Simon Mainwaring

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

Posts

 
August 6, 2010

Lessons from BP and bankers: The need for a more sustainable future

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I woke up this morning and read this post by Robert Kuttner in Huffington Post. I think his opening points are spot on. He tells us that Wall Street and BP demonstrate the same problem. In both cases, a powerful, politically protected industry invented something that could not easily be repaired when it broke. We […]

I woke up this morning and read this post by Robert Kuttner in Huffington Post. I think his opening points are spot on. He tells us that Wall Street and BP demonstrate the same problem. In both cases, a powerful, politically protected industry invented something that could not easily be repaired when it broke. We …

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August 4, 2010

SocialVest: An antidote to brand and consumer apathy

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When it comes to making the world a better place, corporations are often accused of apathy (the flip-side of blind self-interest). But if consumers are truly committed to social change, they must answer the same challenge. That’s why I think SocialVest is such as smart idea. It makes giving almost effortless removing yet another barrier …

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August 2, 2010

The ‘Why” vs. “How”: What makes some brands extraordinary and others not

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Last Friday I had to the privilege of speaking at the NCSA Annual Conference (National Collegiate Scouting Association) in Chicago. Not only did I get to meet some of the top athletes, coaches and scouts in the country, but I got to experience first hand what I believe is the most important trait that any …

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July 28, 2010

Brands, if you really want to make money look to your motives

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Everywhere you look these days there’s another instance of a brand being caught out for disingenuous, duplicitous or unconscionable behavior. It’s almost as if they can’t believe either a) this Internet thing is here to stay, or b) that it requires transparency. So in an effort to shunt to process forward, let’s look at two …

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July 26, 2010

How Old Spice reminds ad folk what they forgot

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Last week Tim Leberecht of Design Mind suggested the future of advertising may soon be defined by transformats. He used the Old Spice television and twitter sensation as the best demonstration of this new dynamic. Here’s how he explained transformats. – Transmedia: Transformats use a multi-modular presentation of narratives that extends the story across various …

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July 23, 2010

Conflict Minerals & Falling Whistles: How weapons of war become instruments of peace

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httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtZLIbSAHBk This week legislation was signed by President Obama that finally drew attention to the issue of the ‘Conflict Minerals’ that go into making the batteries in the cell phones we use everyday. This deservedly made headline news with most stories focused on the tragedy that such mining visits on the lives of so many …

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