We’ve started working with a new client this week, one I’ve known about for a fair amount of time and one where I am good friends with the owner of the business.
It’s come to the point where we need to position the brand correctly – up until now it has grown fairly organically under its [...]

Business news posted on August 11th reported Australian music store JB Hi-Fi having a 45% profit jump in 2009.
Now, lets just look at that statement in context. 45% profit jump in just nine months. And not just ANY nine months, but the nine most horrifying months in recent Australian and global economics. The nine months [...]

To be honest, despite the fact that two of my good friends (and someone who gives me work and may read this, so apologies now!) often spend their Twitter time posting various insightful management phrases or titbits that are supposed to rev you up and make a positive contribution on your day, I don’t subscribe [...]

The viral video is alive and well and for once, it doesn’t have Susan Boyle in it. This little gem is from Saatchi & Saatchi to promote the New Director’s Showcase call for entries. Very clever and worth a smile, even if the voice-over is very annoying.
I once worked at Saatchis in the late 1980s, [...]

So remember back to this post, in which Straight Edge suggested, in a roundabout kind of way, that Australian car manufacturers take a leaf out of Hyundai’s book in the US, and allow people who lose their jobs to return new cars they’ve just bought?
Well, along come Kia who have recently offered the same in [...]

I promise I don’t normally copy rubbish lists into my blog. They generally only appear if I have made them up myself. Which is rare.
But this one really tickled me and especially being such a big fan of Star Trek, I thought I’d repeat this one from Fast Company here. They used a photo that [...]

Over-stocked?
Water damage?
Closing down sale?
Shops going bust?
One can but hope this is a privately run company because if there were shareholders, the muppet that continually appears on the TVCs would have been fired by now. Do we believe him anymore? No, obviously not. But in the most recent adverts he’s even roped in a couple of [...]

Trying saying that with a mouthful of marbles.  And its probably going to be less than ten but I put that in to make more of a tongue-twister. This list did appear on Twitter before but I’ve looked at all the sites and reviewed them in a bit more detail.
1. Twitter Grader – ummm, gives [...]

Okay, I’m trying to figure this out. There is probably a really senisble explanation for this but I can’t for the life of me work out what it is. And if there isn’t a sensible explanation, then all I can say is ‘what the hell are they doing?’

B&T or BandT depending on how lazy your [...]

The Straight Edge Cheat Sheets are very quick bullet-point guides for marketing, sales and all sorts of other things. No fluff, no bullshit. Just basic, easy-to-remember pointers.
Have A Plan – don’t wait until you’re losing a customer; make sure you have a plan from day 1 with which to keep them.
Focus – concentrate your time [...]