Waitrose, Mulberry, Molton Brown (you have to appreciate a little luxury!) – I love them and they love me! There are other brands that don’t love me and so I don’t love them anymore. A very senior and well respected marketing man gave me the best piece of advice many years ago. I was moaning  about a client, “He’s an a**hole”, I said. He shot back with the insightful comment that, “whatever you are thinking about him, he’s probably thinking the same about you”. Since that day I could give you countless examples of how that is true and I think it applies to brands too.

Back to Waitrose; we have a mutual admiration for each other. I love shopping there. Their shopping experience, for me, is fantastic. I like the way it’s all laid out in there. I love the deli section and the wet fish counter. The meat is presented just the way I like it and their wine offering is great. It’s probably not as comprehensive or price competitive as Tesco, but it’s the way I like it. I even love their household section. What’s not to like about Waitrose Essential stuff? Their staff communicate with me one-to-one – I can tell Waitrose like me. So they they get my love back. I think a little of the right music in store would be good and I have offered to help them with that – but anyway!

One particular car rental firm don’t like me. I don’t think I’ve done anything to offend them. I am not even mentioning their name here, but they obviously don’t like me. They do like to keep me waiting if I’m hiring a car. It might be at the desk, it might even be in the garage, because they haven’t finished cleaning it yet (although you wouldn’t notice.) They also like to keep me hanging around when I’m returning the car to the airport – particularly when my flight is departing in minutes. So now I try and avoid their brand at all costs, although it has to be said the others aren’t that much better.

You reap what you sow, do unto others, etc., etc. Whatever that brand feels about me, I am probably feeling about them and vice versa. This definitely works on a client / supplier level too.

Shit, I’ve just thought – I hope this is true for my love life as well?

Content is king, even more so now that there is so much to choose from online. The ISPs and content aggregators are now starting to commission original production themselves and production companies like ours have to be even more creative and innovative with our ideas.

These days reality works best, or a good fairytale…or both…

Once upon a time there was a charming Prince who wanted to impress his friends by putting on a big show in his kingdom. So he gave the Ringmaster a large pot of gold to bring his circus to town. However, when it was time for the circus to put up its big top the Prince’s soldiers were being very mean to the people of the kingdom and there was fighting in the streets. Everyone agreed that it wasn’t safe for the lions and tigers and elephants and horses to come to town at that time, so the Prince asked the Ringmaster to postpone the show and bring it back when it was safe for everyone and the people would enjoy the show.

Time went by and the Prince and the Ringmaster thought everyone had forgotten about the mean soldiers and the fighting with so many other things going on in the world, so they announced that the circus was coming back. Unfortunately, they had forgotten the two main things about an elephant – it never forgets and it has a loud trumpet. The elephant remembered the fighting in the streets and thought how the people might not want all the clowns, the pretty ladies and the prancing horses of the circus when they had more important things to worry about. He also thought it was rather inappropriate for the clowns to be clowning whilst there was bad stuff going on. So he tweeted as loud as his trunk could trumpet that this was not a good idea, even though a new date had already been set.

Nobody thought the elephant would really hold much sway over his boss the Ringmaster, but people far and wide in important circles heard his trumpeting and they all agreed that it was not a good idea and they told the Ringmaster. So, all of a sudden he changed his mind and said the circus would not be coming to the kingdom after all. Some even thought the Ringmaster might have to give the pot of gold back to the Prince, but that’s another story…

Of course the other content that works well is sport.

RJ

Madness before the storm…?

We mustn’t get cocky, but I’m not sure that everything is as bad as the financial pundits and politicians are telling us. I was in York on Saturday. It was rammed. Shoppers, hen parties, more shoppers and a queue 30 minutes long – yes, 30 minutes – to get into Betty’s Tea Room where it’s not cheap for cheese-on-toast. However, let me tell you that £8.50 for Betty’s Yorkshire Rarebit is worth every penny, washed down with a glass of bubbly (£4.50).

Later the same weekend, the O2 Arena, Jerry Seinfeld performing live in the UK – 18,000 punters, just two prices per seat, £95 or £100. One hundred quid for stand-up? And they’re saying there’s no money around? Come on!

A day later, Bicester Shopping Village, okay it’s a discount outlet, but even the overflow car park was full. Shoppers shopping, money changing hands…

What are your experiences? Have I got this wrong? Anyway, I need to get back to work to make that £113 I spent, not including the stuff from Bicester – but just look at how much I saved!

RJ