Ideas Archives - Page 34 of 37

Not from here

Posted on March 21, 2007 by Steve Sammartino

One of the best brand strategies is… not from here. It can be from anywhere. So long as it’s not here. You see, we know everything and everyone from where we are. So it must be better if it’s from elsewhere. They know what they’re doing. They’ve been doing it for years. There’s all this history, or maybe it’s their technology. Whatever, they really know what they’re doing. So we’ll pay a lot more for it.

It feels semi romantic to pay $14.50 for a bar of soap hand made in Tuscany from capsicum and Amalfi red oranges. We unlock the power of our imagination.

Language on packaging

Localised flavours

Hand made

Old world packaging

There are plenty of niche brands overseas who’d love an international distributor. The bonus is, the strategy is already written…

Start up strategy – Not from here.

Hand it over…

Posted on March 16, 2007 by Steve Sammartino

Your brand that is

It’s not yours

You never owned it anyway

You won’t own it tomorrow

They always owned it

But we didn’t realize

When they stop feeding it, it dies

So it must be theirs

Passion

Posted on March 14, 2007 by Steve Sammartino

Here’s a brand that is really into what they do. It’s not about anything, but making surfing possible – anywhere.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqLupl3X4fA]

I bet they’ll make profits possible anywhere too.

Cut through

Posted on March 14, 2007 by Steve Sammartino

Here’s a photo of something I drove past a few times before I just had to get a closer look.

My first impression driving past was that it may be advertising some eco product, maybe green cars (no pun intended). Turns out it was at a garden supplies centre advertising Smart Grass.

The point is, I was engaged enough to explore further. It was eyeball worthy. The exciting insight for entrepreneurs is that creating cut through is more about imagination than money.

Most Expensive

Posted on March 11, 2007 by Steve Sammartino

There is a real dichotomy emerging in most consumer markets. Ultra cheap and ultra expensive. Although it’s fair to assume that something that is 3 times the usual price should have three times the utility, chances are things aren’t so symmetrical.

In real estate a house that is twice the price is often 4 times the size and far more than twice as good. However in consumer goods, something that is 3 times more expensive, might only be 50% better.

Maybe the fact that it is the ‘most expensive’, justifies the price. The price becomes the defining feature.

Bugaboo pram

A great example of this is the Bugaboo Pram. I am sure they are better than the average pram, but how much more effective are they in real terms? Are we really going ‘off road’ with our bundle of joy? Or do we want to advertise to the world that we have spent as much as possible on a pram for our child?

4 weeks

Posted on March 8, 2007 by Steve Sammartino

Ask yourself this. Could you get your idea to revenue in 2 to 4 weeks?

You’ll be glad you did when it takes 4 times longer than you thought.

Some context: a 6 month idea, becomes 2 years. This is 2% of your life if you live to 100.

Getting Rich

Posted on March 7, 2007 by Steve Sammartino

The difference between investing and entrepreneurship is this:

Investing is a game designed for the accumulation of wealth.

Entrepreneurship is a game we take for the journey itself.

If we’re planning on starting a business simply to accumulate money, we’ve got it wrong. We wont enjoy it. It’s too hard. If we’re driven only by the financial rewards, we’d be better off learning to become great investors. Investing isn’t as hard. There are tried and true investing methods that civilizations have been using for millennia to generate money. If you stay the course on them it’s nearly impossible to fail.

If an entrepreneur has great success the rewards can be financially significant. In fact, the biggest financial prizes are won this way. But it’s the wrong path if that’s why we take it.