That smelly old tent
I recounted a story from my youth to a new client recently, extolling the fact that they were a great British manufacturer with almost two centuries of history and they made great quality British products. It was a classic story of an old, faded green (or it could have been blue) tent that my Dad would bring out on family outings and mini-breaks. It was a heavy canvas affair, with sturdy guy ropes, big brass
A window to your soul
A window into your soul… not quite but hasn’t this new age of virtual meetings given us all a wonderful peek into each others lives. Historically a work meeting was in quite a controlled environment, be it a board room, meeting table and the like, but now we have been thrown into an era where your opposite numbers could literally be anywhere and subject to the randomness of real life. We have seen meetings interrupted by a
What did we buy in 2020?
When you really think about it, it’s probably quite un-remarkable what we buy in a crisis but what’s more interesting is why we buy it. As we haul ourselves through another re-invention of lock-down quarantine, the nation has quickly adapted to its new lifestyle. Logic dictates that this would inevitably be mirrored in buying patterns - mostly we’d be right in that logic.
Service with a smile
There is an art to customer service that I worried was waining for a while, but I see hope as I think it’s coming back. In my much younger years I spent a lot of time in bars, on the service side not as a customer…well admittedly not all the time. Under the wing of a brilliant restauranteur and talented sommelier, we were taught drinks and food service. It was a really enjoyable time in
Spread the word
The usefulness of the good old newspaper has taken a tragic decline in the last decade, so much so it’s rarely even found coddling your fish and chips. Just to be clear this isn’t going to be a story with a fairytale ending of ‘happily ever after’, but it may create some hope for the printed pieces we have long taken for granted.
“Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of, that do the things no one can imagine”
On a rainy Sunday afternoon I recently found myself engrossed in the 2014 historic drama 'The Imitation Game’, lead character Alan Turing portrayed eloquently by the enigmatic Benedict Cumberbatch. For those who have not caught this flick, it is highly recommended, if not for the various acting triumphs, then at least for its historic significance. Now this isn’t a sappy film review as such, think more along the lines of a time for recognition and
Could the catwalk go out of fashion?
It’s quite common now that we find ourselves bouncing from week to week and asking ‘what should have been’. This month thousands of designers, buyers, press and generally fabulous people should have been flocking to the worlds capitals and fashion hubs to embrace the Fashion Month but alas the crowds were not allowed for obvious reasons.
People count
In 2019 research showed… (now I know many will wince at an article that starts like this but bear with it, it’s pretty interesting…) that shoppers were actively avoiding the wave of self-serve checkouts and online automation that appeared in favour of staffed stores. The report noted that consumers actually value the tactile experience and human interaction over the distance that self-serve puts between them and the product. The drive for a traditional customer service
A Sense of Place
As you stroll to your local cafe or perhaps simply take an amble in your park you’ll likely take your surroundings for granted. What you don’t realise is that by you simply being there, part of that micro-climate and community, interacting in your own unique way, you are adding to its ‘sense of place’.
Outbreak was a curious choice after Tootsie
We’d just come to terms with Brexit and hoped the worst was behind us when nature threw us a curve ball in the form of an invisible beastie that would change the way we look at the world. Yes there have been many Hollywood epics over the years, dramatising the odd epidemic but that’s just movies isn’t it? That would never happen in Real Life.