You probably don’t know Joshua Bell. Well I didn’t. But I wasn’t alone. On Jan 12, 2007, about a thousand and seven people passed by Joshua Bell. You see Joshua was playing his violin–busking as it were–at the L’Enfant Plaza metro station in Washington D.C. At this mornings rush hour, the crowd surged past him. […]
Why All Women Don’t Buy Size 5 Shoes
It might seem obvious, right? Not all women buy size 5 shoes. I mean why would they? Not everyone’s size is 5. It’s probably 6. Or 4. Or 7. Or 17 🙂 And Size 5 shoes just don’t fit. So even if she got the best discount… The best quality; the best variety; the softest, […]
The Importance of the Mona Lisa Concept
There are 380,000 pieces of art in the Louvre Museum in Paris. Of these, well over 35,000 pieces of art are for display at any given point in the gallery complex. Yet, most of the tourists rush past 34,999 pieces of art to see a singular piece of art. A painting that has a dimension […]
Is Brand Extension Possible? The Concept of the Umbrella Brand
Imagine you had five kids. Imagine they were all boys (oh, perish the thought!) Imagine you called them John. As in John, John 2, John 3, John 4, John 5. We’re bordering on the ridiculous here, aren’t we? I mean this naming convention you’d never consider in a squillion years. But what if you do […]
How To Choose The Right Colour For Your Brand
Here’s a simple exercise. Go to the mall. Pick up a box of Pringle’s potato chips for me, will ya? But when you get back to your home, you find something strange. The pack doesn’t say Pringle’s. It says Jingles. And someone has misspelled the word ‘chips’ and spelt it as ‘chops’. So instead of […]
The Fundamental Flaw in Creating Your Uniqueness (USP)
Say cheese,” says the person behind the camera. And you say cheese. Your facial muscles are frozen. You have a dumb, goofy look. And under your breath you’re muttering, “C’mon Take the picture, take the picture, c’monnnn!” Click! You blink. The picture’s been taken. And then the photographer runs across to you, all excited to […]
Can Harley Davidson’s Secret Weapon Revitalise Your Marketing?
Imagine yourself in a helicopter over Milwaukee, USA, on the shiny morning of June 13, 1998. You look down casually on the criscrossing tangle of roads on Interstate 94, and then do a doubletake. You can’t believe your eyes. It seems like there are hundreds of moving objects on the highway below. Maybe even thousands. […]
How To Create The Accidental Evangelist
Phil doesn’t really care about American Express. Why should he care? I mean it’s just a credit card after all. Sure it’s got a few benefits and features and stuff that other credit cards don’t have, but that’s not enough to make Phil yodel about American Express. Yet recently, Phil’s been yodelling Suddenly, Phil’s become […]
How To Duplicate Ebay’s Stickiness Factor In Your Small Business
It must have been 6:58 pm on Thursday, June 10, 1999. Without warning, Ebay’s site went down. But no one at Ebay broke into a sweat. Back in 1999, Ebay had been down on May 5 (for five hours), on May 20 (for seven hours). And on June 9, after Ebay’s site redesign, the server […]
An Exercise in Branding: Santa’s Website
Been to Santa’s website recently? Before you decide to go clickety, click — Santa doesn’t have a website. You knew that didn’t you? But what if Santa came to you and said, “Hey, I’d like to create a website. Can you help me? So let’s go about creating a brand for ol’ chubster You’d have […]
