Simon Middleton show reel now available
For the benefit of conference organisers I have produced a short 'showreel': a three minute film giving an idea of my presenting style and content.
Six counter-intuitive ways to survive in a recession
Some thoughts on how a good brand strategy can help businesses can survive the tough economic climate
How to get to Carnegie Hall… Malcolm Gladwell’s new book ‘Outliers’
In the old story, legendary pianist Arthur Rubinstein is approached on a New York street by a young person with a violin case. “Excuse me sir,” says the young musician, “do you know how I get to Carnegie Hall?”. And the maestro replies, without hesitation, “Practice, my boy, practice”.
The demise of the restaurant car, and the National Express brand with it
I know that a restaurant car on a train might be considered to be something of an anachronism. Perhaps it smacks of an age of class distinction and privilege. Maybe I could be accused of some kind of snobbery for being so angry about the decision by National Express to end the restaurant car service on the Norwich to London train line. If you think that the very existence of a restaurant car is somehow out of time and that it’s more fitting in the 21st Century to do away with it, then you’ll probably want to stop reading now. I don’t want you to be needlessly annoyed. Because I’m going to be blunt.
I’m with the brand as, it seems, we all are
Are we at the mercy of the consumer-manipulating ‘hidden persuaders’ who so bombard us with brand marketing images that we are brainwashed, numbed, categorized, relationship-managed and ultimately forced to part with our money to buy ‘brands’? It’s one view. Do we only choose ‘brands’ in order to impress our friends: to mark our status in the world?
