too late...

 beeker made the point yesterday that half the time this and that (being most things) has already been written, and possibly better than you did or could have written.

Being a young blogger / wannabe consumer planning insightful strategist person this has its advantages. I don’t know something… I hunt around the blogs…. I learn something… I form an educated opinion.

The problem then lies with what to write about. I wanted to talk about Choice. The likes of Seth got ther a year ago and Northern Planner 2 years ago.

So I’ll make this quick. Is Pauls Daniel’s overtly subliminal mind behaviour conditioning advert for Tesco the way to encourage the consumer to choose our brands? Surely he’s essentially just telling the consumer what to do.

Now I might be young but even I know that telling the consumer to do something isn’t the best way to build a brand!

Barclays establishes trust…

Barclays is self admitting that it isn’t the country’s most popular brand, but does that matter? Whither Barclays ever truly wanted to purchase / save Lehman Brothers or not the fact that they very publicly thought about it has done them the world of good. Nothing will send home the message that ‘you don’t have to worry about banking with us’ quite like hinting just how deep your pockets are.

As a result, thousands of savers have flooded to Barclays’ doors and asked them to look after their money, even though other banks are offering much higher saving rates. Barclays aren’t popular but they are trusted.

When thousands withdrew their money from the reasonably well liked Northern Rock, its CEO told them they didn’t need to, few listened. So what’s the difference between these banks? Northern Rock tried to tell its customers it was secure, Barclays demonstrated it to the market on an international scale.

Many of the banks (Barclays ironically more than most) are trying to become more popular with their customers, but when it comes to finances isn’t trust more important; Or is trust only more important when something shakes up the status quo?   

From this point on...

There's no going back. 

That's it then I'm a blogger. A person with ideas, with my very own personalised (well as personal as a template can be) speakers corner to convey them to anyone and everyone who cares. But it nearly didn't happen; I've had those nervous thoughts. I don't know enough; I haven't had enough experience; Jesus I don't even have a Planning / Strategic / Consumer orientated job yet; Lets face I don't have any job yet. ( i have had jobs - good ones at that - i'm not a complete layabout)

But that isn't the point is it? The sharing and discussion of insights helps form and shape useful ideas. So hopefully with your help... I'm here to learn, sharpen my insights and maybe over time progress my career. It's time for me to push those nerves to one side and face the world and it's critics. After all I'm not going to change that world if it doesn't know who I am!  

P.S. please let me know if you see me spouting trash!