Helping brands communicate better
I was debriefing some work on Shopper Missions recently and there was a certain amount of disbelief in the room regarding some approaches to parenting I found that tied into a key Occasion customers were shopping for. I had to remind everyone present that the customers we were talking about were not necessarily the same … Continue reading you aren’t marketing to your mates
I’ve been thinking A LOT about the retail shopping experience recently. Partly because I’ve got relevant projects on the go or in the works and partly because I’ve been ‘impulse storing’ – which I’ve just invented to describe popping into a store on impulse to try and knock some items off the worrying large festive … Continue reading is the answer to Shopping Hell that we need to be nicer to each other?
I’ve encountered a few people recently for whom Confidence is so much not a problem…that it actually is. pic from here I think overconfidence is a trait we don’t consider enough. Because it can lead to all kinds of problems. It’s the ‘how hard can it be?’ attitude that leads people to have accidents. Or … Continue reading considering overconfidence
Whenever I’ve been out with friends recently, the conversation has tended to revolve around subjects a bit outside my personal experience, like primary school places and Baby Ballet. Yes, 90% of my friends now come complete with small children – they’ve moved into the next stage of their lives. In contrast I haven’t got kids … Continue reading when the world moves on but you don’t it’s time for a sub brand
Based on what’s been on my mind this week I was debating whether to blog about Storytelling or Why Communications is about (doh!) Conversations not Shouting – then I realised they were basically the same thing. I’ve been revisting the text of Jeremy Bullmore’s 1972 speech to Kraft, titled ‘The consumer has a mind instead … Continue reading Don’t yell, Storytell
I watched the next episode of Mary Portas: Secret Shopper last night. Not really a good idea because she winds me up, but this week’s focus was on the sofa industry and since one of the agencies I work for has a client in that sector I thought I’d better tune in. What really set me … Continue reading great insight isn’t just about what people *said*
I stumbled across some interesting stuff about, well, Stuff recently while I was working on a project. It seems that Stuff can be a key barrier to making decisions and taking action. Having too much Stuff literally overwhelms our ability to make logical, considered decisions. House full of decades of clutter? Moving house becomes a … Continue reading some interesting stuff about Stuff
I’ve come to the conclusion that we can no-longer talk about ‘normal’. Or ‘average’, ‘typical’, ‘loyal’, even ‘regular’ customers / shoppers / consumers / target audience. You see, the customer, consumer or whatever grew up. They got savvy. The recession forced them to reappraise their shopping behaviour. They started visiting different supermarkets, haggling with furniture … Continue reading There’s no such thing as normal or loyal anymore
India Knight’s column in last weekend’s Sunday Times briefly alighted on people “who live quiet, kind lives wearing sensible skirts and shoes and not making much noise”. And because these people like their private life private, they’re the ones least likely to be visible to us - the marketing bods trying to have a conversation … Continue reading speaking up for the sensible skirt brigade