Interview with 2 of my favourite entrepreneurs @jason @garyvee

If you’ve got time it’s worth taking some of it to watch this interview with Jason and Gary. Jason Calacanis, himself a serial entrepreneur, is a great supporter of startups with his LAUNCH Conference. Gary Vaynerchuk is a well known entrepreneur who built up his family business to a major player using social media and the force of his remarkable personality. Having met both of … Continue reading Interview with 2 of my favourite entrepreneurs @jason @garyvee

Innovation – does it make sense for business?

Every business book I pick up nowadays seems to accept as a fundamental premise that innovation is a good thing and that it should be pursued relentlessly. But I’ve been wondering about that particular premise and under what circumstances it might (or might not) be true. Innovation provides us with a dilemma in business. Don’t do it at all and the business will probably die … Continue reading Innovation – does it make sense for business?

The future of shopping is social

These are some thoughts that I presented at the AMP Social Media Cafe in Sydney on 11 November 2010, the slides and references follow below. The future of shopping is social. But that is nothing new – shopping has always been social. The difference is that now we are seeing social interaction on a hyperconnected scale and the emergence of new competitors. It is still … Continue reading The future of shopping is social

Big Banks: brands, emotion and reality

It has been fascinating to watch the consumer and media response to the recent increase of interest rates above the Reserve Bank rate by the Commonwealth Bank. Many have expressed their opinion that the Commonwealth Bank is destroying its brand by such a callous action. But this view ignores the market reality in Australia that organisations that have extreme market power – such as the … Continue reading Big Banks: brands, emotion and reality

Presenting with power means PowerPoint must not be a crutch

We are currently planning the next Social Innovation BarCamp for 6 Nov 2010 in Sydney and I’ve just written a post about it called 4 Principles and 2 Laws of Social Innovation BarCamp. Thinking about the state of conferences over the past few years I have become enamoured of unconferences. In the case of Social Innovation BarCamp, the sessions are facilitated conversations. That is, there is no … Continue reading Presenting with power means PowerPoint must not be a crutch

Does your company have a “message gap” problem?

Burson-Marsteller has just realased a study on Message Gap Analysis where they investigate the cut through of corporate messaging to mainstream media. Their research indicates some scary results: “… a 48% gap between the messages a company communicates and the message conveyed by the media. The study also found that the gap is even bigger between a company’s message and bloggers’ messages (69%). ” Source: … Continue reading Does your company have a “message gap” problem?

Making digital marketing work

Much of the digital marketing I see is a bit tragic.  Tragic for the businesses  who are investing hard won income into campaigns that might not deliver a return on investment. Some of it seems like self-indulgent twaddle done by creative types for their own amusement.  Other times it seems that the marketing manager has signed off on a campaign that they like and suits … Continue reading Making digital marketing work

A new dimension to analysis: Time to include a spiritual angle?

In business school we all learned to use the same analytical tools – S.W.O.T., P.E.S.T., P.E.S.T.E.L., BCG Growth Share Analysis, Competitor Analysis, Porter’s 5 Forces, etc. But at dinner the other night, while chatting to some “kidults” (as they were introduced by their parents), we discussed the P.E.S.T.E.L. analysis. This stands for an analysis of an issue in terms of the following factors: Political Economic … Continue reading A new dimension to analysis: Time to include a spiritual angle?

Rethinking organisations: the digital revolution, social and convergence

An interesting question came up last Friday in a discussion with a group of Marketing and Communications folks from McDonald’s. It was about how social media might be situated and used differently depending upon whether you approached it from either a Marketing or a Communications team perspective. Also the question of who should “own” social media within the organisation was raised. These are good questions … Continue reading Rethinking organisations: the digital revolution, social and convergence