Employer Branding

Nice little 'how to' guide from the CIPD
http://bit.ly/5wDhm

Twiiter, Crowdsourcing and Recruitment

How Twitter and Crowdsourcing are changing recruitment (from HBR)

http://bit.ly/vaR2u

Windows 7 Party

We are all for involving your customers in your product launches but think that a Microsoft Windows 7 party is just a step too far. Check it out and prepare to be shocked at the naffness

http://bit.ly/45E6s

Paul Smith and Evian

Great little video where Paul Smith discusses his new design for the Evian. He is in his studio talking about stimulus and creativity

http://bit.ly/7PLX9

Kinder Capitalism

Charlie Mayfield, CEO of John Lewis Group, talks about the partner approach to running a business.

http://bit.ly/Jmky9

Vodofone HR and the new brand

“The centre of this company is marketing and human resources,” he said. “It is not the brand talking any more and telling the customer what to do. It is the customer who will decide.” so says Vittorio Colao the CEO of Vodafone UK.

For more on how Vodafone is using a well defined People Strategy to execute the new brand positioning "Power to you", check out

http://bit.ly/yBB7F

New ways of working for ad agencies

We got a lot of emails about Wispa and Pepperami and, as promised, we did a bit of digging on new ways of working for ad agencies. We love friivertise - companies upload a brief and freelance creatives compete to win it. It's genius.

Check it out

http://www.friivertise.com/

Fashion Innovation

A short article from Business Week's Innovation Guru Bruce Nussbaum on Innovation In Fashion, to tie in with New York Fashion Week. And nice to see it's raining there too!

http://bit.ly/17j1M8

Money Magpie Posting

We are really excited to be listed on Money Magpie's blog. Money Magpie will show you how to live without blowing your budget, how to save and how to make some spare cash. It is the brainchild of Jasmine Birtles and well worth a visit.

Check it out

http://www.moneymagpie.com/blogs/

Jet Blue Culture

A great piece in this month's Fortune Magazine on how Jet Blue is winning in the recession with a focus on culture and cost efficiencies. Check out the Values....

http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/03/news/companies/jetblue_airways_airline.fortune/index.htm

tony Soprano as a Leader

Our friend Steve Faktor just sent us his thoughts on Tony Soprano about AIG...

http://bit.ly/17A0Qx

Darth Vader as a Leader

From BA Business Life Magazine:

#01
Darth Vader

HR would have a field day with the Star Wars villain, what with his bullying and torture of staff who displease him. Not to mention the corporate responsibility and PR problems that go along with building something called the Death Star. But the Dark Lord of the Sith can teach us a bit about modern management if we dig deep enough.

He created a cult of leadership where many of his underlings were completely devoted to him, excusing his occasional lapses of mood — a strategy that stood Apple boss Steve Jobs in good stead as he created an empire built on cutting edge, planet-changing technology.

Creating an air of mystery can also help to increase your authority. If people can’t read your face and don’t know what you’re thinking, they can experience an uncomfortable sensation that puts them on the back foot — perhaps US Vogue editor Anna Wintour’s famous bob and huge dark glasses were influenced by Darth back in the 1970s…

Darth, like any good leader, is decisive, swift to act, has a variety of skills (he doesn’t just sit behind a desk, he gets out and flies a fighter ship alongside his junior pilots) and is driven by an insatiable desire to succeed.

On the downside, he managed to let family issues cloud his judgement and, in the end, revealed himself as a sentimental pussycat and showed a modicum of remorse as the empire crumbled. Sometimes, you just can’t let the mask slip.

Twitter's top 40 Twitter Brands

If you want some external stimulation and are interested in using social networking to get closer to your customers, you could check out http://bit.ly/1ynpv where you will find the Top 40 Tweeting Brands. Follow a few of them and you will learn a thing or two.

Using your customers for ideas

Word on the street is that Pepperami have sacked advertising agency Lowe and are looking to customers for the next big advertising idea. They believe that they can generate up to 4000 ideas from the site www.ideabounty.com.

It seems that the craze for consumer involvement is catching, with Cadbury about to go live with Wispa Gold they have launced www.wispagoldmessages.com where you can upload a message that will appear on bill boards up and down the country.

Crowdsourcing? Open Innovation? Or Cost Cutting? We will keep you posted

Leadership Event - How to drive organisational success

We are really excited to be co-hosting an event at Visa Europe on 8th October focusing on Driving Organisational Performance with speakers from Visa and Laing O'Rourke.

For more details click on the link below:

http://www.freelance-street.co.uk/leadership/

A place for inventions

A cute little site where users can upload ideas and get comments. Good stimulus if you are considering implementing a staff suggestion scheme
bit.ly/oUuhN

How to Innovate Step by Step from Fast Company

A nice little slide show from Fast Company which breaks down the steps to Innovation. Simple but interesting

http://bit.ly/jUkN1

More on Innovating in a Recession - Tide Basic

We had a lot of people contact us to talk about Innovating in a Recession. Something that particularly resonated was the introduction of a value range. We have seen it happen at Waitrose with the introduction of the Waitrose Essential range and P&G have taken it a step further with Tide Basic. The product is being tested in about 100 stores in America’s Southern States and retails at about 20% below the standard Tide product. This is in response to an 18% decline in fiscal forth quarter sales.

The product does the job of cleaning, but contains none of the perfumes and conditioners in regular Tide.

This is a real example of an organisation listening to the consumer. In these tough economic times shoppers are increasingly turning to supermarket’s own label products as they tighten the purse stings. Whilst there is no doubt some concern at P&G’s headquarters in Cincinatti, we think it’s better to risk sales of the premium range in order to avoid brand switching. Yet again, P&G are leading the way in Innovation.