iStrategy is all about getting marketing ideas into a melting pot and learning from others. Here’s some food for thought based on this slide from Cliff Rosenberg at Linkedin: ‘Even if you don’t understand the concept of social media, you need to fully understand that you, as a company are no longer in control of what’s being said about you.’ (In fact you never were in control– it’s just that these conversations about your brand used to happen late at…
Tag Archives: Values and integrity
Bernie’s Top 5 Business Tips
RedBalloon has been testing a retail concept in Myer Bourke Street Melbourne and Myer George Street Sydney. Bernie Brookes CEO Myer shared his top 5 success tips earlier this year… Read as much as you can about the industry that you’re in Be an active listener to those around you You never get in trouble for over communicating Never take no for an answer even if it means becoming “prickly” at times Smack or belt yourself if you find your…
Disgusted… I want authentic marketing
First of all I would like to say to the advertising agencies working on with the political parties for this election… tough gig – the fees must be nice – but, ugh, I bet the briefs you are receiving are cluttered – and the approval process a nightmare. I was watching ‘Top Gear ‘with my son (12) last night – and at every single ad break we were bombarded with political messages. My son would yell at the TV –…
What is bothering me…
Trust is such a fragile thing. One knows that to be trusted is to trust. But what if you give trust – and it is not reciprocated. Is it a one off, can never ever be regained? Does trust need to be earned back, or proved? Isn’t this a contradiction in terms. Jim Collins told us that values are the essence of great businesses. But trust throughout business is the basis for all values. No one can be in business,…
The 10 point Customer Excellence Checklist
I’ve been reading the book ‘Delivering Happiness’ by Tony Hsieh CEO of Zappos.com. There are a significant number of similarities between RedBalloon and Zappos. As CEOs we both wanted to create a place where we too wanted to work. We both believe in experiences over stuff, we both believe that the key to success of business this century is transparency, vision, values and alignment. And we both believe the company’s culture and the company’s brand are really just two sides…
Five Ideas on hearth, home and harmony.
I was interviewed recently for an industry publication about my early days, family and getting ahead…. I thought I’d share my answers. Q1: You say on your website that “life is the sum of our experiences, not our belongings”. So can we have some thoughts on another sort of experience, the experience of buying a home to live and raise a family. What can you tell us about your experience of the first home you purchased? A1: I bought my…
Thoughts from a RedBalloon veteran
On Friday it was time to farewell an original RedBallooner – Sarah was with us in the very early days – and has seen the business grow from 9 people to its present 50. She has caught the entrepreneurial bug and started her own show a named ‘Lady Bug’ as a fully fledged interior designer. As I listened to Sarah’s farewell words, I felt so very very fortunate, knowing that every person at RedBalloon is what makes our culture. We…
Delighted
Surprised, delighted – speechless (well not for more than a second), and humbled is what I experienced this week at the AIIA iAwards. More than two years ago we were discussing amongst the team that many people wanted to use our experiences to do activities themselves ? they were not really looking for a gift. In fact Friday afternoons had become really busy on the phones as people sorted out ‘last minute’ adventures for the weekend. I clearly remember driving…
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...
