15 years ago in the US a Wal Mart executive realised the store was as much a retailer as a media owner. The millions of customers passing through their doors every day were sizeable enough to rival any traditional media owner’s audiences and crucially, they...
First-up, this post has nothing to do with Harry and Meghan. You see, there was another high-profile royal event that occurred in 2018 (just not as photogenic) and it’s being hailed as the reason for a “patchy” Christmas retail period. Last year’s Royal Commission into Banking...
Giving? No, in the world of retail, it’s about sales. There is a growing sense that this year, retailers are focusing on providing valued experiences in-store rather than over-investing in expensive advertising to get people through the door. This is hardly surprising in a climate of...
Everyone in business knows the importance of a clearly defined strategy, even though it is often eaten for breakfast by culture, according to Peter Drucker. It sometimes seems like culture and strategy are polar. That the two can never coexist. That they are combative. Divergent....
It’s often said that what gets measured gets managed. Which is probably true. But just because something is managed does not mean it is being taken seriously. To be taken seriously requires a value. One of the first things we recognised when we created Sonder...
There's always more to be done – innovation, creativity, new ideas...
We’ve all heard the line about employees being the company’s most important asset. But are they really? Is an employee more valuable than a customer? When it comes to owned media, customers are far more valuable than employees, mainly through the future potential of the...
A highly decorated FMCG CMO once said to me, “who the hell wants to build a community around yoghurt?”. He was talking about one of his own products and he was talking about the agency world’s obsession with ‘building a community’ on social media. It...
Nestlé, the world’s largest packaged food company, announced last week at an investor call that their next area of focus is establishing direct channels of communication with their consumers. Quite a big statement of intent from a business anchored in established distribution channels. Buoyed by...
A monk once told me the secret code for loyalty. Even now I cringe at the intent behind my asking him the simple question, “what is loyalty?” You see, at the time, I just wanted to know how to address a common marketing goal –...