Intelligent intranets, fact or fiction?

The semantic web is just around the corner, but are we paying enough attention to intellectual capital vested in our intranets and internal networks? For many organisations ‘sentient intranets’ may be a more valuable near term prospect than Big Data or the semantic web. Arguably, organisations have vested considerable intellectual capital in intranets that has […]

Empty brands:

What happens when your brand has no social, ethical or environmental foundations? Do brands that are simply economic or perhaps more superficial enjoy long term success? Answer: yes. At least they did.   Focus on real values As marketing, brand building and public relations become more sophisticated there are always opportunities to promote style over content, […]

6 steps to show you know what customers want

Six steps to show you know It’s surprising sometimes just how little or perhaps irregularly we test our assumptions about what we think we know or don’t know about our customers. And, it’s sometimes worthwhile just to step back and apply a few simple tests to see if we’re clear about what we do or […]

Focus marketing on a higher purpose

Is your marketing focused on a higher purpose?  What is a higher purpose? In truth most marketing is focused on relatively short term commercial gain, for example an uplift in advocacy, loyalty or revenue. There is nothing wrong with marketing having clear commercial objectives, short and longer term, even ambitious ones but if these objective […]

Great stories

The essence of a brand lies in the stories it can tell and the emotional connections they make but can you maintain the integrity and relevance of your stories, your brand over time?  What’s your story? There are organisations who have a great story to tell that just isn’t out there, and there are organisations that […]