Commonwealth Bank first said “can” back in 2012 via a Dr Seussian screed read whimsically by Toni Collette. And now, in what feels like the marketing campaign equivalent of hoisting the white flag, their latest effort effectively admits they can’t after all. Sounding more like a self-help book than a bank, their new billboard...
It could be said that reputation is what they say about you when you leave the room. I’ve also heard reputation often used as a de facto for brand, and given I describe brand as the result of the promises you keep and reputation is achieved in much the same...
Last year I wrote a blog called ‘To Preserve your Brand Stimulate Progress’. I was reminded again this week why it is an important concept that’s worth repeating. Look around and you can see the skeletons of companies who have failed to live the inherent tension best articulated by Jim Collins in his...
It shouldn’t be news to anyone who reads this blog regularly that I believe one of the great red herrings of customer satisfaction is the whole idea of “wowing” them – I go so far as to call it the myth of wow. There are a number of good reasons for this and way...
Enough is enough. It’s time for lazy, rubbish meta association so-called brand processes employed by way too many people to be consigned to the scrap heap of fluff and nonsense. You know the ones. If your “brand” was a car what kind of car would it be?” If your “brand” was...
Values. Google calls them the “ten things we know to be true”. Atlassian says they “guide our business, our product development, and our brand”. Big corporates like to talk about them but they never seem to add up. I call them non-negotiables. It’s not news that you need to have a set...
Can we please stop talking about trust like it is a thing we do. Actually I’d like to stop using the word altogether in a business context. Personally I prefer to use the word associated with the old Norse root of the word “traust” – confidence, as suggested by my friend...
The Virgin Unite Blog had a piece this week asking what’s the best advice you’ve ever received? It’s a pretty good question. Over the years I’ve had plenty of advice, sometimes welcome and sometimes not-so welcome (that somehow often turns out to be the best stuff). One piece of advice has stayed with...
The question for this week is one that many business leaders have faced at some point in their history – should we change our name? And the answer is usually that that is the wrong question. The better and more important question is why do you think you want or need to...
I have a lot of conversations about messaging. The way an organisation talks about itself can be a morass of impenetrable jargon or a clear engaging message – and of course there are degrees in between. What I often run into in these conversations is what I’ve come to think of...