Sometimes a comforting lie is better than an inconvenient truth. According to one Harris healthcare study 70% of fat Americans thought themselves as “overweight” whereas 30% who were “overweight” thought they were normal weight. Talk to any brand manager and you get the same comforting lie – customers like us, they like our products and [...]
If your business relies on catching out customers – hidden charges, hidden terms or methods to prevent customers leaving you, you will win in the short run but lose in the long. Angry customers 20 years ago could be ignored, blocked and refuted. Today, however, they have the ability to poison your marketing. Honesty wins [...]
Once upon a time the most popular celebrities were boxed up in such slick, sleek packages it was almost impossible to get a feel for their real personalities. Every move was choreographed, even their love lives, and even when they weren’t on the red carpet they were red-carpet ready. Those days are long gone. The [...]
Looks great when it’s made out of food doesn’t it? How clever these people are! What art! This should win an award. Artistic excellence is just that. This work inspires me as a viewer and this is what art should do. Art, however, is not communication. Communicating with customers is very different. Spending dollars on [...]
We are seduced by our own technology – we believe products sell themselves. “Look at Apple” they cry. “It’s all about design!” which is usually followed by a “How do we make our own reader/touch screen/app store?” etc. If it were all about design then HP’s TC1100, would have rocked the market back in 2003. [...]
Gone are the days when we expected companies to produce genius. Yes, we still idolize the “design” myth that gave us the Ipod, Ideo etc. That’s only part of the story. Here’s one enthusiast who spent a Summer inventing a wasp-sucking machine. Not for glory nor money but because he had a problem. It’s difficult [...]
This is why you’re fat does a great job of profiling the most inedible “delicacies” (many of which were invented in the US). When you’re out of shape it’s easier to search for a quick fix – a diet du jour, slimming pills or, failing these, blame it on the genes. When businesses get out [...]
Are you selling to your customers or finding new ways to connect them? Try playing these videos together. Then check out the InBFlat site for full impact. http://wwww.inbflat.net/
I remember this Mister Donut when I lived in Tokyo. These stores had large glass frontage – good for people watching in the morning. Drink coffee, eat donuts, watch salarymen and bored housewives ply their way up the narrow strips that ran to the station. As a foreigner you will always live in the margins. [...]
Ajay gestured out over the forests and pastures laid out at our feet, a hundred shades of green framed by the blinding white of the distant snow peaks straight ahead: ‘When you walk in the hills your mind becomes clear,’ he said. ‘All your worries disappear. Look! I carry only a blanket and a water [...]
