When you reach for the moon and miss – you land amongst the stars. There is no down side to making great plans – then playing absolutely full out. You are the one to make the difference in how the game goes.
Monthly Archives: May 2006
Delivering a brand promise when you’re not there.
Today I was speaking at the Strategic Communication Management Summit – hosted by Melcrum Publishing. I spoke on word of mouth marketing and what drives one person to tell another something. Basically the RedBalloon growth story I was asked the question. “If a representative of RedBalloon is not there on the day when an experience is delivered – how do you know if your brand is being represented well?” This is the fundemental question about the success of our brand…
On building unbreakable customer relationships.
The strong brands that we associate with are based on clarity, consistency and leadership according to Interbrand. This is now table stakes. People want a relationship with a brand. They are no longer customers ? or even just loyal, ultimately customers are the brand. Understanding the level of intimacy with a brand is key. Is there a sense of true relatedness. This cause customers to respond ‘defend’ contribute and advocate. We have moved beyond customer satisfaction, beyond even measuring loyalty….
On Believing that the dream is possible
There is persistence and then there is pig headedness. Knowing the difference is the challenge. I love these two quotes from Winston Churchill “Never Give In” The speech was made 29 October 1941 to the boys at Churchill’s old public [private] school, Harrow–not Oxford or Cambridge: “Never give in–never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently…
Best Experience
I started RedBalloon as a lifestyle business – and in the early days worked from home and had 8 weeks off a year. Gosh it couldn’t be further from the circustances now. As a fast growing business – I snatch a break when ever I can – even if it is a long weekend. Just back from an awesome holiday with the family and friends. Full of great experiences. Bare boat charter, in the Whitsundays – this was total paradise….
Imagine running a business based on fun - that's what I decided to try when I left a very serious corporate career in marketing to set up RedBalloon...
Oh dear – warts and all where we came from.
I never claimed to know anything about online marketing – or the web for that matter. In fact when I used to do marketing plans for clients prior to starting RedBalloon, of noticeable absence was any mention of ‘the web’. So you tell me why I thought it was a great idea to launch a dot.com after the dot.com crash especially when I knew nothing about it. (Nothing like a steep learning curve to keep you focussed) So here it…