Advice from a Professional Problem Solver...

About a year ago the CMO from my former agency sent me the following seven tips... I find them incredibly useful on a daily basis. The seven tips come from Paul Williams, a professional problem solver.
Use a couple, use them all... One thing is for sure, they will make you a better and more marketable brand.

Enjoy the free advice.

Keep an Idea Journal - Always have something with you to write down thoughts and ideas.
Add Knowledge - When given an assignment, do more than is expected. Add more.
Arrive With A Solution - Finding something broken can position you as part of the problem. Arriving with suggested fixes makes you part of the solution.
Jerks Are Everywhere, Learn from Them - You can learn in two ways (1) learn how to deal with the jerks, and (2) learn how NOT to treat others.
Avoid Jargon - Jargon is the low-hanging fruit of the bizworld. Consider it a best practice to use real words and avoid jargon.
Expand Your Field of Knowledge - The more you learn and experience, the bigger your brain reference library.
You Are Your Brand - Just as a company thinks about the quality of their products and service, their output, how they treat their customers, how they act, react, and are perceived - so should you as a person. Update your brand.

Comments

Necessary Brand Extension?

As the yogurt wars continue to strengthen, brands are needing to find a stronger point of differentiation and go after stronger niches. While reading something online a couple of days ago, the above ad came up and left me thinking; is this right? Let me begin by saying that I love yogurt and in fact have it for breakfast most often than not. To be quite frank, I have never being a big fan of Yoplait - it's too sweet for my taste. This could very well be the fact that I grew up in Mexico, where yogurt is sour, so in my mind, the more sour it is the more natural. So you might be wondering what brand of yogurt I buy - well it is actually Greek, Fage, and I have to say that I love it. With that said, and given my inquisitive nature, I began asking people if they would buy the Yoplait Greek. Interestingly enough, of those who are currently buying some sort of Greek yogurt, not necessarily Fage said that they wouldn't buy it. Those who consumer Yoplait said that they would definitely...

KFC's Interesting Ad Buy... Is this right?

A huge part of advertising strategy is placement - because depending on where you buy is he awareness that you will get. But before I go into my observation as to the picture you see on the blog, let me begin by sayint that not too long I was reading a very interesting article on the "Disneyzation of Society," which can be boiled down to 4 key objectives: 1) Theming, 2) De-differentiation of Consumption, 3) Merchandising, and 4) Emotional Labor. Though my attempt on today's post is not to talk about the paper it is important to say why it is that I am bringing up. About a decade ago or so, a book that tackled the idea of globalization through the usage of a major corporation, McDonald's, revolutionized the way we look at business - the author called this McDonalization. McDonalization is the idea that global corporations seek to maximize 1) efficiency, 2) calculability, 3) predicatability, and 4) control. Well, in order to be able to accomplish the 4 things, companies...

Is this not a bit too intrusive?!

I know that good marketing is supposed to catch you a bit off guard and make you think about the message but this is just too much... Why? Because, 1) although it in fact was unexpected, it crossed the privacy line (which by today's standards is pretty low). 2) it's not creative, and 3) lacks authenticity... Which is the last thing you want if you deal with money. Thought?!

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