culture from that time. His argument was that the role of the executive was to conduct the affairs of his employer: 'in accordance with their...
The sad and entirely avoidable death of a great old FMCG brand.
Currently in my cupboard almost gone, is a bottle of detergent, a well known and trusted brand, formerly the market leader, been around for ages. It will not be bought again by anyone in my household. Here is what I suspect happened. Sales of the brand were eroding as...