There’s a very interesting piece in today’s New York Times about the sudden interest in politics among the Indian middle class. They’ve finally got fed up with the astounding level of corruption in Indian politics – the problem being that …
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Fishminster? Pissminster! How to lose a customer forever – even if you sell something superb. Plus the problem with big organisations – and a songbird
Yesterday, my stomach rumbling happily, I strolled into an excellent (if expensive) fish and chip joint near me called Fishminster. (Why the odd name? They belong to Pieminster, a highly successful pie makers that started up in Bedminster in Bristol). …
Read MoreDid you get my insane EADIM half price, easy terms offer? Here’s what one delegate wrote, verbatim
O.K., enough wit and wisdom. This is naked commerce – about EADIM. It ended three days ago, and I’ve started promoting next year already with a ludicrous deal. Why so soon? If you don’t know, then you don’t know enough …
Read MoreHow one firm thrives in a recession – in a medium some people think is dead or dying
In 2002, Gartner the brilliant research experts said that by 2010 direct mail would “almost be a half-remembered relic”. Well, stone me! How strange that Mailbird, a relatively small firm that does nothing but send out direct mail fore clients, …
Read MoreTesco stinks, Sainsbury and Waitrose deliver; with a salute to Rory Sutherland
Unless you’re in the business or slightly mad I don’t suppose you spend much time following the battle between the supermarkets – but I am slightly mad, and occasionally hopping mad, too. Last year I bought some foul smelling cod …
Read MoreHow to review copy, plus the Tin Piss-Pot for use of jargon. And we’ve been here before, folks – many times. Plus, if you want to meet me …
Yesterday a client wrote saying that my copy was to be reviewed by various “stakeholders”. I wrote pleading with her not to use jargon. I forgot to quote David Ogilvy’s rule: copy should only be reviewed by two people: the …
Read MoreApryl gets the horrors – when all I want to do is help you all make money. So very unkind.
Well, I don’t know. Is there any faith left in this world? As part of my rather self-interested crusade to raise innocent folks’ chances of survival in the coming misery and maybe rid the world of a few rip-off artists …
Read MoreLive in trailer park? Desperate and literate – but stupid? Here’s how to get rich. Almost as good as stuffing envelopes.
My friend Andrew Gadsden, “Saviour of Tea” – his business is selling tons of tea – forwarded a hilarious email message from someone called the PPC Web Spy. The subject: “Can I hire you to write for me?” It read: …
Read MoreToday’s little bucket of offal from the magical (but shrinking) world of marketers with lots of money to waste
Lee Iacocca (remember him? He saved Chrysler for a bit) wrote something good: “If you want to succeed you’d better get on with people, because that’s all we’ve got around here.” And Peter Drucker pointed out that there is only …
Read MoreGrossly unfair! Immigrants to be tested on knowledge of British culture. Plus how to handle incomprehensible call centre people
The Daily Mail is often good for a giggle, and so it proved this morning when I read that would-be immigrants are to be tested on British history and culture. Questions (says the Daily Mail) will include asking who was …
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