Water is Running Out
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
A very quick post about an amazing, thought-provoking book called Blue Planet Run.
From the creators of the highly acclaimed New York Times best-selling Day in the Life and America 24/7 series, Rick Smolan and Jennifer Erwitt, Blue Planet Run provides readers with a fascinating and thought-provoking look at the water problems facing humanity on every continent, as well as some of the hopeful solutions and courageous “water heroes” focused on alleviating this crisis.
This is serious, and has consequences beyond our imagination.
Spread the word and download a FREE PDF of the book here (link is within a box in the centre of the page).
Don’t Put It Off
Tim Ferris is one guy I am REALLY looking forward to meeting. He is the author of the best selling book, the Four Hour Work Week
He has recently done a great interview with Derek Sivers and is well worth reading. Something that resonated very strongly with me, and I am sure it will with you is this:
I heard this beautiful bit of advice once that said, “If you’ve got a list of 20 things you should be doing, pick the most important one or two and then just let go of the rest. You will never upload your music to every one of these sites. You will never contact every person. You will never enter every contest. Just take the one or two things that would make the biggest difference in your career, do those one or two, then stop. Turn your attention to the next one or two most important.”
Listen up, smell the coffee, give yourself a slap (I just did, ouch) - this is something to never forget.
(Oops, forget to say - I’ve just found out he is going to be speaking to us at the Do Lectures!). Hmmm… the website is saying he is not confirmed yet….
Get the simple stuff right and you will be a success
I bet you all know companies, people, products that seem to get the simple stuff right. Take a second and try and think of an example….
Perhaps it is an online store that provides great service and communication time and time again (Amazon is my vote here - they really cannot be beaten in my mind at the moment).
Perhaps it is someone you know who never forgets your birthday and always remembers to send a card (I really try hard with this, and in fact, some people have complimented me on this - set an alarm on your online calendar a few days before and set to annual repeat - not that hard really).
Maybe it’s a brand of clothes you can always rely on - good quality and fit, no quibble returns and also some good technical features (Howies every time for me here).
Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter.
What matters most is getting the simple stuff right.
Doing something consistently and brilliantly. Many people, me included, have exactly the opposite effect 8 times out of 10. So if you can be those other 2 times, you are going to stand out.
I really, really try and do 2 things well with my marketing clients,
1. Great ideas and enthusiasm for their business - I take it personally that what we do does well
2. Communication and availability - I’ve recently received some feedback from a client who commented on this and said it was a huge selling point.
Could be fantastic but you are often let down
Food is a good example to look at. You can pay stupid prices for over complicated meals, whereas in fact, a superb pie n’ mash, or fish n’ chips, is much nicer and cheaper.
Pizza is one of my favourite foods - done well, you cannot beat it. However, the trick is to find a restaurant that makes authentic pizza - proper dough, fresh ingredients, and cooked correctly. (If anyone knows of a decent place like this in Yorkshire, then let me know).
The 37signals guys have a good post highlighting an amazing pizza place in NY, and when I get back there, this is going to be on my list of places to visit.
Again, simple stuff, done brilliantly works.
You can also apply this to every day items. I have a strong opinion that if you are going to be using an item every day, day in, day out, then you want that item to work. Simple. Needs to work well, with no irritation, preferably looking good too, and also it must ‘feel good’.
Feeling good is hard to pin down, but a couple of examples are:
OSX - everything feels great and the UI is stunning.
Vipp and Simple Human bins - yes, you read right, bins. Something you use day in and day out, so these ones are well designed, look cool and work perfectly.
Telephones - our B&O phones have an interface not dissimilar to an iPod’s scroll wheel - makes looking for a contact / name so much easier.
So, back to your business, my business…. Concentrate on delighting your customers by getting the simple stuff right. You will stand out, and it can make a BIG difference.
If you fancy a good read, then check this book out >>> Simply Better
Misc Tuesday
Stretching the brand?
Innocent Smoothies have been a HUGE success over the last few years and have an enviable market share. I noticed last week that they have just launched their own OJ. I guess it makes sense, people know, like and trust Innocent, and hence will choose their new offering, but will it worry brand’s like Tropicana? We will have to wait and see…. They have a strong name and reputation and advertising that has been now copied to death.
One of my Fave Hotel Brands
Malmaison is a great chain of hotels (they also own Hotel Du Vin). I have consistently had a good experience with them. Stylish hotesl, great service, and great food. A big thanks to James for lunch 
The burger, as you can see was particularly impressive and the presentation makes all the difference. Their advertising is always distinctive and innovative and their use of rich colours lends itself well to their brand image.
One hotel brand that has really impressed me recently is Premier Inn - not my first choice of hotels if going somewhere nice with my fiancee, but for business when on my own, they provide a spotlessly clean room, great prices (how about £49 per night!) and useful locations. Hats off to them for delivering exactly what their brand promises - a great night’s sleep at low prices.
Bad Apple?
Michael Arrington over at Techcrunch has an interesting post about his Apple woes, and it seems like he has struck a chord. Being one of the most widely read blogs on the web, I hope he has Cupertino taking note. I have not had too many problems with my Apple gear, but there have been some (certainly not perfect by any stretch of the imagination):
- Unable to login on the MacPro last week
- GPS not working on my iPhone 3G
- Shockingly bad battery life on my MBP
Apple need to wake up and realise that they cannot rely on their reputation any more, they also need to deliver quality and reliable products.
YearBook Yourself
Hello Monday!
What a weekend - shooting an amazing wedding down in the Cotswolds and loads of client projects this week.
To start the week off with some fun, you must check out YearBook Yourself! This is just brilliant
I am sure I have some actual photos like this!
The best work places in the world?
I am a firm believer that you work better when you are in a nice environment.
This is one area where most companies have NOT a CLUE. They don’t quite grasp that the work place is where their people, their important people, spend a large amount of their waking time. Where they are paid to work and be productive. Where they interact and engage with fellow colleagues and of course customers.
Now wouldn’t it be a radical, an incredible concept to actually make that workplace a cool place to be? A comfortable place to be? An inspiring place to be?
Damn, it’s not rocket science is it.
One niche of companies however, do seem to understand the importance of a decent workplace, and they are agencies. thisain’tnodisco is a superb site which showcases some of the finest, coolest, hottest agency workplaces from around the world.
And I am officially in awe of some of these….
Just check that out - now that is an office space. Unfortunately my ‘command centre’ as it is affectionately called is not quite up there yet or ready to be submitted to thisain’tnodisco. But I am planning some improvements. I need better organisation and I really need a better desk!
Current situation:
- rectangular desk which does not make use of small office space
- no shelves
- duff printer
- clutter on small bookshelf
- one low power desk light
Aiming for:
- L-shaped desk from Ikea to make use of space
- Better lighting
- 2/3 shelves
- Box files for paperwork
- Decent printer
- Small cupboard to store clutter
I think this will go a long way to being more comfortable where I work, and with the winter approaching, working in the kitchen with the doors open is not going to be feasible 
Bad and Good
Not quite the start I had in mind today…
On with the MacPro and login - and back to login, and loop and loop. I could log into Kate’s user account, but not mind, so after a call to Apple and a check of all my back ups (including a client’s wedding photos!), I did a successful archive and install and all is now ok. Phew!
So, that was the bad part of the morning. The good part is that I have just learnt that I’ve been accepted to attend the Do lectures organised by Howies!
The DO lectures will be all about getting a handful of speakers down here in the hope that they may inspire you to do something. To give you the tools and the desire to change the things you care about.
I applied to attend this superb event a few weeks ago, (after completely missing the actual announcement and having to dash in a postcard by way of applying - I think this stood out a little!), and I am really pleased to be going.
What am I going to DO? I’m going to be learning from great people, meeting great people and seeing how I can be part of making a difference in the world, with my ‘angle’ being getting companies to market themselves differently. No BS, just honest, authentic communication.
PS Howies are having a Merino Wool sale this week - if you have not tried / worn their Merino gear, you are missing out - it is superb!
Yahoo! dancing with Matt
Yahoo! may have been going through a VERY rocky time recently and not sure about what they need to do int he future, but they still know how to have some fun, and that is important!
You may well have heard of Matt Harding, of travelling around the world and dancing fame, (blogged about here a while back), well Yahoo! invited him to come and do his stuff on their campus and it looks like they had a great time!
So remember, if things are looking a bit grim, and you are feeling a bit low, smile, and have some fun
The Olympics - Not very authentic
You would think that a spectacle, an event, so large and so important as the Olympics would be planned, scheduled and delivered in a very methodical manner, not overlooking any detail.
Well, China have not disappointed, delivering a staggering level of visual eye candy with the opening ceremony, employed rockets to disperse rain crowds and seem to have thought of just about everything.
Unfortunately, that is also their downfall.
Olympic bosses dumped “ugly” girl for a pretty one.
Opening fireworks were CGI enhanced.
Cheer squads used so the crowds look “right”.
All of these headlines do nothing for China’s already poor reputation. Firstly, I will tell you what I really feel - China should have never got the Olympics in the first place. There human rights record and their crushing of Tibet’s voice is truly shocking. Secondly, if they are going to try and make the best of it, then at least be authentic.
What started out as China trying to make their games be the best yet, has dissolved into people learning that they are yet again, trying to distort reality. Not only have their promises about human rights been broken (nothing has happened), but they are now doing themselves even more harm.
The lessons from this for any brand, any business, and in fact any person are:
- Don’t be false
- Don’t try and pull the wool over people’s eyes - you will be found it
- Keep your promises
- Do admit that you are wrong, and say sorry - people will respect you for this
- Try and be authentic - there is nothing worse than subterfuge and deceit
On a slightly happier note, check out Google’s video showing the Olympic site on Google Earth - very impressive!
Sunday Catch Up
It’s been a manic few days - driving down to Somerset to shoot a wonderful wedding, staying in the worst hotel I’ve seen for a while and driving through torrential rain to get home. It really makes you value your house / home and especially, my wonderful fiancee who has been such a star this week :-) You are the best!
The coming week is also looking pretty busy - 2 big web projects, a PPC / lead generation campaign project with one of my fave friends and clients, some work for a company in Canada (this is looking amazing) and lots of wedding photography processing (not forgetting an amazing wedding on Saturday! Phew!
One thing of note, Karoo, our wonderul ISP went down for over 7 hours yesterday so I will be placing a call with their marketing / pr lady tomorrow - I feel some compensation coming on.
