A refreshing and honest conversation with Sahil Merchant the CEO of REDStrategy and founder of Mag Nation. After reading this article you will understand why he has been awarded Most Innovative Victorian Retailer of the Year (2007), Best Young Business – Victoria (2008), and being nominated for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Continue reading
Yesterday, one of my oldest friends swam, biked and ran The IronMan AsiaPacific here in Melbourne. I remember thinking why on earth would anyone would want to train for a year and then exercise non-stop for 12 hours pushing their body to all sorts of limits. But it is an interesting observation in consumer behavior Continue reading
I can’t even remember how I came to watch this video but I felt really inspired. Simon Sinek is a trained ethnographer and is clearly a curious person. He has developed some interesting theories about organisational success based on two contrasting variables – the feeling of safety and the presence of danger. In biological terms, Continue reading
Jee Moon is the Head of Brand and Marketing at Best&Less. She joined the business in February this year from Westpac where she was Director of Brand and Advertising. In her 5 years at Westpac she was responsible for revitalising Westpac’s brand strategy and visual identity as well as managing all of Westpac’s brand & Continue reading
The golden rule of brand extensions is stay true to your brand DNA so why are iconic luxury retailers Marc Jacobs and Georgio Armani opening restaurants? It’s much more than just offering tired shoppers the opportunity to enjoy a break – it’s about creating a lifestyle! These brands are creating new ways to connect with Continue reading
South Korean chain E-Mart has established itself as a leading retailer through its continual innovations that have been copied by brands across the world. E-Mart first took the retail world by storm when they introduced virtual stores in subways in 2011, followed by a shadow QR code in 2012. Most recently they have deployed a Continue reading
We have spent a lot of time with Gen Y of late and we are always surprised by their inconsistencies – on one hand they hate brands contacting them on social media, then on the other (and with a different peer group) they like it. One of the many ‘surprises’ we noticed was their use of Continue reading
We’ve recently run some brilliant segmentation studies for our clients. Combining the ethnographic insights from our immersion sessions and Shopper Safaris, we’ve changed the way a retailer looks at their customer base and another client has now integrated our attitude based segmentation within their entire business. However, maybe we’re over-complicating things as maybe the world Continue reading
The Australian Open is now wrapped up for another year and rather than writing a blog about my extraordinary predictive powers of selecting Wawrinka to win the event back in November, I thought it would be best to review the two weeks based on a customer insights perspective. So what were the 5 things we Continue reading
I was walking past my local supermarket last week and was shocked to see what looked like hundreds of kilos of fresh produce being thrown away. Before fruit and veg even reach the shelf it estimated 30-40% are rejected mostly because they do not match consumers’ and supermarkets’ high cosmetic standards. The wastage doesn’t stop Continue reading
Over the Christmas break I finally got the chance to go to the recently opened Gelato Messina in Melbourne. There’s no doubt that the gelato was delicious, but I couldn’t help wondering what was the reason that 15 minutes later I was still waiting in a queue that started on the street. Messina’s secret is Continue reading
A very clever friend of mine suggested I read Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg the COO of Facebook. I loved it and think it’s a great book for both women and men. Women will get some great tips and hints when it comes to negotiating, stepping up, asking for what they want and shedding doubt Continue reading