Tend, don't raze

I like the guys at Transform Magazine.  Andrew Thomas, their fearless leader, is one of those unstoppable people that keeps going when others would give up, and he's achieved a huge amount with limited resources and in a relatively short space of time.  So I'm always happy to help out when I can, and so I spoke to Emily Andrews extensively here.  

I felt her starting premise was too pro-change: that brands need to be put down rather than perked up. As you'll read, I felt otherwise...

Lunching and learning

No profound thoughts in this post, but I’m feeling good about work at the moment so I thought I would write.  Today I had the pleasure of getting the current team working with me together for a session on one of our bigger clients.  They’re all amazing, and bring a mix of talents to the table…which is exactly what I hoped for when I set up Olix. 

A couple of things struck me.

Ideas need to stay open for as long as possible.  If you come into a working session closed-minded about an idea, you’ll spend your whole time defending it and not building it.  We started the day with some good thoughts and executions, and these morphed into something really exciting.  We had some debates, but they were never fights, everyone was listening, trying to find solutions.  The outcome was real progress.  Of course, you can only do this if dedicate real time to a client (but then that’s what we do here at Olix).

The value of lunch.  I made lunch for everyone.  Those of you who know me will know I like cooking, but this was an opportunity to stop, get around the table, talk together about the work, but also about other things.  It was a simple soup, salad and water affair, nothing fancy.   We all talked, listened, asked what we were all up to at Christmas, that sort of thing.  The corporate al desko lunch has taken these important moments of bonding out of our working days, and I think teams – so important for good work - are the weaker for it. 

So nourished intellectually and physically, I better get back to the work.  We’ve got an exciting presentation to build….

More on brand architecture

I didn't expect quite such an avalanche of positive response to my post on Few Better Brands, so I decided to post a few tips on brand architecture here.  I've been working with a number of large brands recently where it has been clear that their approach to brand architecture has been inadequate, characterised by static thinking from text books by inexperienced brand managers who clearly aren't paying attention to business today.   There, I've said it.

New clients

It's been a busy month!  Several new clients have joined us and we're going to focus on "doing the work" for the foreseeable future, as we have some fast approaching deadlines.  If there is a bit of radio silence, hang in there, we'll be back soon!

I'll drink to that

Read my post on LinkedIn about the Wine Society, an old old brand, that has used new ways to regain its relevance.

Fewer, better brands please

Read my post on LinkedIn on why brand owners should be focusing on managing fewer, better brands.

Bear with us...

Olix Consulting is up and running.  But we're also pretty busy with (I'm pleased to say) lots of client work.  So please be patient as we get this site ship shape.