This is the next entry in our “Best of” series, in which we venture deep into the vault to replay blog opinion and insight that has withstood the test of time. Today’s post hails from July 2011. We welcome your feedback.
By Francis Moran
At the time my PR agency,inmedia Public Relations, was founded, I worked out of a large integrated agency in the city and some of the account executives there loved to push my buttons by declaring that media relations was free advertising. They especially liked to do this in client meetings because they knew it would prompt me to mount a fevered defence of the merits of PR and all the ways in which it differed from advertising.
I knew they were only kidding. I knew they really knew better. I knew it was all a bit of harmless fun.
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By Francis Moran
The aphorism that a camel is a horse designed by committee is usually attributed to Greek-born British car designer Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis, who was responsible for British Motor Corporation’s popular Mini. I never quite understood why Sir Alex would disparage a camel’s design — the animal, while unusual in shape and function, seems perfectly designed to be the ship of the Sahara that it eventually became. I take no issue whatsoever, though, with his sentiment that it is a very bad idea to ask a bunch of people to try to work together to design anything.
And yet, it is still too common an activity.
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By Bob Bailly
When I was first asked to contribute to this blog, my stated interest was writing a piece that “is really all about you and how evolution has contrived you to be who you are, acting and feeling the way you do. It’s also about how to improve your business performance.”
Since then, I’ve tried to explore how evolutionary sciences can be used for predictive modeling for our business stragegies.
I’m more convinced than ever that if you are looking to build better brands, increase your marketing effectiveness, shorten sales cycle times, improve communication at all levels of the organization, and foster loyalty with customers, stakeholders and employees, you can benefit by understanding how we came to be the kind of animal that we are.
The first thing to remember is we’re not as clever as we think we are.
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By Leo Valiquette
OK. I must confess off the top to be being a diehard Trek fan. (And no, I do not attend conventions wearing prosthetic Vulcan ears or Klingon foreheads, nor do I even own such things.) But even if I were not, I’m sure I would still be praising the latest celebrity ad campaign from Audi.
If you haven’t seen it, do not read further until you’ve watched this first.
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By Daylin Mantyka
As a regular feature, we provide our readers with a roundup of some of the best articles we have read in the past week. On the podium this week are ReadWriteWeb, MarketingProfs, Velocity and Startup Professional Musings.
Going global at launch: Tips for building a micro-multinational startup
Gary Whitehill, relentless entrepreneur and driven philanthropist, passes on his advice on how to build a multinational company right from the beginning, even prior to the launch.
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6 small business statistics that may surprise you
May 09, 2013 by Chamber of Commerce
Small businesses love statistics. And why not? They help us understand where we’re going and where we’ve been. After all, those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it […]
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Accelerator metrics in Canada (or anywhere)
May 08, 2013 by Jesse Rodgers
I spent a little time at StartupWeekendHamilton3 in April as a mentor and was talking to a young founder who proclaimed that there was one great accelerator in Canada. Who he said it was surprised me a little and got me thinking, what makes an accelerator “the best” and why should an eager founder care? […]
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If you’re so afraid of spilling the beans that no one knows you have any …
May 07, 2013 by Leo Valiquette
During my years as a full-time journo, I crossed paths with many a startup technology venture that claimed to be operating in so-called stealth mode. It was the early 2000s, before the process of getting technology to market was as socially enabled as it is now […]
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Peeling away the layers of a great CEO
May 06, 2013 by Denzil Doyle
In my last article, I discussed the tendency of key stakeholders in a high technology company to call for the CEO’s resignation at the first sign of trouble, particularly if the CEO is a technical person who lacks “business management” experience. The pressure for change is usually strongest from the financial community […]
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Great articles roundup: Social measurement, bootstrapping, marketing, social media
May 03, 2013 by Daylin Mantyka
As a regular feature, we provide our readers with a roundup of some of the best articles we have read in the past week. On the podium this week are memeburn, ReadWriteWeb, TopRank Blog and Fast Company[…]
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Startup Canada Communities seeks to build regional economies ‘from the inside out’
May 02, 2013 by Francis Moran
Startup Canada, the grassroots campaign that is seeking to foster a more entrepreneurial culture in Canada, today launched its most audacious initiative so far with the creation in 15 different cities across the country of Startup Canada Communities […]
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April Roundup: What does it take to get technology to market?
May 01, 2013 by Leo Valiquette
By Leo Valiquette
Last month’s lineup featured great posts on how established companies should innovate, a startup CEO’s tips for wooing investors, the risks of discounting your product and the need for philanthropy to be a natural part of doing business […]
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Patent harvesting versus mandated innovation
April 30, 2013 by David French
The expression “patent harvesting” has surfaced in management jargon. These words invoke a scenario wherein corporate management looks under the carpet, so to speak, to see if somewhere in their organization the staff have generated good ideas that are worth patenting […]
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The Future of A&R – Walabe : [...] http://francis-moran.com/marketing-strategy/top-10-questions-every-strategic-communicator-should-ask... [...]
Traditional Marketing is Dead – Long Live Bikini Waxer Marketing | Scalexl : [...] pointed out by Alexandra Reid on the Francis Moran website content marketing is becoming more and more like journalism. So, it is not just about the content, [...]
It’s Summertime…and the Networking is Easy? | THE MERRAINE BRAIN : [...] In fact, summer is perhaps one of the times least used to network, yet at the same time has shown to be the most productive time to network. People tend to be in a brighter mood compared to during the gloomy winters-especially where I am from in England! Networking needs to be fun and not approached as another chore, like mowing the lawn. (http://francis-moran.com/marketing-strategy/social-media-strategy-why-meeting-in-the-real-world-matt...) [...]