Simon Mainwaring

We First provides consulting and training to help companies tell the story of their good work in ways that build their business

Brands

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This week’s book is a little out of left field. It’s called ‘Athletes Wanted’ by Chris Krause and is about how to successfully market yourself as a brand from your early college days, through scholarships and ultimately life potential. I found it a really interesting take on personal branding as it was so specific, practical […]

This week’s book is a little out of left field. It’s called ‘Athletes Wanted’ by Chris Krause and is about how to successfully market yourself as a brand from your early college days, through scholarships and ultimately life potential. I found it a really interesting take on personal branding as it was so specific, practical …

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Social media has opened the door to far more effective dialogue between brands and consumers. Like any relationship, though, if both parties aren’t equally invested it’s unlikely to last. At first, many brands just rushed to have any sort of social media presence. In my experience it went something like this. Twitter account. Check. Facebook …

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“Radio equals listening to the playlists of unknown radio people. Newspapers equal reading the playlists of unknown newspaper people. I want to read and hear lists curated by people I know.” I read these words a couple of weeks ago. They touched on an important trend that will change the advertising industry. Traditional silos (television, …

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For a long time advertising has operated on a conceit that brands and consumers were in dialogue when, in truth, brands were dictating consumer behavior, pushing messaging on the public and often exploiting their trust or gullibility. Phrases such as “We’re here to help you”, “We put you first” and notions like customer-centric companies sounded …

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Ordinarily I wouldn’t write about this sort of thing as it’s so close to home but it’s such a wonderful example of how a brand can use service to its advantage. At Christmas I went home to Australia to visit my family. At LAX, my daughter was wandering through a store while waiting to board …

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Steve Jobs didn’t just launch the latest ‘must have’ consumer accessory last week. He unleashed the latest assault on everything we thought we knew as marketers. Faris Yacob responded the iPad launch with a great post about its impact on languaging. Appropriately entitled ‘The Medium Isn’t the Message’, he questioned – to paraphrase him – …

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