Well, I am currently preparing for my next Entrepreneurial Masterclass at the British Library Business Centre - 17 entrepreneurs booked this week to take a step back from their business and get clarity about their brand and ways they can potentially market their business more successfully...
It's a very practical course, and one of the exercises I set is to arrive at the 5 words which sum up their brand. For example MAGICAL + CHILDLIKE + FANTASY + KINGDOM + FUN can only be Disney; Disney now 'owns' these words - and that's very powerful from a marketing perspective.
So my question to you this Super Saturday is: What 5 words do you think I have chosen to sum up the 'Rachel Elnaugh' brand?
Closest answer by next Friday (12 September) gets a FREE place on my next Masterclass on 22 January 2009 - worth £495 + VAT.
Showing posts with label Marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marketing. Show all posts
Saturday, 6 September 2008
Tuesday, 18 September 2007
Learnings from Northern Rock
It has been interesting to watch the developments at Northern Rock over the past few days, and to observe how quickly even the most established brand can be de-stabilised or even wiped out by bad news once it gets into the media.
Just hearing the customers talking on the news last night brought it home that actually most were acting quite irrationally - driven by fear of losing their life savings or their retirement money. And all the assurances in the world - even from the Bank of England and the Government - that their money was safe were having no effect.
It just brought it home to me how true the old marketing adage is that 'Customer perception is the only reality'. And it is a real double edged sword.
If customers believe that they are going to lose their money then that is the only reality that you can deal with. Facts are irrelevant.
On the other hand, if customers believe your product is the best thing they have ever experienced than that is a huge advantage in marketing - quite aside from the fact that there may be many other much better offerings out there.
Hence the power and value in investing your time with your business to build a really great brand.
Yes, it can still be wiped out by a major scandal virtually overnight. But those instances are extremely rare.
It's the one thing that will really help make you competitor proof while you build your business - and goes to demonstrate yet again that your customers really are your biggest marketing department.
Just hearing the customers talking on the news last night brought it home that actually most were acting quite irrationally - driven by fear of losing their life savings or their retirement money. And all the assurances in the world - even from the Bank of England and the Government - that their money was safe were having no effect.
It just brought it home to me how true the old marketing adage is that 'Customer perception is the only reality'. And it is a real double edged sword.
If customers believe that they are going to lose their money then that is the only reality that you can deal with. Facts are irrelevant.
On the other hand, if customers believe your product is the best thing they have ever experienced than that is a huge advantage in marketing - quite aside from the fact that there may be many other much better offerings out there.
Hence the power and value in investing your time with your business to build a really great brand.
Yes, it can still be wiped out by a major scandal virtually overnight. But those instances are extremely rare.
It's the one thing that will really help make you competitor proof while you build your business - and goes to demonstrate yet again that your customers really are your biggest marketing department.
Wednesday, 20 June 2007
Peter Jones' New Show 'Tycoon'
I tuned in to last night's much hyped new ITV business series 'Tycoon' with much anticipation.
Not only am I an avid fan of the new breed of TV business shows, but also having known Peter Jones 'before he was famous' - when we filmed series 1 of Dragons' Den back in 2003 - I was interested to see how he had developed in his role as 'celebrity entrepreneur'.
But minutes in, as we were flown over the City of London in the opening credits and then had a street level view of his shiny new Bentley arriving outside a disused warehouse-type building, it became clear that we were destined to endure a lowest common denominator formulaic pastiche of The Apprentice meets Dragons' Den.
Jones has selected 6 would-be entrepreneurs to take part in the show, each trying to build their business in a 10 week period working in an open plan office, under the scrutiny and 'guidance' of Jones.
The problem with the show is that it quickly becomes apparent that Jones hasn't a clue about brands or marketing, constantly misguiding the businesses in his charge.
Thus we see the 'Gardening Girlies' being encouraged to re-brand to something more 'attention grabbing' - and then being heaped with praise for coming up with the new identity 'Sod Women'. Personally I can't think of a brand name more likely to alienate what is predominantly a female, middle England target customer.
Similarly, vodka juice girl was given a slating by Jones for her attempts at finding a name for her product - citing 'Death' cigarettes as a great example of an attention grabbing brand (yes, those were the fags launched in 1991 by the company which was in liquidation by 1999). She finally resorted to grabbing passing joggers on the South Bank for their suggestions.
Back to the warehouse office and Jones has summoned everyone to a meeting to discuss their progress. The Gardening Girlies, sorry I mean 'Sod Women', have arrived in navy pinstripe suits wearing ties - only to receive more praise from Jones for showing so much progress under his guidance. No doubt in a future episode they will arrive having undergone a complete sex change, only for Jones to coo 'Congratulations ladyboys, the penny has finally dropped with you that only men can be successful in business'.
Finally, Jones heads down a pier for a showdown with vodka juice girl - plus the inevitable threat of a sacking - when what she really needed most at this point is some friendly guidance from one of London's big branding agencies.
This is where I think the show was so disappointing compared to, say, the brilliant Mary Queen of Shops (BBC2 Thursdays 9pm). In that series, Mary Portas not only points out where the businesses are going wrong, but then really gives brilliant hands-on guidance - by bringing some of the top fashion professionals in to help show how it should be done.
As the show progressed, while Jones' teeth got whiter, his cufflinks got bigger and the Bentley got shinier, Jones personality got thinner and thinner. By the end of the epsiode I was left feeling that this was simply another TV vehicle for his now monstrous sized alpha male ego.
The penny finally dropped when we saw the last frame and realised that the show had been created and produced by Jones' own TV production company Peter Jones TV. Like his Max Clifford co-client Simon Cowell, Jones clearly sees TV production as his latest way to make some much needed money.
A quick peek at the latest Phones International accounts shows why the diversification is needed - £4million profit on £186million sales is a nice business to have, but hardly puts Jones in the 'Tycoon' bracket of a Branson, Dyson or Sugar. Especially when up the road at Red Letter Days (the business I started, which Jones acquired out of administration in 2005 in a flourish of 'I'm-a-Dragon-and-I-know-a-Great-Business-Opportunity-When-I-see-One' publicity) has just filed a loss of £7.1 million.
While the TV route may have worked for Simon Cowell, sadly I don't see the same happening for Peter. While the idea for the show was great, the execution was lousy, and as one of Britain's supposed new breed of business leader, Jones just doesn't have the X-Factor.
Not only am I an avid fan of the new breed of TV business shows, but also having known Peter Jones 'before he was famous' - when we filmed series 1 of Dragons' Den back in 2003 - I was interested to see how he had developed in his role as 'celebrity entrepreneur'.
But minutes in, as we were flown over the City of London in the opening credits and then had a street level view of his shiny new Bentley arriving outside a disused warehouse-type building, it became clear that we were destined to endure a lowest common denominator formulaic pastiche of The Apprentice meets Dragons' Den.
Jones has selected 6 would-be entrepreneurs to take part in the show, each trying to build their business in a 10 week period working in an open plan office, under the scrutiny and 'guidance' of Jones.
The problem with the show is that it quickly becomes apparent that Jones hasn't a clue about brands or marketing, constantly misguiding the businesses in his charge.
Thus we see the 'Gardening Girlies' being encouraged to re-brand to something more 'attention grabbing' - and then being heaped with praise for coming up with the new identity 'Sod Women'. Personally I can't think of a brand name more likely to alienate what is predominantly a female, middle England target customer.
Similarly, vodka juice girl was given a slating by Jones for her attempts at finding a name for her product - citing 'Death' cigarettes as a great example of an attention grabbing brand (yes, those were the fags launched in 1991 by the company which was in liquidation by 1999). She finally resorted to grabbing passing joggers on the South Bank for their suggestions.
Back to the warehouse office and Jones has summoned everyone to a meeting to discuss their progress. The Gardening Girlies, sorry I mean 'Sod Women', have arrived in navy pinstripe suits wearing ties - only to receive more praise from Jones for showing so much progress under his guidance. No doubt in a future episode they will arrive having undergone a complete sex change, only for Jones to coo 'Congratulations ladyboys, the penny has finally dropped with you that only men can be successful in business'.
Finally, Jones heads down a pier for a showdown with vodka juice girl - plus the inevitable threat of a sacking - when what she really needed most at this point is some friendly guidance from one of London's big branding agencies.
This is where I think the show was so disappointing compared to, say, the brilliant Mary Queen of Shops (BBC2 Thursdays 9pm). In that series, Mary Portas not only points out where the businesses are going wrong, but then really gives brilliant hands-on guidance - by bringing some of the top fashion professionals in to help show how it should be done.
As the show progressed, while Jones' teeth got whiter, his cufflinks got bigger and the Bentley got shinier, Jones personality got thinner and thinner. By the end of the epsiode I was left feeling that this was simply another TV vehicle for his now monstrous sized alpha male ego.
The penny finally dropped when we saw the last frame and realised that the show had been created and produced by Jones' own TV production company Peter Jones TV. Like his Max Clifford co-client Simon Cowell, Jones clearly sees TV production as his latest way to make some much needed money.
A quick peek at the latest Phones International accounts shows why the diversification is needed - £4million profit on £186million sales is a nice business to have, but hardly puts Jones in the 'Tycoon' bracket of a Branson, Dyson or Sugar. Especially when up the road at Red Letter Days (the business I started, which Jones acquired out of administration in 2005 in a flourish of 'I'm-a-Dragon-and-I-know-a-Great-Business-Opportunity-When-I-see-One' publicity) has just filed a loss of £7.1 million.
While the TV route may have worked for Simon Cowell, sadly I don't see the same happening for Peter. While the idea for the show was great, the execution was lousy, and as one of Britain's supposed new breed of business leader, Jones just doesn't have the X-Factor.
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