It’s 9am on a Tuesday and gathered around the table is a smattering of people from executive and management ranks with one task: come up with the purpose statement. The scene plays out thousands of times a day across all kinds of organisations with varying degrees of success. And for...
While culture may or may not eat strategy for breakfast, depending on which side of the quote attributed to Peter Drucker you fall, it’s futile to resist the influence it has on groups of people. Culture also acts as connective tissue for the brand result. Starting with the intention captured by...
Wharton marketing professor Robert Meyer claims “we are absolutely living in the era of the apology”. Facebook, Uber and, more locally, banks – and more banks – have all said: “We’re sorry”. And while Meyer delves into the pros and cons of public mea culpas, focusing the conversation on the nature, timing and...
People talk about customer loyalty in terms akin to the Holy Grail; something all businesses seek, but few genuinely manage to find. In general, I believe customers want to be loyal. Unless you have a strong masochistic streak, continually searching out new places and comparing value for things you want to...
Customer experience is so yesterday. The energy and conversation are rapidly shifting to employee experience. Organisations are timidly embracing the idea of the employee role in the business as more than merely a cost on the balance sheet. For years organisations have trotted out the shop-worn platitude “our employees are our...
A brand is a result of the promises you keep and you keep those promises through every action and decision across the organisation. So, the processes used to achieve your goals play an integral part in the achievement. People see a process as merely a means to an end, but I...
After a recent flight, and before I’d even completed my return home, there it was in my inbox. The survey, so I can tell the airline how they can “keep improving”. It also happens with the hotel, or the homewares online store, or the public bathroom. It seems everyone wants me to...
The New York Times provided some excellent grist for this week’s mill with a story about the company I often feature as an exemplar of how you achieve a robust, resilient brand result – Patagonia. The article is well worth reading in total, but the aspect I want to highlight is the way...
One the least explored and often overlooked element of my brand equation is promises. It starts innocently enough, “I’ll meet you at 9.00am for a coffee in the city”, which, judging by the number of times people are late for appointments, is more challenging to keep than people expect. And that’s because...
Today I want to talk about customer-centric. Or passenger-centric, member-centric, patient-centric, partner-centric or any of the other centrics bandied about. Because everywhere you look organisations are jumping on the bandwagon. Which wouldn’t be a problem if they also took the time to make sure people understood what the hell they were...