Transocean, internationalism and belonging

BY THE THAMES — There’s an interesting article about Transocean in The Sunday Times last weekend (subscription required).  Perhaps you read it?

I have been expecting something to come out, and certainly the implication is that we will hear a lot more about Transocean in the near future.

I am sure there’s a lot to say on that. [...]

"Mirror, mirror on the wall…"

PARSONS GREEN — There’s a lady in a business suit sitting reading The GuardianThe Media Guardian is tossed on the bench beside her.  Untouched.

It’s maybe symptomatic of a larger issue. And then again maybe I am just getting old. [Cue rant.] Why do the media need sections dedicated to… the media? 

I find myself hanging [...]

John Lewis & Co-op are not numpties

DISTRICT LINE — I love the way that the mainstream of public discourse can so easily reject different approaches as silly. I didn’t see the show on John Lewis last Wednesday — Inside John Lewis. A friend of mine did though. And he says they were painted as a bunch of numpties. [...]

Bringing brands and company cultures together

KNIGHTSBRIDGE — We have worked on a couple of very prominent instances of this recently. Indeed we’re doing one now. And there’s one single message that has emerged as the most important:

Don’t invent symbolic events. Just look out for them.

Some of us (consultants) will happily tell you that a symbolic event is tremendously important in [...]

CEO Blogging: Yahoo! shows the way… and brand

ON THE BUS — My friend Chris sent me a link to yesterday’s blog by Yahoo’s new CEO . He said even he was inspired, even though he didn’t work there. (Although if they were smart he would.)

It’s a good read. Not least because it’s a great example of how senior executives can use blogging [...]

Free seminar: How to communicate bad news

LONDON — We think it’s time to talk about it. So next week we are going to run a free seminar on how to communicate bad news. If you would like to come, please drop us a note and we’ll tell you where it is being held and when. (First come, first serve.)

* Free Seminar *
HOW TO [...]

Marketing with employees

JUMEIRAH BEACH HOTEL — It’s only 830 in the morning and just sitting outside, waiting for the car, I have got a sunburn and my clothes are almost soaked through. You don’t mess with the weather out here.

You never know what the day holds in Dubai. Yesterday was rain. And I didn’t think they did rain in this part of [...]