I’m quite intrigued by the Graze snacks brand. I’ve started to see a few half eaten boxes on people’s desks at work. Now my daughter’s discovered them.

Essentially, it’s a delivery system of healthy snacks. I think the idea’s quite appealing. Nice website, wide choice of healthy looking snacks, looks quite contemporary. However, not sure it will ever become truly mainstream. We’re already surrounded by massive snack choices: train stations, supermarkets, petrol stations. They’re everywhere, so what’s the benefit of home delivery? Plus I feel that they’re a bit over-packaged and over-priced (£3.79) to make them a regular purchase.

However, will be interesting to see how the brands evolves, so watch this space.

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I’m so excited about the latest David Hockney exhibition, A Bigger Picture,  at the Royal Academy, his new collection of East Yorkshire landscapes. He’s a true inspiration and teaches us so much about what it takes to be truly creative. 

Be Productive

The exhibition fills the whole of the Royal Academy and took several years to complete. True creatives work incredibly hard and never stop producing. Work hard, produce lots of outputs and hopefully something truly impressive will emerge. 

Keep Experimenting

Hockney has always embraced new technology and this exhibition features a number of iPad drawings. Even though he’s in 70s with a stellar reputation he continues try out new ways of working. Even the choice of landscapes was a new departure for him. Never get in a rut, don’t be afraid to learn and try new stuff

Be Bold

Easy to say, much more difficult to do. The scale of some of the paintings are huge. The colours are dazzling. It really blows you away. Never settle for mediocrity. Push your ideas as hard as you can.

Our tickets are booked for 3.30 on 26^th March. Can’t wait.

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Christmas ads are in full swing, trying to persuade the hard-up British public to part with its cash. These are 3 of the most talked about ads this year

Littlewoods

Response: largely negative. Why? Effectively it destroys the myths and magic of Christmas, with kids demanding presents from mums (not Santa) via a toe-curlingly embarrassing rap. Has resulted in a bit of a consumer backlash, with calls for it to be banned.  Hear, hear.

John Lewis

Response: largely positive. Why? A lovely story, beautifully acted, finely executed with a Smiths soundtrack.  Very insightful. Makes grown men weep (allegedly). Almost as good as the ‘Always a Woman’ ad.

Marks and Spencer

Response: disappointing. I remember the ad when Take That came to visit Twiggy at her lovely house and they played charades and threw snowballs. That’s the kind of Christmas I aspire to. Now, we get the finalists singing along during the one of the many, many X-Factor commercial breaks. Poorly branded and frankly a bit downmarket. Seems an odd association for M&S. Shame.

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Energisers are really important in workshops, particularly with big groups and for those that last more than 1 day. My favourite energiser is balloon modelling. It's a great way to kick off a day or an afternoon session, often the graveyard slot.This is how it works:

Divide into teams of 4-5 and give each team a balloon modelling kit (pump and set of those long balloons) Ask them to create something eg a restaurant, bathroom, set of bagpipes - whatever's relevant to the theme of the workshop. They're also allowed to use other objects in the room to bring the creation to life.  Give them about 10-15 minutes to complete the task and 'judge' the winning idea.

It works because its high energy, creative, generates teamwork and gets you into a playful state of mind - perfect for idea generation sessions.

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It’s hard to find a marketing book that feels fresh and ground-breaking . However, this is an exception. It’s a fascinating book and one of the few that I’ll re-visit on a regular basis, particularly when it comes to discussions around brand strategy.  

What I particularly like about this book is that it challenges conventional marketing theory and proves a lot of it to be plain wrong. He proves it through data ie via analysing real consumer behaviour across many different categories over a long period of time. His arguments are therefore very persuasive and he draws some very clear conclusions which he calls ‘scientific laws’

A lot of it is quite challenging, particularly for people – like myself – who are not particularly numerate. Also it’s quite uncomfortable as he suggests that certain ‘truths’ that we all take for granted, like the importance of targeting specific consumer groups, building loyalty, focusing on heavy users and creating differentiation are in fact, false.

I also like his combative style. He’s clearly not a fan of ad agencies and he’s quite happy to criticise the work of fellow academics and other marketing gurus who he thinks are wrong.

In the long term as people adopt his thinking, this book will change the way marketing works. I also think that it’s a book that all people in the marketing community need to read and reflect on if they want to grow their brands.

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I love the way the Omlet has extended its range of products from chickens through to bees (via rabbits and guinea pigs) I particularly like the Beehaus, with its bright colours and lovely designs. 

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I love these Brume wall stickers. A fab way to add colour and style to any room.

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The market research industry has always been a female dominated profession and in my experience of running insight generation workshops, the most insightful people in the room are often the women.

I think the reason is because the characteristics of insightful people are essentially female: empathy, intuition, listening, curiosity, open-ness.

So, to become more insightful, male marketers need to adopt a more feminine mindset.

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