Are all these business going under just inevitable?

Morgan has just filed for administration in the UK. They join a long list of companies going under, now I now we're in a recession but don't you get the feeling that a lot of these were inevitable? Woolworths have been going down hill for a long time, Zavvi had a bad business model since they bought it, why do you think Branson sold it?

The time has come to pass when the public will no longer stand for companies wearing the "Emperors New Clothes". The outcome is that weak businesses will go under and the recession is just a convenient cover for a badly run company. Its going to hurt, but the horse has already bolted and tidying up the pile of shit left behind is only good for the roses.

Don't be good in 2009 - be great!

Being good isn't enough. When someone asks you how you are what do you say? Stock answer is "alright" or "ok". How does that make the other person feel? Are they energised? Probably not, but then neither are you. If you say you're great and have a big smile, then they'll feel surprised at first and then feel really good, its a natural reaction to an answer like that and the smile tops it off. Only an android could fail to smile back.

Being great is much better all round than being ok. How do you feel after an ok sleep? Still tired. An ok meal? Still hungry. So why not be great?

I'm not sating that just thinking that will make you a genius but genius starts somewhere. Their minds are clear of all the crap that pulls them down so they can work on being great. Their failures spur them on to get stuff right. Over on Seth's Blog he sums this up better than I ever could.

So for 2009 don't be good - be great!

Marketing Lomography

As I've ranted about on here before, I love my Lomo camera. The way the lens gives an odd light and that no two are alike makes amazing shots. The camera I have the SuperSampler also has the disadvantage of not having a view finder. Add to that that they use 35mm film and you have a little issue. Namely that you have no idea what you have until you collect your prints. It's this very fact that makes me love the little thing. Its also what has made Lomography a worldwide cult.

The images the camera makes are so individual that they make ideal shots for marketing and advertising. The issue is that there can be no standardisation, no given quality. What's needed from a client or agency is a lot of good will that the images will not be highly technical or even pin sharp or even that the images once shot will even come out. What does ensue though is great, no amazing pictures.

I'm going to make it a personal mission if mine in 2009 to get Lomography more widely used, even if it's just by me.

If you've no idea what I'm taking about then take a look at the Lomography website you'll be amazed. Once you've seen what can be achieved you'll want to try it yourself I'm sure.

My list of the 8 best things in 2008

As a last post of 2008 I thought I'd list the best things to happen to me in 2008. Yes its self indulgent but this my blog!

1. My children.
   Obvious I know but as any dad will tell you they are the most important thing in the world. I'm so proud of the way they are becoming amazing people in their own right. I'm very lucky indeed. I can state for a fact that this will be number one in the list until I die.


2. My friends.
   I only have a few good friends, they know who they are. Friends are the most important people in your life. You'll only ever get a few really really good ones make sure you cherish them. It'll pay off for your whole life.


3. My cameras.
   This year I've become obsessed with my cameras, I've a standard compact digital which goes everywhere with me. But my cherished camera is my Lomo Super Sampler. I love this little camera with its weird lens and the four pictures it takes at once. If you don't own a Lomo Camera them buy one now, your life will be enhanced I promise.


4. Glastonbury Festival
   This year was the first time I've been in 13 years and Glastonbury didn't disappoint. It was bigger, weirder and more amazing than I could have imagined. Got my ticket for 2009 already. Hey if there are any left get them booked!


5. BBC Radio Four
   Never, ever thought I'd find myself listening to this! But radio four has opened up my mind. I know find it impossible to drive to work without listening to the Today Show. OK some of the comedy is a bit ropey sometimes and I still can't listen to the Archers. But nothing is perfect.


6. Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie on Radio 2
   Driving home up the M1 is made into a joy listening to these professional northerners rattle on seemingly to themselves. Their knowledge of music old and new is amazing but they aren't condescending at all. The whole show feels like you've just nipped down to the pub with a few mates and the pub happens to have the best jukebox ever.
7. QI
   Stephen Fry and QI are a match made in heaven I can watch this programme forever and never ever be bored. The title Quite Interesting actually undersells the show, its the most interesting programme you'll ever see.
8. The Book of Dave by Will Self
   Completely bewildering in parts but still utter genius. Taking a while to get through it but I can't put it down. Buy it and be bewildered today.

Are printed directories dead?

It's a long tradition I know but is there really any need for printed directories? I mean as soon as they are printed they're out of date plus they cost an absolute fortune to print and distribute.

The main culprits, at least in the UK, are phone directories Yellow Pages and Thomson. Every year they print one for each house in the UK about an inch thick and rammed with as many number and ads as can be printed on the toilet roll paper they use.

And what happens to them? They go on a shelf and stay there for a whole year until the new edition arrives.

The main purpose of these directories is to give you access to numbers and services you need, mainly its Pizza/Curry/Chinese take-away restaurants, when you're drunk.

But stop just there, don't you like me get at least 4 menus shoved through your door each day. And not only do these have the contact numbers on they also have the whole menu. So no need to call up and guess what they can cook for you.

I'm sure there are advertisers who will say that directories work for them, they must they continue to use them. But for the vast majority of business they are next to useless.

In a time of recession being front of face and shouting that you're the best fit for a customer, and then delivering are vital. Do you think this can really be achieved from a page of loo role left on a shelf?

It's all about the added service

When times are tough like now do you remember the business that gave you an ok product but left you feeling a little let down and tell your friends about it? Or do you think of the companies who gave you that little bit extra and made you smile?

Even the smallest company can do a lot to ensure that their good deeds are passed on. Here's a small example of how a humble fish and chip shop could have left a great impression on my friend but instead left her really annoyed.

Feeling peckish she entered the local Fish and Chip shop, which by the way has a great reputation for good food, and sat at a vacant table. After sitting a while she was asked to move tables as they were expecting a lunchtime rush and as she was sat alone the tables wouldn't be used efficiently. A simple enough request. Just badly handled by the staff member making the request. Because as it turned out the rush never happened.

My friend ate her fish and chips and left, there was no apology for making her move for the phantom lunchtime rush, no free cup of tea, no extra slice of bread and butter, no voucher for her next visit, nothing other than a disgruntled ex-customer who may well have gone on to tell all her friends about the amazing way she's been treated in the Chip Shop.

But now what does that chip shop have? One less customer who's already started telling people about her experience. And each one of them will think twice before visiting that chippy again.

I guess the lesson is when times are tough turn up the service to 12. Empower your staff to go that extra mile because every customer counts now. There's no room for bad products or service anymore.

Who owns the right's to the image of Che Guevara?

I love the image of Che Guevara. Last night I wondered who owned the famous image? I'm no historian and only ever have a vague idea on things. I figured someone must own it.

We 10 minutes of digging on Wikipedia and there it all is. The guy who took the picture Alberto Korda, never registered it under copyright law so it falls under common use. Basically that means that if you want to use that image you can, no questions, no charges.

Does that support or go against Che's ideas? Surely freedom of speech and thought is what he was about. But this free usage means that it can be used for commercial means as well totally what he was against.

The V&A Museum declared it "the most reproduced image in the history of photography" it's been used for good and bad.

If only the copyright had been asserted maybe the use of Che's image could have helped the people he longed to free from poverty and oppression. But then again if there had been restrictions them maybe the image and ultimately his legacy wouldn't live on?

Goodnight Oliver Postgate

It's with real sadness that I write this post about the death of Oliver Postgate who passed away yesterday.

Like a lot of people my age I grew up with his amazing stories and even more amazing rolling kind voice that lulled you into his magical world. His programmes touched an entire generation and I'd be surprised if we ever see a story teller as strong and witty as Oliver was.

Oliver surely goes into the annals of Animation greats along with Mel Blanc. Though his voice wasn't as varied in his own very British way he was every bit as magical.

Oliver Postgate RIP

Duarte Design Annual Pumkin contest

Duarte Design, revered by Garr Reynolds on Presentation Zen, each year have a Halloween Lantern Competition. The designs get better and better each year. Truly creative companies always run these type of annual events. Does your business, group of friends, family do something similar? If not why not? Accountants, tree surgeons, builders, bin men and all use their creative skills shouldn't you be encouraging them?

People who can use their whole brain are more productive and are more likely to give your company the edge which will make a difference in these time the media are calling a recession.

What can you do to stimulate your team/friends/life.

What ever it is do it today!

Six things to remember when you have a stand at a trade exhibition

Yesterday I went to the Interbuild exhibition at the NEC. I'm not a builder but was there because several of my agencies clients where exhibiting. Walking around the massive hanger that is the NEC I was amazed by the amount of money, time and energy companies waste at exhibitions.

I've done exhibitions myself before and they are very expensive and are really hard to quantify the success of. There are a few things that should be considered before booking your companies expensive slot. Here we go.

1. Have a clear goal. Most of the exhibiting companies had done all the work, complex stand, loads of staff, shiny brochures, boxes full of pens, widgets and competition entries - you know the score. Thing is their company hadn't given the staff a reason to be there. There they stood not really knowing what to do. Am I collecting names, ensuring I get rid of all the pens/brochures/widgets etc, am I pushing a new product. Hardly anyone knew.
   
2. Look interested. Most people on stands were bored, twiddling their thumbs, texting, picking their nose etc. Look, if you're bored and un-interested then why the hell should a slightly nervous visitor come to your stand? Would you approach someone who looked like they had an ASBO but what wearing a suit? No, so why are you doing it at a very expensive exhibition?
   
3. Get people on the stand. You're there to speak to people that's the whole point to ensure you do it. If things are quiet leave your stand and venture into the isles if they're really quiet wander around the exhibition yourself. Engage people, pull then into your stand. The more you get on to the stand the more passers by will want to come to the stand too. People are nosey to see what others find so interesting.
   
4. Don't waste money on a flashy stand unless it was a purpose. Lots of the stands looked like they were designed by Norman Foster! Lovely to look at but they had no tie back to the product, brand or exhibition. They were cold and uninviting and the staff, yes them again looked bewildered and lost. Save cash on the stand but ensure you have a well thought out reason for people to come to speak to you.
   
5. Have knowledgeable staff on the exhibition stand. So many stands had, sorry to say this, "Dolly birds" on the stand. At Interbuild I can see how this tactic works after all the place is full of male builders. But once people have been to the stand, ogled the girls and left a business card to win a bottle of Champers, have really got a good lead? The answers probably not. Save the cash and save the poor girls dignity too. Have people who know what they are talking about who can finish the lead and ensure that when you follow-up that lead they'll remember you for your knowledge and great products, rather than the eye-candy.
   
6. You are going to follow-up those leads aren't you?! So many get put in a drawer when you drag yourself back to the office after a hard few days at the show. What a waste of time and money. Ensure you follow -up all the relevant leads and lose all the time wasters. That includes all the bag/pen/widget/competition entries. You don't need or want millions of leads if each day you get 10 good leads and convert 2 into orders later then you'll have an amazing conversion rate.

Is it just me?

Is it just me or can no one else see the "Smile" on the new Pepsi logo? I've looked and looked but I can't see what's supposed to be a smile. Clearly a lot of work and cash has gone into it but all seems a waste. If it's supposed to lift sales I'd say that's a waste of time too. Coke has a clear lead and there's no changing the majority of people. Pepsi need to build on thier story not tey to hide behind a new logo becasue they've run out of ideas.

What if... We all refuse the recession

Each morning on Radio 4 more and more news comes in of the world wide recession. In reality there's not much I alone can do about the recession.

I realise that I'm only small and even if I put everything and every penny I've ever made or am likely to make into a bank or business it would absolutely no difference at all. I like most people of the world am small fry.

But what if...

But what if all us small people did something amazing. What if we all refuse the recession? I know it sounds fanciful and impossible but think about it a bit more. All this mess has been made by only a few people who someone gave a load of cash and power to. What if a huge number of people got together and collectively made a difference. What if we all refuse to have a recession or change how we live so that we don't care and don't let the recession effect us? What would all the big wigs do then? How would they cope with the fact that their cock-ups and messes didn't matter to us because we just got on with life and supported each other?

I'm not saying I have any answers. What I am saying is that there's a recession because they told us there was one and there telling us that we're all going to hell in a hand cart and what do we do we sit here and take it!

My profession has a lot to answer for Marketing as a whole has a way of putting spin on everything. Government now runs on marketing, it'll tell you what's good for you, doesn't matter which party it is or even which country.

My mantra is that marketing and everything in life should be used for good, there's no reason why not. So let's market ourselves mentally and physically out of the recession. Positive Mental Attitude is what's needed.

Keep looking for glimmers.

Use some common sense with your double yellow lines

Contractors in Leeds have had a serious loss of common sense. While painting double yellow lines in the Hyde Park area they found a parked car. Instead of painting the lines at the back and then in front of the car and returning later, they simple went around it!

I'm presuming that no one told them they could use their initiative!

Animal Farm at the West Yorkshire Playhouse

Last night I went to see Animal Farm at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds.

I'm not a theatre goer normally, but I love George Orwell so I booked as soon as I heard about it. I was lucky enough to get tickets for the first preview night and I wasn't disappointed.

Before entering the theatre I wondered how the animals would be represented. The result was a great halfway house so that the characters where visibility human but took on their animal characteristics. The set was fantastic to showing a whole range of aspects of the farm from the chicken shed to the farm house itself.

Sound and music was used to great effect to give a feeling of terror and wonder at the same time.

This is a great adaptation of a great book, if you get the chance go and see it, If not at least revisit Animal Farm the book, or try out the film which was funded by the CIA and used as anti Soviet propaganda.

Amazon slash delivery charge

Amazon have made a very brave and clever move in light of the credit crunch. One of the first things to go at times like these is the purchase of luxuries, like books.

Lowering the minimum order value to get free delivery is a great move by Amazon.

It says to it's loyal customers that Amazon knows that times are hard but that you still want to buy things from Amazon, so it's making life easier for you. For none or infrequent users its a reason to log on and buy stuff from Amazon while it's competitors still have high delivery charges.

Amazon are clever enough to know that trying to hang on to margins is a recipe for disaster and that doing this know rather than trying to hedge its bets is a way to keep going when they'll be a lot of casualties.

Email Experience Council - Email irony

I signed up for email alerts from the Email Experience Council recently. They do a great job and are to be congratulated.

The ironic thing is that their emails keep arriving in my spam box!

Iran nearly has the worlds biggest sandwich!

This really out of the blue and not related to what I usually blog here it just made me laugh out loud.

Today officials in Iran where upset that they have supposedly failed to beat the world record for the worlds largest Ostrich sandwich. The sandwich making had gathered huge crowds but before the sandwich could be measured by the Iranian officials the crowd rushed forward and ate it.

It just made me chuckle!

Missed opportunities

Last week I cancelled my car insurance and switched to a new one. Nothing odd in that happens every year.

The insurer I was with was an online only broker they play on the fact that they give the best price cover because they don't have a call centre. Well clearly that's wrong because I beat the cost from another supplier.

The missed opportunity was that when I hit the cancel button on the site there was a question about why I'd switched but that was it. No attempt to see if they had a better deal for me, not even a sorry you're leaving. Nothing!

What a waste of a great opportunity, with the amount of data available on car insurance and the data they hold on me they could have given a perfect option for me - instead they did nothing and lost a customer.

For me this throws up another question.

How on earth do you ensure loyalty in the insurance market?

It's very cut-throat, most people don't make any claims for years and there's little interaction with the insurance company. The market at the moment seems to be all about cost, which is great for consumers but means that everything is driven to the lowest common denominator. Sheila's Wheels is one which stands out as it's niche is women drivers, but once you're insured how do they create loyalty and avoid the end of policy switch dance?

Stand for something

I read Seth's Blog each day. There's always a great insight into his mind.

Today's is relevant not just for Business or Marketers but for the population as a whole. Stand for something! You can't be everything to everyone, no matter how much you'd love to. You have to make tough decisions and stand by them that's what make you - you!

Have a good read and think over how you can stand for something, something important to you. Be yourself - no one else is going to do it for you!

Don't Panic

Sorry that title is a blatant rip off of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

The point is the same. All around at the moment is doom and gloom, banks going under is pretty scary stuff make no bones about it.

But the best thing you can do is Don't Panic. Sure be a little more careful, but don't stop being creative in your life and work.

If you stop taking risks then a few things will happen:

• You become very dull and you won't have many friends left
• You stop having energy, when that stops people aren't energised by you anymore
• You stop having new ideas
• You fulfil the prophesy "They" want. You become subservient and under control

In a climate of fear and uncertainty whats needed are new idea, new approaches. The old ways may be tried and tested but look where that's got us so far. Be brave cos its the only way you discover what'll work in the future and the future is all you ever have.

The past is great, I know I spend enough time there. But you can't change what's gone only what's to come.

Be brave and Don't Panic.

Rant over

Thanks to Douglas Adams