Culinary alchemist Heston Blumenthal was cornered by The Marketing Society’s editor Elen Lewis at our Annual conference and was asked what he thought the successful ingredients are behind innovation…
We would love to know what were the key points you learnt at our Annual Conference. Please add your comments to this post or tweet us using the hash tag #GlobalLeadership.
The shortlist of 20 brands has now been announced for The Marketing Society Brand of the Year 2011, in association with ITV and Marketing magazine. Now it’s over to you to place your vote and select the final five. You have until 23 November. This final shortlist will be put to a public vote of 1,000 senior marketers at our Annual Dinner on 29 November. Up next in our series of mini profiles of all the shortlisted brands, Apple…
In the year that Steve Jobs, the inspirational founder, died, Apple continues to wow consumers and competitors with its exhilarating and imaginative approach to innovation.
The video below ia a brilliant example of ‘doing more with less’ and challenging even the most basic assumptions of what defines space. And, again, in the spirit of ‘the future is already here, just not widely distributed’, I wonder how long it will be before someone like IKEA figures out how to deliver this track-and-rail system to the masses. If they don’t, I’m sure some ambitious Challenger will…
If you are looking for some inspiration for marketing financial services you would do well to keep an eye on South Africa. With its unique first world/third world demographic mix and some highly educated and visionary entrepreneurs this market has consistently produced some great companies and some effective innovations. One of my favourite case studies is OUTsurance. Started in 1998 by Messers Roos, Aron and Otto it has grown to be one of the leaders in short term insurance and has now expanded into commercial insurance and life insurance.
The basis of their business idea was a simple consumer insight that with insurance you are forever paying in and very rarely get anything out. So they introduced the idea of cash pay-outs if you have a good no-claims record. And to drive home the message they called the company OUTsurance – get it? Well, everyone did. They used all the usual aspects of a successful business model in insurance – high levels of customer service, approachable style and simple language and of course smart underwriting that allows them to target best value premiums at the best risks. This was the basis of Directline’s success but they went one step further with this idea of insurance where you get something out, captured not just in their name but also in consistent and high profile communications that have a kind of “we’re on your side” attitude. Read the rest of this entry »
Customers don’t have all the answers, especially where technology is developing so fast that no-one knows what will come next, or how we will respond. So marketers need to be brave – they need to have great judgement and they need to use it imaginatively to influence their business’s decisions. They need to be commercial – to understand which thing customers want can be delivered profitably. And finally, they need to be able to turn great ideas into great execution.
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#WLTM: Marketing Society Business Leader Paul Wilson, CMO, Sunguard http://t.co/xZYSkyovFebruary 3, 2012 2:39
@BrainJuicer: How Can Brands Show Us They Care? http://t.co/SoDI8XQnFebruary 3, 2012 12:13
@RobinHoughton Thanks for braving the cold last night and joining us @SohoHouse. We will send you another book to review for #bookclub soon.February 3, 2012 12:03
The shortlist of 20 brands has now been announced for The Marketing Society Brand of the Year 2011, in association with ITV and Marketing magazine. Now it’s over to you to 
