The Pitch

A colleague has left the safe confines of his large conservative leading architecture firm to start up his own – K2LDC. So now his new job role isn’t CEO, rather ‘salesman’.

 

So how does an architecture differentiate themselves with their pitch? here’s a tip – it’s not through anything to do with power point slides or boring details. Especially as it concerns visual services such as architecture. It’s about creating theatre, sparking imagination and getting the client into your mind.

 

So K2DLC did this: After a brief discussion at the pitch they left the client with a deck of cards (samples below) with their pictures and thoughts on how to approach the design.

design-process-cards1.jpg

 design-process-cards2.jpg

Result: The client considered what the firm was trying to achieve.  They played with the cards. They put them on their fridge. They put them in their order of favorite. They had an in depth discussion. They took themselves on a visual journey. They loved it.

 

K2DLC won the pitch.  

Boostrappers advertising

Ok, so this isn’t about to win any awards or be sent off to Cannes. But it might be funny / relevant enough for a few people to send to a few friends…. we’ll see.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=UPdpEQY3hDw]

  • It took 20 mins to film
  • Zero cost for media (thanks to Youtube)
  • I earned $63 in tips for my troubles
  • It was a lot of fun

How many CEO’s do you know who’d risk such humiliation & a bung knee for their business?

Balance Sheet Marketing

Quite often we must make decisions by looking at the balance sheet. It’s a fact of business life. But when it comes to marketing such decisions can be the death of a brand. The fact is, most marketing efforts are immeasurable before the decision.

 

Irish brand Waterford Crystal has just done some Balance Sheet Marketing.

 

A quick summary for the uninitiated:

Waterford city is the Crystal County of Ireland

Waterford has been making crystal here since 1783

Currently one fifth of their products are made in other parts of Europe

They haven’t made a profit in 5 years

They’ve just cut 500 jobs in Waterford Ireland to move all production

Their Chief executive Peter Cameron was quoted as saying, “We can source things from Eastern Europe under the Waterford fanchise. That’s not going to be an event that will change the perception of the brand”

Maybe Waterford Crystal have underestimated the emotional links passionate users have with brands.

 waterford.jpg 

Start up blog view:

Maybe they should charge what it costs

Maybe consumers would pay what it’s worth

Maybe they should tell consumers they must increase price or leave Waterford

Maybe ‘all’ production should be in Waterford Ireland

Maybe they should sing this fact as loud as possible

Maybe they should leverage their history a bit more

Maybe that would turn a profit

The best financial decisions protect innate brand equity, not destroy it.

Pulling Power – Beckham

Last night at Stadium Australia two lower tier football teams (Sydney FC and LA Galaxy) played in front of a crowd on 80,000 fans.

The reason the crowd was so large was because of the person in the picture below. That’s it. 

 David Beckham.png 

Start up blog isn’t big on celebrity endorsement, but when someone has that kind of pulling power the possibilities are endless. Especially when the person in question is inextricably linked to the event – the football game – ie David Beckham is a football player. It’s not quite the same as getting an Olympian to sell a car.

The Beckham brand is one of the few sponsorship properties that may just be worth the money. Especially, when it involves the biggest sport in the world, which happens to be a minnow in the worlds largest economy.

Start up lesson:

Don’t get someone to endorse. Get someone who is embedded.

Inventing Jargon

 sethgodin.jpg

web 2.0

permission marketing – Sethsethgodin.jpgsethgodin.jpg

interruption marketing – Sethsethgodin.jpgsethgodin.jpg

bootstrapping

startup

SPAM

BACN

badvertising (startupblog)

radvertising (startupblog)

goodvertising (startupblog)

longtail

Blog

ideavirus – Seth

Purple cow – Seth

Cutting edge

TV industrial complex – Seth

……

People like jargon for a few reasons. It puts them in the inner circle, it makes them feel smart & exclusive. When it’s great jargon, it simplifies an important explanation.

But jargon’s a bit like fashion. Things come and go and it’s important you’re using ‘fashionable’ jargon and avoiding the old embarrassing terms like ‘thinking outside the box’.

Seth Godin is a master at ‘inventing jargon’. There’s a little “Seth” next to his ones.

Taking the lead from Seth we’ve invented some jargon to explain important concepts for rentoid.com the place to rent anything including:

Unlocking idle assets

Conuserism

Digital networking of temporary needs

Go on and invent some jargon to sell your story.