The Pyramid Of Expectation
So, I made a bit of a mistake yesterday. I wrote a 3,000 word essay on suspense and brand mystery, rolling in far too many case studies, and providing way more content in one post than I’ve said in past times that one should! I’m going to, instead, start right at the beginning with a [...]
How Apple Creates Suspense, Why Satisfaction Doesn’t Matter, and A Lesson From Star Wars
I spoke a while ago on the idea of what I’m calling ‘brand mystery’ – we looked at JJ Abrams’ TED Talk and Lost, and how he tells a story by suspense. He never provides the complete picture, and this is what keeps you hooked. This is contrary to what one copywriter thought when he [...]
Pepsi and a Thought About Cause Marketing, Authenticity and Commonality
Yesterday we discussed Amazon and the challenge intangibles and digital products have with perceived value. I must say, the comments yesterday were rich and deep, and it’s really got me thinking. I’ll be picking up this theme again very soon – if you haven’t said a word there yet, please do leave a comment on what [...]
Under Promise, Over Deliver
When I started working at my Church in 2003 I quickly learnt that the largest part of my work, both in the office and on Sundays (game day), was one of managing expectations. Thus when I repeatedly failed in delivering expectations, I learnt the further lesson that expectation is closely linked with communication – or [...]
Sucker For A Story. A Bigger Sucker For A Mystery
This image enthrals me. Why? Because it doesn’t just tell a story. It also doesn’t tell the story: are these two people talking, or have they just met? What are they meeting for? What is that moon-like thing? What does this image mean and stand for? By mentally filling in the gaps, I look at [...]
10 Tips For Creating Spreadable Service
Delivering a great customer experience is equally about sales and service. Great sales gets you market share, but great service gets you both wallet share and makes your customer a brand advocate. Pretty much every business / church / charity / individual, right now, is offering fist-clenchingly bad service – so when you serve them [...]
Lift The Restrictions
Last week I attended the launch night of Carluccio’s in Exeter. I got to talking with the PR guys who had handled the event about my freshly released New PR in 2010 framework, and to illustrate the point, I conducted a little test. I quickly tweeted if anyone had anything to ask the people at [...]
Making It Personal
Last month, as part of Aaron+Gould’s first birthday, we gave away 3 experience consultancy sessions. On Monday, I had the opportunity of spending one of those sessions with Rick Timmis, and hear all about what he’s doing with making Customer Relationship Management (CRM) more personal and more friendly. Other than the Exeter Tweetup I held [...]
Again, One Is Too Small A Number
Happy birthday to us. We celebrate our first birthday today. Right in the middle of recession hype, on August 12th 2008, I put paper to pen and Aaron+Gould was born. One year later I realise again than one is too small a number to acheive significance. One is too small a number because one year [...]
