DUO:Design and Marketing

The Modern Business Plan

With the way things have been over the last couple of years and the ensuing market uncertainty, I would imagine that most businesses have torn up their business plans and started again.... and again. If you are thinking about your plans for 2011 why not try this approach from Seth Godin.

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It's not clear to me why business plans are the way they are, but they're often misused to obfuscate, bore and show an ability to comply with expectations. If I want the real truth about a business and where it's going, I'd rather see something else. I'd divide the modern business plan into five sections:

Truth
Assertions
Alternatives
People
Money
The truth section describes the world as it is. Footnote if you want to, but tell me about the market you are entering, the needs that already exist, the competitors in your space, technology standards, the way others have succeeded and failed in the past. The more specific the better. The more ground knowledge the better. The more visceral the stories, the better. The point of this section is to be sure that you're clear about the way you see the world, and that you and I agree on your assumptions. This section isn't partisan, it takes no positions, it just states how things are.

Truth can take as long as you need to tell it. It can include spreadsheets, market share analysis and anything I need to know about how the world works.

The assertions section is your chance to describe how you're going to change things. We will do X, and then Y will happen. We will build Z with this much money in this much time. We will present Q to the market and the market will respond by taking this action.

This is the heart of the modern business plan. The only reason to launch a project is to change something, and I want to know what you're going to do and what impact it's going to have.

Of course, this section will be incorrect. You will make assertions that won't pan out. You'll miss budgets and deadlines and sales. So the alternatives section tells me what you'll do if that happens. How much flexibility does your product or team have? If your assertions don't pan out, is it over?

The people section rightly highlights the key element... who is on your team, who is going to join your team. 'Who' doesn't mean their resume, who means their attitudes and abilities and track record.

And the last section is all about money. How much do you need, how will you spend it, what does cash flow look like, P&Ls, balance sheets, margins and exit strategies.

Fit in ... Lose out!

This was a great comment from Seth Godin aimed at all those businesses out there that strive, often because of a lack of imagination and guts, to be the same as everyone else. He said "Sometimes, we try so hard to fit in we give consumers no choice but to seek out the cheapest. After all, if everything is the same, why not buy what's cheap and close?"

Trust is core to brand value and happiness in society

This guardian survey is shocking http://bit.ly/aFjl6M . Only 38% of young people (18 - 24) agree that most people can be trusted! This compares to 67% for people who are 55-64. Where have we gone wrong?

 

What is the role of associations in our Linkedin world?

Some months ago we were commissioned to review and implement a new brand and website for The Association of Landscape Gardeners (APL). This has now been launched and can be seen by clicking here. The site has been designed to act as a gateway for consumers looking for professional landscaping help and as a community site for Members to gain accreditation, to share ideas and to continually learn about their craft. Also rather than ignore the trend of social networking and isolate itself in an elitist way it has, based on our recommendation, developed opportunities, via a Linkedin specialist group, to involve others in their discussions and debates.

The outcome of this re-invigorated brand for the APL is an association that I believe still does have a tangible role and added value in our socially networked society.

Changing Opinions

In my mind one of the key facets of marketing and design is to change people's opinions. Not in a cynical way with 'spin' and 'puff' but in a way that is authentic and encouraging.

I believe (and I hope they agree) we have started to do this with one of our clients, Barnsdale Gardens. As part of our strategic development of their brand we identified the need to broaden their visitor profile to younger age groups and families. it will be a long process but it has begun with the implementation of a campaign aimed at getting local schools involved by designing a Children's Garden for Barnsdale.This was launched back in July with the sending of posters and competition details to 100 schools. To-date over 20% of the schools have agreed to participate and more are signing up everyday.

The campaign will raise the awareness and relevancy of the Garden's as a visitor attraction for families, it will lead to greater community involvement and provide a myriad of PR opportunities for the brand. All-in-all 'authentic and encouraging.

Here is a photograph of one of the first school's signing up with the pupils holding the support material produced by DUO.

 

Today was great day!

Isn't it great when you get to the end of a busy week and you receive some positive feedback from unexpected directions.

This was an email forwarded to us by Nick Hamilton who runs Barnsdale Gardens -  we have recently reinvigorated his brand with a new identity, website and other communications (see www.barnsdalegardens.co.uk) 

"I have been using your redesign as an example of great marketing during a recession in presentations I have been making for Nottinghamshire County Council and Business Links.
 
Well done!
 
Regards,
 
Jane Reynolds"

This is testimony to our client's bravery in very difficult market conditions.

Also another client contacted us today out of the blue (Anglian Water - for whom we have developed an internal brand called Asset Plus - see anglianwater ) and said "In November we were judged as one, if not the leading, asset management company by Ofwat according to their scoring system, it is too early to say if we have retained the position, but Asset Plus was a key enabler.  This business is really getting behind what we started and there is a great organisational pull rather than us pushing.

This in my mind is exactly what good design and communications is about - being a 'key enabler'. Love this and love design - even after a long week.

Paul Middlebrook

Go on – take a break!

Last week we hot-footed it over the channel for a last minute family holiday in the Loire valley. It was great. Like so many people, we’ve had the big ‘CC’ cloud over us for much of this year and we’d settle for some time out in England. But, with kids out of school, a natural break in client projects and the sun shining, out came the laptop and in a few hours we’d bagged a bargain and were off. The jewel that we found was in a tiny village called La Celle-Guenand. Surrounded by mile upon mile of green and yellow – forests and corn and sunflower fields – we were treated to blue-sky tranquility. Time to downshift a gear. Time to think. Time to listen (why did God make birds so noisy?)! Time to BE rather than DO. Time to NOTICE rather than WALK BY. And guess what? We’ve come back to DUO with energy and some ...a busy week, packed with meetings and things to do but we’re raring to go. So, that’s official then – holidays are definitely good for you and worth fighting to hang on to even when the going gets tough.

Viv Middlebrook

A Brand with a Capital 'B'

Wow, it's been a busy week. We have just launched a new brand identity and website (with integrated Shop) for Barnsdale Gardens to coincide with their participation at Gardener's World Live at the Birmingham NEC.

The new brand has been designed to contemporise their offer and support its efforts to attract a wider audience of younger gardeners and their families.

Barnsdale Gardens, founded by Geoff Hamiton and made famous by the BBC Gardener's World TV programme, has a rich and authentic legacy based around the value that 'gardening is for everyone'. The design for the new Barnsdale Gardens brand reflects this approachability and communicates the proposition that it is the home of the 'largest collection of individually designed gardens in the UK'.

To view the new Barnsdale Gardens Website click here.

Getting together means more

Is it just me, or has the business world fallen out of love with events? Is the inexorable rise of building online relationships in the virtual world snuffling out our innate need for real life human interaction? Or is it just the pace that we live at, or our credit crunch mentality, where to spend nothing is definitely better than to spend something well? I don’t have the answer to these questions, however, what I do know is that as a design and marketing consultancy we are constantly challenged by our clients to achieve maximum impact with minimum spend whenever they are looking to create and develop meaningful relationships with their publics.

And so to one of our clients, the Wates Group, who earlier this month wanted to launch a new business; Wates YourSpace – a specialist interior fit out company aimed at smaller sized projects in the private and public sectors. The question to DUO was HOW to communicate the message on a tight budget and within an even tighter timescale. With a corporate brand proposition of ‘Above all, it’s about people’, real people contact had to lead the promotions and so a drinks reception at the very business like, yet younger, funkier IoD Hub on New Broad Street, London EC2 was the focus for the launch. The event was supported by an fantastic showcase of Wates YourSpace’s work in the form of a contemporary brochure, display panels and AV. It was great fun; a cellist played, guests arrived and connected over a glass of wine and canape or two, the Wates team thrived on the energy in the room and many new horizons were talked about and imagined.

Why am I writing about this rather ordinary, 2-hour event that took place on 13 May 2009? Well as an advocate of real human interaction being infinitely better than all that virtual stuff, and recognising that actually what we all seek is to attract energy to ourselves and our businesses it’s time to get back to getting together a bit more often. Energy is infectious. It builds people up and makes them feel that they can achieve even more. Its the fuel for ideas, creativity, progress. And its something that is still a little illusive to even the best web designers. So for me, events and occasions to generate some positive energy is just what we need more of!

Viv Middlebrook, Client Services Director

The unexpected sells

We were at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show this week seeing a couple of our clients (Adam Frost and Barnsdale Gardens) and I was reminded about the potential power and impact of Ambient Media. These wonderful little cars with artificial grass, from Easigrass were to be seen bombing around Chelsea causing alround to 'stop and stare'. What a fantastic, memorable and fun way to cement a brand impression.