When their home of 103 years was sold the beloved bookshop Hill of Content had to move. They found another space a few hundred metres away but needed to transport 17,000 books. Bring in the movers? No. Put out a call to their community of book lovers? Yes. And so, hundreds gathered on...
When organisations talk about customer loyalty, what do they mean? Mostly some mix of how frequently and over what period someone buys a product or service. In all cases there is some kind of (usually) monetary trade happening. And modern definitions certainly focus on faithfulness as the cornerstone attribute. Earlier meanings...
Loyalty is in the news. Not for a fuzzy feel-good program designed to woo customers as repeat spenders. Instead, IAG is subject to a class-action lawsuit by Slater and Gordon. The suit charges that the insurer used AI to target long-standing customers to hike their premiums because they were ‘loyal’ and less...
Before he was convicted to serve 25 years in prison for fraud last week, Sam Bankman-Fried aligned himself with a movement known as Effective Altruism. They welcomed him with open arms, happy for the boost in awareness he generated and a corresponding increase in those taking up the cause. Then Fried’s crypto-fund...
Accepting her Grammy for album of the year, and becoming the first person to win the award four times, Taylor Swift’s speech was a love letter to the unheroic work it takes to succeed. What is unheroic work? It’s a term that first landed in my language via a quote by...
A mop of unruly hair is an unlikely symbol of a failed business enterprise, emerging as a recurring theme in the rise and plummet of Sam Bankman-Fried. The enigmatic, eccentric and empathy-challenged steward of crypto exchange FTX and sister fund Alameda Research is currently on trial for securities fraud. Bankman-Fried’s undisciplined...
Things aren’t going in the right direction. A trickle of customers has started to head for the exit, the organisation feels a bit lost, and unsurprisingly, profits are trending down. Let’s fix the brand. That will turn things around. A new name and shiny revamped logo with all the trappings. New...
Maybe Elon Musk is writing a script for a movie called ‘How To Make $44 Billion Disappear’. And in the latest scene, the bad guy takes a blow torch to a well-known and somewhat beloved name and logo. He’s giving his customers the bird in the form of an X. The new...
At a recent event, I suggested, "Experience is a bridge value crosses into and out of your brand." And while in my brand formula, I couple it with promises. For this article, I'm focusing on the specific role experience plays in people's day-to-day activities. First used in the 14th century, with Latin...
When PwC consultants decided to share confidential government tax policy with other clients, they shredded their promises, mocked their values and landed PwC in the crosshairs of the federal police. Breaking promises always has consequences. But it rarely lands the promiser at the top of the news cycle. PwC is there because...