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18Jul09

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When it rains it pores, so how about hiring and not firing?

17Jul09

On the 8th of July this year Britain suffered the heaviest rainfall since records began in 1865!

I was in London that day and this was the view (or lack of!) from my living room window!

It was like nothing I had ever seen before!

Earlier this year another record number was announced, this time by the World Health Organisation (WHO). 259,000 people were made redundant in the last quarter of 2008, this being the highest number since the organisation started compiling such statistics in 1995. I can believe it since hardly a week goes by without a friend, or a friend of a friend, being made redundant. Again this is like nothing I have ever seen before.

Lying in bed last night, I remembered something I read once, something that had a deep effect on me (and since then I have desperately tried to find who said it…)

“Laying people off, that is easy, creating jobs…now that is hard!”

Pause for effect and have a proper think about what I just said…Laying people off, that is easy, creating jobs…now that is hard.

Can you remember the last time we were in the business of creating jobs? I can’t… Maybe during the Internet bubble (when we were not too busy creating fancy Power Point presentations of course!).

One thing is for sure, business school, and especially MBA’s, are not there to teach us how to create jobs, they are there to teach us how to be efficient, they are there to teach us about ROI, they are there to teach us about management accounting and productivity, and that that is how you make a profit (I know I suffered through it for a year).

Bearing in mind that the people graduating from these schools are supposed to become the leaders and CEO’s of today, no wonder very few people, and organisations, are concerned about creating jobs, no wonder there is no reward for the amount of people you hire (while remaining productive of course)!

I’m all for being efficient and competitive (in fact I’m ALL about being competitive)…but I wonder sometimes if we asked ourselves a different question, would we get a different answer. I wonder what would happen if we asked ourselves “What can I do today to create a new job?” what effect would that have on the decisions we make?

How would changing the goal from decreasing the number of hires to increasing them (with the right control mechanisms in place) affect the way we do business? What would happen if instead of saying “Times are tough, we need to lay people off”, we would say “Times are tough, what can we do to keep people on, or even hire people?”

What if this would get the creative juices going? What if it would make everyone step up and generate amazing ideas and solutions? What if it would lead to creativity and innovation?

I have an idea, why don’t you set your senior managers a challenge, why don’t you ask them to find ways to hire people instead of laying people off? Just to see what they come up with! You may be surprised, it may be some of the most creative ideas, or innovative things you will have heard in a long time!

Go on, help me find the answer to the question “I wonder what it would be like to live in a world that is about creating jobs?”!!!

Filed under: Challenge the obvious, Innovation, Thoughts   |  Leave a Comment

I can no longer defend Starbucks!

16Jul09

I’ve always been a great supporter of Starbucks…not because of its coffee (let’s face it, it’s not great), but because it entering the market made it possible to actually drink coffee in the US. For a coffee lover, who used to spend 50% of her time across the Ocean, Starbucks soon became one of my best friends…and since I’m a loyal friend, I’m loyal to Starbucks!

To a point!

When I’m in Paris, like now, I always take the time to stroll down one of my favourite little streets…mainly because it has a few jewellery stores I love! And today was that day (I know because my wallet looked worried)! It did not need to be, where I was expecting to find my cute stores, I found, yes you guessed it, a Starbucks!

As if that was not enough, in order for it to open it had gobbled up not one, not two, not three but four small independent stores! Four stores with a distinctive personality, four stores managed by entrepreneurs, four stores bringing diversity and a personality to a lovely street, four stores which makes it possibly for me to know exactly where I am…two minutes from Rue de Buci, Paris, France!

Staring at what is on top of everything an incredibly unattractive Starbucks I felt my loyalty wash away, replaced by sadness. It had never been so clear to me that we are loosing the battle against clone towns (clone town is a UK term for a town where the High Street, or other major shopping areas, are significantly dominated by Chain stores).

The only jewellery store left is, again you guessed right, closing down…let’s face it how could one of these places compete with Sarbucks when it comes to paying rent!

I felt the need to take pictures of my other favourite stores on the same street in the full knowledge that they would probably not be there next time I come to Paris.

This is the tiniest bookstore you will ever see, yet they seem to always find what you need, or maybe they just guide you in that direction, either way, it’s great! Beats a WHSmith or Barnes and Noble, non?

And this store sells nothing but board games…you know the ones that require no computer, no electricity, but does require human interaction! Maybe not better than a Mac store but certainly equally as cool!

If you ever walk past a store like this, pop in, buy something, it literally can make the world of difference!

By the way, I sincerely hope the Americans, who I prevented from entering Starbucks by sending them 2 minutes down the road to a ‘real’ coffee shop, managed to find it, and that they were not too disappointed at the original décor and its amazing (but strong) coffee!

Filed under: Retail   |  1 Comment

What’s up with Sweden and all its innovation?

15Jul09

I don’t know about you but I have always thought a hell of a lot of good stuff comes out of a country inhabited by only 9.2 million people, speaking a language very few people care about (a little over 9.2 million people I would guess ).

I have often wondered why, but to be honest never gone as far as looking for an answer, until I read an article in brandchannel.com, Brandinavia: Why Nordic Brands Rule. The article attempts to answer the question “How come the Nordic countries are such a branding powerhouse? (IKEA, VOLVO, Lego, Nokia, Ericsson, Absolut)?”.

The reason given in the article is that Scandinavia is a social democracy where people are taken care of from cradle to death (paid for by high taxes). This means Governments can focus on commercial issues, a focus that materialises in three ways:
-    Low corporate tax
-    Investment actively being encouraged
-    Supporting aggressive export of their products

Before continuing, and in the spirit of total disclosure, I need to mention I’m half Swedish (in case my last name has not given it away). I will therefore focus my comments on Sweden for no other reason than it being the only Scandinavian country I know intimately having lived there for 15 years.

I very much enjoyed the article, it was well written and informative, however I do question its focus on brands.

To me this is not a story about branding, but about creativity and innovation. What is interesting about Sweden is not the amount of famous brands it has given birth to, but how innovative it’s products and solutions are. Yes I agree that this innovation has lead to the creation of many famous brands, but more importantly they changed entire industries (the article mentions this but not in the sense of disrupting industries). IKEA revolutionised the furniture industry, H&M the clothing industry, Tetrapak the packaging and delivery industry etc.

(Tetrapak)

I believe a more interesting question to be, what makes the Swedes so creative and therefore innovative (to be discussed later)?

I also question the author’s Government support explanation. Although I would agree that the social democracy argument goes a long way to explain the successful go to market of products, and eventually the existence of strong brands, I feel this is very much an economic argument. The truth is it does not explain the actual initial innovation, especially as it was there long before Swedish businesses had the commercial support from their Government (We invented the safety matches in 1844, the commercial vacuum cleaner in the early 1900’s).

Personally I believe that the Swedish culture has more to do with the success of its products.

Having lived in Sweden for a long time, trust me when I say creativity is not what jumps out at you when you spend time with its population…and yet there it is!!!

So how come it’s there, in abundance? A long discussion with my father over breakfast lead to the following conclusion, it’s the Swedes practical side, and their constant search for practical solutions, that feeds this creativity. IKEA was born because the founder Kamprad wanted to ship a chair to someone but did not know how to package it, hence taking the legs of…and not because he wanted to disrupt the furniture industry. Skype was born because Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis were looking for a practical way to benefit from the Internet (in addition to making some money)…and not because they wanted to disrupt the telecomms industry.

Ok so this explains why great ideas are generated. But how come these ideas have such mass appeal? Again the answer I believe (and my dad too) is cultural. Sweden is a collective society, a society that always thinks of the group, and how to benefit that group. It’s therefore more likely that the ideas generated, and what is subsequently developed in terms of products and service, will be of benefit to many (satisfying a collective need), and by that rational sell in great numbers.

And finally, it does help that Swedish design, like the article mentions, is second to none. Again the answer is cultural. Swedes are very simple, honest and straightforward people. Yes is yes, no is no, what you see is what you get, there are no frills! And that is exactly what Swedish design is like, simple and pure (which again tends to have a mass appeal).

(Skandium, design store on Marylebone High Street.)

So what should we learn from the Swedes that we can bring to our innovation efforts? Actually three little things, nothing we did not already know, so incredibly obvious, yet three things that prove hard to achieve (unless you are a Swede of course).

1.    Don’t be creative for creativity’s sake (is there a practical use for your product or service?).
2.    Think of the user, the people when you create (can you imagine a day when a large group of people will use your product or service?).
3.    And while you’re at it, throw in a bit of good taste into what you create, it never hurts!!!

Lycka till (Good luck!!!)

Brandinavia: Why Nordic Brands Rule, by Barry Silverstein, July 13, 2009 issue

Filed under: Disruption, Innovation, Trend (people)   |  2 Comments

How often do you look yourself in the eye?!

14Jul09

Not often enough I recently found out!

Yesterday I had the chance to do so…in more ways than one.

I was literally given the opportunity to look myself in the eye by my optician when he showed me a picture of my retinal (which he kindly agreed to e-mail me so I could share it with you).

But more interestingly buying new glasses taught me that I’m not as open mined as I thought I was.

I expected picking the frames to be relatively easy. I trust the shop, their inventory and taste, and I knew exactly what I wanted. My brief was short and very clear, “I want something different from my old ones”.

If you are in advertising and media, or even recruitment, you will have had this brief many times “We want something different!”. But here is my question…how many times does the client actually mean it, or even understand the consequence of their request?

In my case I found myself rejecting every frame proposed to me…why? I hate to admit this but yes, because they were different. I did not realise it at the time. I thought I was rejecting them because I did not like them, because they did not suite me, because the guy in the shop did not get me, and my taste (my need).

The sad truth is that I had become comfortable with the way I look wearing my old ones. For three years I have seen myself in the same brown medium sized Face à Face glasses, they have become part of the furniture, part of me. So did I really want something different, or did I like the sound of having something different?

This experience made me think of the times when I have been looking to change job. I can’t tell you (because I have lost count) how many interviews recruiters have sent me to because “the client wants something different…we don’t want just a branding person, or just an advertising person, or just a …”, the list goes on. And why do they want something, or someone, different? Because they are looking to “change, shake things up, challenge the status quo”. I may not remember how many interviews like this I have been to, but I can tell you how many lead to someone actually hiring me, …close to zero. When it comes down to it we quite like things to remain the way they are, we like surrounding ourselves with things we know, things we understand. We like talking about doing something different, but when it comes down to it… we don’t actually like doing it that much.

It’s always hard when one looks one self in the eye and one realises one isn’t as open mined as one thinks. In moments like this there is only one thing to do, SLAP YOURSELF!!! Give your system a bit of a wake up call (yes I believe in chock therapy!) and choose something which is the complete opposite of what you already have, and deal with it!

So if you see a girl walking down the street wearing a pair of big black glasses…that will be me. I don’t care if they look strange on me, they are there to serve a bigger purpose, they are there to remind me of the fact that being comfortable, and not considering something different, is seriously not a good thing!!!

By the way, I’m sure I will get used to them, I’m sure I will soon think they suit me…does that mean I will have to change them again? Probably! Darn this ‘accepting what is different thing’ is going to prove to be an expensive exercise!

Filed under: Challenge the obvious, Human Behaviour, Thoughts   |  1 Comment

This is not business as usual!!!

13Jul09

Thank you Aviva for having recognised this (and yes created a whole 1 minute ad around the concept!!!).

The foundation of the ad is 10 statements chosen because I suppose they stood out as customer pain points in one of their, or their agency’s, market research exercises. In other words statements customers made about how they do not like to be treated.

It doesn’t really matter where they came from, to me the whole thing felt a bit obvious and cheesy (like a limousine and a fancy restaurant on Valentine’s day)… until I realised that in less than 2 weeks numerous organisation’s I dealt with have failed to deliver on 8 of the 10 statements mentioned in the ad.

Let’s look at them one by one….

‘I’m not a customer reference number’ – The other day, like every year since I arrived in the UK, I had to sit through a consultation with a doctor who had not read my case history, had no clue who I was, and I suspect struggled to care – I may as well have been a customer reference number in an Excel sheet (oh yes you can always count on the NHS)!!!

‘I’m not a target market’ – Yes they have done it again, a travel agent has sent me information on holidays in a Spa resort…because a mud bath is apparently what the target market ‘ABC1 30-45 year old women’ are looking for in a vacation!

‘Always remember who’s money it is’ – Recall my blog about attending the mobile music industry conference ‘What the mobile industry needed to hear!!!’? I spent an hour listening to a panel made up of major UK mobile operators talking about ME, ME, ME… completely forgetting who is actually paying for their services. Just in case you have forgotten where the money is, it’s with the customer/consumer!

‘Take me seriously’ – I spent most of last night on the phone with a lady from Sky trying to convince her to look into why I’m not receiving e-mails (I was not going as far as hoping that she would actually fix it). I was in the middle of telling her how I was not sure that what I was receiving would qualify as technical support when I realised she had simply put the phone down. Can’t imagine anyone who takes me, or my business seriously doing that!!!

‘Don’t treat me like an idiot’ – I will again refer you back to a previous blog, me attempting to purchase some Havaianas on-line.  If you advertise that a product is 12 pounds, and there is in fact only one product at that price, do you really think I will find that acceptable? If I did, that would make me an idiot!

‘Remember me/just recognise me’ –  Dear Vodafone, thank you for sending me yet another identical text message the minute I leave the UK informing me of your new concierge info service. Do you think that since I’m on my third country in two weeks, and I still have not used your service, it may be time to acknowledge my past behaviour and adopt a new approach, or a different message? I only say this since you have spoken to me before about the exact same thing, but you clearly don’t remember!

So actually Aviva I am sorry to have to inform you that you seem to be wrong…it very much is business as usual – the business of companies completely and utterly forgetting to build their business around the consumer…as usual!

P.S I still have two days to go and am sure someone will ‘clutter their language with corporate jargon’ and ‘call me by my stage name’ (I wish I knew what that means) bringing the number of failure by organisations to deliver to 10 out of 10!

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Taking BOGOFs to an extreme!

10Jul09

During my time at WPP I did a lot of work in the retail space. Buy one get one free (BOGOFs) were, and still are, a huge headache for brands as they are expected to take on the cost of the promotion (such is the power of the retailer, but we will discuss that some other day).

Walking down the street I see signs like this everywhere (not to mention in supermarkets).

But this morning, as I was cleaning out old newspapers, one ad really caught my eye.

Pardon my Swedish, what it says is ‘One extra room when you buy”. Basically when you buy an apartment you get the smallest room for free. No this is not WHSmith where you get three books for the price of two (or if they were more transparent they would admit that you get the cheapest for free). No these guys are advertising apartments!!!

You know you live in extreme times when you can get BOGOFs on a flat (well on rooms!)!!!

Filed under: Findings, Retail   |  Leave a Comment

What the music industry really needed to be told!!!

09Jul09

Japanese salary men have a saying “The nail that sticks up gets hammered down”, in other words don’t rock the boat.

From where I’m sitting the world has plenty of boats needing to be rocked, yet very few people are doing any rocking!

Today I attended the Mobile Entertainment music conference in London. It was with disbelief I listened to operators, entertainment companies and manufacturers debate how to ‘make’ consumers ‘buy’ music.

In case you did not know, the solution to the mobile music industry’s problem is to  ‘offer’ music as part of mobile operators’ bundled services, and I quote ‘this would decrease the cost of offering the music for ‘free’ and if they don’t want it they don’t have to listen to it”.

This is offensive on so many levels. It’s insulting to consumers’ freedom of choice. It’s insulting to the musicians and their art. But beyond that it’s plane stupid, and makes absolutely no business sense!!! Talk about trying to patch up a leaking pipe with plasters!

Representatives from the entire industry sat quietly and listened to this debate, no one seemed to have an issue with it; no one seemed to question it….or maybe they just did not want to rock the boat!

What they desperately needed to be told is that this industry is, and has for a decade, been driving towards a massive THE END, an end they refuse to see. What they desperately needed to be told is that the only people they have to blame for finding themselves in this situation is…well themselves. What they desperately needed to be told is to start relinquish control, and to stop their defensive strategy of suing companies and consumers. What they desperately needed to be told is that the time has come to focus on finding new business models, of looking for ways to cooperate and collaborate, and of creating value to artists, consumers, people and companies.

And this is exactly what Jonathan MacDonald told them in his 30 minute closing keynote, a very intelligent speech given to an increasingly silent and all of a sudden very cold room.

So to you Jonathan, wherever you are tonight, I say ‘the nail that sticks up is one brave nail’!

Filed under: Marketing Myopia, Thoughts   |  2 Comments

If you want my business be honest!

07Jul09

We have already established that I may not be the biggest fan of searching on the web for hours in order to make a purchasing decision (see previous blog http://liriandersson.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=127). This however does not mean that I don’t appreciate the help of the little World Wide Web as and when I know exactly what I want, and I don’t feel like running around different stores to find it.

What really annoys me though is when a company thinks that they can get away with not being transparent and honest in their communication!

This morning, after a rare London heat wave, I realised that I needed yet another pair of Havaianas Flip Flops, (are there any others?) brown ones to be specific.

So I google Havaianas and find myself actually clicking on one of the sponsored links (one of the rare occasions I do so, well done dressnimpress.com).

Why did I choose to click? The ad contained what I needed to know, price and when I would get the product – simple! An ad stating a 40-70% saving did however not get my attention, too vague (40-70% off what?) and no delivery date mentioned.

So I click…

And here is the choice I’m given…

Of all the products ONLY one pair actually cost £12, one pair!!!  And what a pair…the ugliest flip flops I have ever seen!!!  Does this company think I don’t see what they are doing…they have one token product at £12 simply to ensure that they can put £12 on the ad and get away with it (and at the same time get rid of an obvious non seller!). Win for them and loose for the customer!

Rule number one when dealing with a potential customer DON’T THINK WE ARE STUPID!!!

dressnimpress.com managed to get my attention in a very hard space to do so, they managed to make me actually click on their ad, they subsequently have to pay for that click….and what is the outcome of all this? Have they won my heart and mind? Have they won my business? Au contraire, they have achieved the exact opposite! All it would have taken for me not to feel lied to, and not to spend valuable time ranting about my experience, is for them to have posted three products at the mentioned price of £12 and all the time and money spent on getting me to their site would have been worth it.

It basically boils down to three key words in communications HONESTY HONESTY HONESTY. Without it there is no relationship and without a relationship there is no business transaction!

Filed under: Advertising/Media, Customer Experience, Thoughts   |  Leave a Comment

I’m not sure the developing world cares where the help comes from…or how it’s branded!

06Jul09

Re-branding, why not I say! As long as it does not take your eye (and resources) off the important ball, which is what your organisation is about, what it is supposed to do, the effect it is suppose to have, and the value it is supposed to bring (and of course a brand can be a FAB way of communicating all this!)!

The Department for International Development (DfID) is due to release a whitepaper today where they are to unveil a re-branding plan aimed at raising the profile of the ministry. Their operations in the developing world will from now on be known as “UKAid” (I do want to add that the white paper is also to cover a wide issues related to aid).

The article clearly describes what this re-branding exercise is about – ensuring that aid coming from the UK is recognised as such.

Ok so I can live with the human and political drivers, and the search for recognition, that would lead to such a decision – if it ultimately benefits people in need. I can also accept resources being dedicated to a name change, as long as it helps raising the awareness among the British of the needs and activities taking place in the developing world, in the hope of it inspiring additional help and contributions from the British people (note how I did not say raising the worlds awareness of the UK’s contributions to the developing world).

What I would find impossible to accept is if the DfID’s attention and resources are not primarily allocated to what it says it does on the tin, International Development! This means there job is not to promote the United Kingdom’s generosity, but to ensure right aid, gets to the right people, at the right time (I’m sure most people do focus on this).

It’s because of this I sincerely hope Matt Waldman, an independent aid consultant is wrong when he says, ”Clear Substantive changes are required, but a name change is not one of them”.

I don’t know the ins and outs of the DfiD (and I am sure they do incredible work) but if change is needed, change is what they should focus on, and maybe promoting the UK name could have waited a little….

Filed under: Branding, Thoughts   |  Leave a Comment