harry reichenbach in the digital age
On June 6th, 1920, press stuntman Harry Reichenbach booked musician T.R. Zan into an exclusive New York hotel. His luggage consisted of a massive packing case thought to contain a piano. When Mr. Zan ordered 50 pounds of meat for breakfast, an inquiry followed, revealing that the meat was for a lion enclosed in the […]
the focal cascade
Many brands today confuse goals with strategy, claiming their strategy is to “triple our turnover” or “be number one by 2021.” This simple cascade guides you away from that trap. Take a hypothetical toy maker brand aiming to be the top choice for adults. While it suggests strategic thinking, it’s still just a goal. It […]
nothing beats a londoner
London in 1981, as depicted in Linton Kwesi’s Brixton riots poem ‘Di Great Insoreckshan,’ was an unimaginably different place from the London presided over by Sadiq Khan. A lot has changed. One would expect a crippling recession, the string of terrorist attacks and a brutal tide of gentrification to dampen the united spirit of our […]
the manhattan institutes warped view
A recent report by Oren Cass of the Manhattan Institute dismisses scientific evidence on the impact of climate change with a simplistic solution: when global temperatures rise, people just need to turn on their air conditioners. Since its founding in the late 1970s, the Manhattan Institute has released several controversial studies. However, it has also […]
a positioning stress test
Here’s a straightforward framework to guarantee your positioning statement is solid. It focuses on what matters — no room for jargon, or fluff. Give it a try ⛽
iPhone forges a new wave of cinema
By now, cinema aficionados like myself know how to manage their expectations when a noteworthy film director claims they are leaving the industry. Steven Soderbergh quit filmmaking back in 2014 but returned to directing last year with the heist film Logan Lucky. And now he’s back with the horror movie Unsane. It seems all the […]
the value fork
With this fork, you’ll be able to do two things: A) Distil your strategic value into a top-down structured, holistic value.B) And focus on underlying value drivers to avoid the trap of thinking in products or services. It’ll help you cut through the noise and clutter. See, the idea of value is often misunderstood. Many […]
project 84 on southbank
On my bike ride past London’s South Bank on Monday morning, I caught sight of all the iconic riverside landmarks, from the Shard to St Paul’s Cathedral. One view, however, looked dramatically different. ITV had placed 84 statues across their buildings, which I first confused for a hostage situation. The statues are for Project 84 […]
sacrifice in strategy
A brand aiming to cater to all often ends up engaging none. The landscape is cluttered with brands that deliver a fog instead of a guiding light. This happens because the brand says too much, spreading itself too thin, and erodes its core strength. This will often involve some hard decisions. It requires sacrifice. The […]
jeff’s appetite
Amazon just leapfrogged Apple and Google to become the world’s most valuable brand in a new ranking dominated by tech firms. Currently valued at $150.8 billion, it now peddles everything from soap to TV soaps. The company has grown so large and complicated to comprehend that it’s easy to understand why the rest of corporate […]
