Celiblogcy (or 20 months of ‘dead blog’)

Well, to lift a quote from the late great Lowell George of Little Feat fame, ‘it’s been a year since I’ve been away, I guess that guitar player sure could play’… except it hasn’t been a year, it’s been longer.  Shocking really.  I’ve been watching the gap between the present and my previ0us post grow with [...]

Political brand values

I wonder if Barack Obama’s people have caught this video of a US reporter for the UK based Guardian newspaper trying to interview the anointed one’s campaign volunteers. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Here we have ‘the next Kennedy’ lighting people up with the sort of enthusiasm for the political process that I [...]

C’mon Allan’s, c’mon

As a long time amateur musician, I have often had cause to notice the lousy levels of service found in musical equipment stores.  When I was a young ‘stratling’ these places were plain intimidating; populated as they were by rock star look-a-likes who seemed to feel customers were simply there to practise sneering at.Things have [...]

An elevating thought

I reckon that there is one area where the summation of mankind’s endeavour combines to create a truly cross-disciplined creation – the elevator.
Have you ever been to a country and seen a relatively simple idea that could and should be implemented elsewhere?  Or, conversely, have you ever despaired of one culture’s seeming inability to learn [...]

Marketing Lego – modular vs. craft values

When I first started out on the qualitative research path, my boss and mentor (an eminent qualitative guru of the time), instilled a rule throughout her company which was this: when writing a project proposal, we were NOT to refer to previous projects from which we might draw inspiration.
This will undoubtedly strike many as [...]

Manners maketh the career

For a short time after Uni I was involved in social work. After realising that I was now despised by all – clients, media, employers and public – I decided that I had better things to do with my time and left to become a qualitative researcher. The transition from public to private [...]

‘Old fartism’

I recognise that I may be teetering on the brink of ‘old fartism’.  Before finally accepting having taken an irreversible plunge towards old age proper, I thought I’d have another rant about use of language, a topic fast becoming a bugbear, in order to check my bearings with possible passers by. 
As a qualitative research person, [...]

ROI and the Dark Empire

I met someone over the weekend who was unprepared to let her children see (or I think read) Lord of The Rings because of its unnecessarily violent content. She holds this view, despite that fact that she hasn’t seen the film (or presumably read the books). This is not a view I have a great [...]

Digital hippies?

For some time I have taken the view that we are moving rapidly towards (or are already in) a new age of marketing; an age which heralds a return to good old fashioned values. A return to a time when folks did business with those they liked and valued rather than with those who shouted [...]

Abuse of language

There is more bullshit in marketing now than ever.  I wouldn’t mind betting that being able to speak this crap is a more valued job requirement than clear and effective thinking. 
Occasionally I go off on one about market-babble in some social situation or other and notice the looks of horror on the faces (of some) [...]