INSERT NAME's Day off

The Grand Hotel Oslo

So creativity and the myriad of thought processes that 'create' it, can come and go. Our last piece on environment was about creating conditions prevalent to successful working/living/studying balance.

This week we were in Oslo visiting customers, and just one night in a different place, with a different vibe, different fashion trends and different human beings can reset the creative part of the mind in the most amazing way.

The point? Take a day off every now and then and go somewhere, take a notebook or take some pictures. It helps. 

Environment as Inspiration

Google's Covent Garden Office, London, UK

We all know the powers of inspiration a change in environment can give you. From that walk out of the office, to a holiday destination that opens the mind and let's out a bit of the clutter.

A positive and fun working environment can be inspiring also, giving people a chance to do their best and most creative work. This is a value add for your customers over the competition. Staff are going to do a better job when engaged and happy, that is not to tricky to grasp.

What is tricky is maintaining it, and seeing a tangible benefit for the customer. Given the obvious principle of the best people making the best team in terms of outputs, can you make the best team from scratch? 

When staffing a startup this is often a key dilemma. A funded startup needs its staff to be right on the money from day one, and for everyone to buy into what the brand is all about. This can take some time, and you can't magic a culture out of nowhere. However the environment that they are brought into can go some distance.

So when budgeting for office costs, furniture, office expenses etc, throw a little more money that way, and you will perhaps see more return from the comfy beanbag than you ever thought possible.

Spellbound by.... Plankton?

There is a lot of beautiful content out there at the moment. The future of marketing is apparently all things content. Which would seem to be obvious bearing in mind how often we are online.

Latest stats put mobile phone use at over 2 hours per day, and that ain't making telephone calls. But what it is at that makes great content? Sure,smart design, snappy facts etc will always be in demand. The first infographics proved that. More important than presentation and conciseness is the actual subject matter.

If a topic is confusing, boring or repetitive, no amount of smart layout work or well edited video is going to save it. If you can make the topic interesting, 50% of the battle is won. Just check out this captivating, relaxing and beautiful video on Plankton!

https://youtu.be/xFQ_fO2D7f0

Who would you like to work with?

There are some people that you just really want to work with, whether it is 'one day' or right now.

This is a great motivator and helps drive your business culture down certain paths. It is the 'act as if' principle, yup, got it from Boiler Room. Which was by the way Ben Affleck's best role.

The graphic designer Grzegorz Domaradzki falls into this category for Hooke and Marshall. The idea of working on a creative campaign for a traditional brand, with his creative take on it would be ace. This is what motivates us to keep upping our game and keep those ideas coming. Check out is stuff here http://www.iamgabz.com/ its awesome.

Gabz, if you ever read this, say hello! 

Any colour, everyday

I guess everyone is aware of the marketing power of the Black Friday slogan, and what the day itself has come to mean. For sure there are chances to buy various items at lower prices than normal, shortly before facing the all out assault for your money that is the run-in to Christmas.

However we also know that most retailers use this day to abandon any sort of market based approach, and try and clear the shelves, a quick cash grab if you will. This day allows Sales departments to run the rule over well planned marketing campaigns, and try and flog as much gear as possible, whatever the margin trade off is.

This sales led approach essentially allows businesses to drop their interest in customer requirements for a day, and start telling them what they should be buying instead. This day was designed to grab people who were looking for a cheap laptop, and convince them to buy a new television instead. The convincing mechanism is a discount! Groundbreaking.

Long have discounts been looked upon with cynicism by today's brand savvy consumers. Rather than give us a discount on something for one day of the year, how about look at the price of things we want year round? Poundland anyone?

'Fitness' related businesses selling t-shirts, supplements and meal plans must be the biggest exponent of the discount strategy. There is never less than 10% off, or a buy one get one free, or even the famous 'Penny Sale' of a certain high street health related retailer.

We would prefer these retailers to actually find out what people want, and temper a long term strategy around that. Loyalty works both ways, if you decided to buy your regular group a friends a round of drinks just one day of the year, I'm not sure how popular you would be. 

Ever read emails?

So an interesting highlight from the good people over at TechCrunch.

Direct Marketing (if that is what this is pigeon-holed as) is long established and generally long loathed as well. We are not fans of the email blast, or the direct mail out, or the door to door flyer!

However, there is something to be said for it when it comes to promoting a cause, or attempting to rouse a crowd or gather a gathering! Rather than bombard people with countless emails (just think of your friend doing that half marathon next week), a simple, personal question that has a real purpose  seems like a good idea. And it might just start a conversation, think of that!

Hustle aims to provide exactly that, check out the article we read HERE.

Be gone flood of emails!

Sometimes you need to use the stick!

Sometimes you come across stuff that generally is pretty cool, but doesn't really have a message.

This does, and there ain't no carrots involved! 

CLICK HERE FOLKS

Thanks to Stumbleupon for the link... have fun!

Oh de toilet!

Having worked in the WASH sector for over 5 years with DelAgua, we know all about issues with water and sanitation. Also having worked extensively on WASH projects in West Bengal, this piece of news from the folks at Google is a winner.

I imagine this service will one day be rolled out all over, and it may well lead to an improvement in cleanliness, safety  and an increase in the number of public lavatories available in major cities.

Credit The NextWeb for this story!

http://thenextweb.com/google/2016/11/16/google-toilet-locator/