Customer Archives - Page 11 of 16

How to kill a brand – 101

Posted on February 14, 2008 by Steve Sammartino

It seems that the National Heart Foundation just can’t help themselves. They’ve put the next nail in the coffin of the brand that was the once respected National Heart Foundation Tick.

A logo which once upon a time meant the food it appeared on was healthy.

If the Mcdonalds disaster wasn’t enough last year. Then surely they’re getting very close to the tipping point now.

By endorsing a certain pizza chain’s pizza, they are saying:

“Oh well, people eat junk food, so we thought we’d recommend the best of a bad lot”

Brands are never about ‘content’ they are about ‘context’. So what if this particlar pizza has less salt and fat? The association with fast food wont change the opinion of pizza, just marginalise the heart tick. Our world view on pizza is already formed.

You can read more about it here.

“If you can’t beat them, join them” ?

Startup blog says: such a mentality is a sure way for you and your brand to be absorbed into nothingness.

Business hygiene

Posted on February 12, 2008 by Steve Sammartino

We wake up in the morning. Stumble into the shower, have a shave (legs or face), wash our hair. We put on deodorant, brush our teeth, and head off to work.

We work all day.

We return home. We go to the gym or for a jog, return and shower again. Cook dinner, do the washing, tidy up the house, do the dishes, wipe down the sinks.

These are our daily tasks. Simple things which just become part of the fabric of living daily. They’re about hygiene and health.

Our business also requires daily hygiene tasks. Tasks which must happen on a daily basis: Paying invoices, managing cashflow, ordering stock, doing paperwork, answering emails, returning phone calls, talking with employees and customers, planning our day, reading industry related information…… ‘business hygiene’ tasks.

Business hygiene tasks are not game winners, but they keep us alive in a business sense. Forget these and our business can catch some terrible diseases, maybe kill it.

The best approach is to get them into a routine we perform on autopilot. Just like brushing our teeth. Then we can focus on the fun stuff.

Succession planning

Posted on February 6, 2008 by Steve Sammartino

Sadly Roc Kirby the founder of the Village Roadshow empire in Australia died last week. While reading an article in the Australian Financial Review the reporter mentioned how his kids had taken over the organization with great success. But we also were given another clue as to why.

As soon as his kids were old enough they worked the concession stands serving soda and popcorn and selling cinema tickets. Not in junior executive positions. They learnt the business bottom up.

No amount of explaining spreadsheets, balance sheets, P & L statements, and public company boardroom battles can prepare someone for a running a business like working at ground level can. The real understanding of any business comes from being where the money is exchanged with actual customers. This is what builds the foundations for a deep understanding of what’s important in a business – operationally and strategically.

If you’ve got a business which is succeeding and you need to think of succession. Startup blog says – think bottom up, not top down.

Have an opinion

Posted on February 5, 2008 by Steve Sammartino

Quite often it pays to be malleable, especially in a corporate environment. The powers that be only want to hear about incremental improvements that build on the status quo. Not change it.

Once we leave and get out there on our own. We must make sure do this:

Have an opinion, create change and go beyond the incremental.

Over reactions

Posted on January 31, 2008 by Steve Sammartino

Over reactions are omnipresent in humans. The best example is the sharemarket. It is rarely priced at ‘fair value’. The sharemarket sentiment is either overly optimistic or overly pessimistic.

it seems that managers tend to over react

it seems that employees tend to over react

it seems that VC’s tend to over react

it seems that suppliers tend to over react

it seems that customers tend to over react

The funny things is that over reactions never solve the problem, and often compound them.

Isn’t it refreshing when one of the above has a balanced and considered response to the inevitable issues which pop up in any start up business.

Be refreshing.

‘Game changing’ – Nintendo Wii

Posted on January 22, 2008 by Steve Sammartino

If anyone ever needs proof that the market leader can be given lesson, Nintendo provides this.

From a brand which dominated the 1980’s with handheld games and fell into relative console obscurity during the 1990’s it’s comeback has been astounding as has the performance of the Wii.

And it’s all based on simple consumer insight:

“Games everyone can play”

A direct quote from their current advertising. Enough said.

They are clear console market leader now in Australia. Overtaking the previously thought ‘unbeatable’ Sony Playstation franchise. No incumbent is ever safe. This maxim will only increase in relevance over time.

Often we build complexity into things because the technology allows it. We are better off focusing on what makes sense for the end user, not what’s possible.

Chris Anderson of Long Tail fame has been espousing for a long time that the future of gaming is not in the console, but the controls. He’s obviously ahead of his time.

Start up lesson: The offer with the best user experience, always beats the offer with the best technology.

Google Alerts are rad !

Posted on January 21, 2008 by Steve Sammartino

As a courtesy if I ever blog about anyone (good or bad) I let them know it’s there. I did this recently about Neighborhoodies.

The founder Michael sent me an email back saying – “I already know… Google Alerts baby! Thanks”.

I’ve since set up on things which are of interest to me. It saves me a great deal of time, which at present is my most scarce resource.

The really cool thing is it’s better than an RSS feed, because it’s the google bot doing all the hard work crawling the entire web for you. Every nook and cranny.

All start ups should set some up on topics of interest; themselves, their startup, their industry, their competitors, their whatever….

Click on the image above and go straight there…

Do it. Go now. Bye.