During the parade for newly minted United States NBA champions, the New York Knicks, Mayor Mamdani didn’t simply say, ‘Well done, boys.’ He turned his speech into a rally and referendum on the spirit of the city. If you haven’t seen it, spare a minute and watch this short edit. During Game...
Patagonia’s email subject line proclaimed, “Nothing we do is sustainable.” Talk about a home truth. In five words. One of the most environmentally minded companies on the planet—they made the planet their only shareholder—upped the ante on all the greenwashed wannabes out there. Inside the email was a link to their...
No surprise. When people can rely on a good experience interacting with you, you get a brand bursting with value. Yet, how much do you control? Because an experience is always in the now. Yep, the moment right then. And here comes another one, in a constant, unstoppable stream of...
Alongside experience, positioning is one of the customer elements storing value in a brand. Because no matter what you care about, how that turns into the products you sell, or how well-known your company is. You need to know what it is. During a recent Knowledge Project podcast, guest April Dunfordsaid, “I think...
A recent experience got me thinking about how inconsistent delivery of unheroic stuff is a surefire way to lose customers and erode the value stored in the brand. The story began when I opened my 2024 car insurance policy. My jaw dropped. After ten years with the same insurer, I’m used...
I first encountered renowned Canadian designer Bruce Mau's Incomplete Manifesto for Growth decades ago. And one of the points he made stuck with me. He said, "AVOID FIELDS, JUMP FENCES. Disciplinary boundaries and regulatory regimes are attempts to control the wilding of creative life. They are often understandable efforts to order...
Failing to communicate isn't entirely accurate. What mostly happens are well-intentioned if clumsy attempts that land as overly wordy, inadvertently patronising and jargon-filled information. And over and again, those efforts routinely fail to get any message across. Which is ironic given the roots of the word. Communicate emerged in the 1500s...
"Walk your talk" is attributed as a simpler way of saying, "if you're going to talk the talk, you've got to walk the walk". In this case, simpler isn't better, and when I saw a recent tweet using the shorter saying, my immediate response was, "that's backwards". Dangerously backwards. Feeding into...
Experience without expectations is unthinkable — literally. What I believe will happen plays a prominent part in how I feel about what does happen.Even when it’s part of a subconscious story I didn’t know I was telling myself.So, why should organisations even try to shape people’s experience?Because even a modicum...
You know the page. There might even be one in your organisation. At the top is purpose, and from there, the cascade continues…PurposeVisionMissionCore ValuesStrategic pillarsBrand promiseBrand valuesEssencePersonalityExperience principlesPositioningEtc. I frequently see organisations that have the entire shebang including some I haven’t even listed. It’s madness. No one can hold all of...