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Earth from the air is closing down

"When the client moans and sighs, make his logo twice the size."

"When the client moans and sighs,
Make his logo twice the size.
If he still should prove refractory
Show a picture of his factory.
Only in gravest cases
Should you show the clients' faces"

I always thought this was written by John Betjeman, but everyone else seems to think it's by David Ogilvy. I still say it's by Betjeman.

"There is no wrong, there is no right"

"We all live under the same sky
We all will live, we all will die
There is no wrong, there is no right
The circle only has one side"

As sung by Travis on the song Side.

“I’ve tried really hard to talk my kids out of going to University. You can’t do it. It’s impossible.”

Wayne Hemingway

“British companies run out of steam too soon. If Bill Gates had been born in Britain he would now be running the largest software company in Guildford.”

Sir George Cox

Making Sainsbury's Great Again

I saw this at a meeting of Sainsbury's managers the other day and it's very unusual.

Why? Because in saying "Making Sainsbury's great again" they are admitting they're not great anymore. And that, my friends, is the first step to success.

In that one sentence they're saying;
1. we understand where this business is, where it used to be and where we want it to go
2. we know we've done some things wrong, but we're going to try and fix it
3. we're not full of motivational bullshit, we're honest and we expect you to be honest with us
4. we'll make Sainsbury's great t and we'll do it together (many, many companies would pay a fortune for that sentiment to be true)

Made those 4 words work hard, didn't they?

"Walks through the door"

"A true friend is one that walks through the door when everyone else is walking out."

Alex Ferguson.

"More harm is done by indecision than by wrong decision."

As said by Tony Soprano.

If only agencies and clients would live by this quote our world would be a much better place.

"Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end."

"Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it's when you've had everything to do, and you've done it."

Margaret Thatcher said this. What ever you think about her, she was right in saying this.

Don't put stuff off, do it now. Now.

"I'm a fully qualified astrologer, having had no training whatsoever"

Deborah Ross - The Independent

"Knowing what’s really happening is more important than trying to control people"

Great advice for people management from Larry Page, co-founder of Google.

"It turns out you have two choices: You can try to control people, or you can try to have a system that represents reality. I find that knowing what’s really happening is more important than trying to control people."

"A waste of rations"

I had a very interesting lunch the other day. When I asked my companion what he thought of a certain person, he replied, "I've always thought he was a waste of rations".

Great stuff.

"It's just boring old us"

It's Christmas drinks time.

I had a completely scandalous lunch yesterday with a client who works for a fantastic, incredibly trendy brand. It never fails to amaze me how everyone thinks their brand is boring and stuffy – even the people who work for for really cool ones.

This particular client works for a brand that most people would envy, but they still perceive the brand as being unimaginative and corporate. Is this just an English thing? Is this a branding problem? Is it a political thing?

What do you think?

"the longer you sleep, the harder it is to wake up"

"Have you ever noticed how sometimes, the longer you sleep, the harder it is to wake up? Life is the same way."

As told by Gil Hildebrand on his blog. Gil works at Squidoo, Squidoo was set up by Seth, and our good friend Russell has been trying it out.

"Several large marketers cease to do TV"

Seth Godin was interviewed by the excellent chaps at e-consultancy the other day. In his predictions for 2006 he says, "Several large marketers cease to do TV".

He's right.

The TV ad isn't dead, it isn't even dying but clever brands (or rather clever people inside brands) are realising there are other ways to reach customers. Way that means you don't have to use TV any more. You can still use it. But you don't have to.

And that's the big difference.

Oooh, I might write some predictions of my own...

"I can't quite believe that I'm alive today"

As reported by Richard Williams of WMH - further to my post about Williams Murray Hamm someone has sent me this hilarious story.

It’s from a website called Roller Coaster World (which is funny enough in itself) and tells the tale of how WMH avoided near death on Brighton Pier. I’ll leave you to read the rest here.

"Even better"

Had a meeting with a potential new supplier last week.

Sometimes we like our suppliers to meet our clients and sometimes we keep them as far away as possible. In this meeting I asked the Managing Director if he would be happy to come to client meetings occasionally. "Yeah" he said, "that will be no problem".

Then I asked if he'd be happy, on some projects, to never meet the client. "Even better" he replied with a wry smile.

Genius.

"You must be the change you want to see in the world"

Mahatma Gandhi said that. I saw it written on the wall of a bar. Great quote, OK bar.

"Williams Murray Hamm gets given the same information as everyone else, but it always draws a different conclusion."

Simon Gulliford

http://www.creatingdifference.com/

"Even when following the same instructions a different result can come about."

Marti Guixé