Now I wouldn’t say this is the model that will change things over night, but it’s the thing that is exciting me the most at the moment.

Graeme Douglas of Planning for Fun has posted his IPA dissertation up on his blog here and downloadable here. Graeme draws an excellent comparison between religion and brands. If you find some time, try and read it. It’s thought provoking, full of interesting ideas and fantastically written. It’s also given me one of those ‘wish I’d thought of that’ moments.

I’ve always had an appreciation for comic books, or graphic novels – whatever you prefer to call them. Although it’s more out of admiration for the artistry than anything else. To be honest, I’ve never really given them enough time to understand why people get so fanatical about them. Until a read this post.

It’s from a presentation by Jack Schultz done at Interesting 2007. Its made me look at comics in a completely different light – they seem a lot less geeky than they did before. In fact, I would go as far as saying they’re pretty cool.

Jack discusses things such as ‘hypertime’ and ‘The bleed’, which are essentially complicated storytelling techniques and manipulating the physical form of the comic to add another layer to the experience. Well worth reading, even if you aren’t in to comics.

Henry David Thoreau

The way an objective is formed, presented and articulated can have such a major influence on the direction of a strategy. I agree with Guy, people should give it more attention. I’m always surprised by how often people fail to make a distinction between the different types of objective you may see in a brief such as campaign objectives, project objectives, business objectives, marketing objectives and communications objectives.

I love the analogy Guy has given: “If the objective set by Dick Fosbury in the high jump was to complete a perfectly executed Western Roll we would not have heard of him. A Western Roll is an interim measure of success. Instead, he set himself the objective of ‘jumping as high as possible’. Enter the Fosbury Flop. Not only did getting the objective right achieve a better result, it released creativity and freedom into the strategy”.

Working on a brief without a good objective is like playing football when you are a kid. Every time the ball gets kicked in a different direction everyone on the pitch runs after it with no purpose, other than to get the ball. You might win you might not. Only once you have decided on a match-winning objective can you play the beautiful game and not just win, but also win in style.

You can read Guy Murphy’s full post here.

Brands impressing people might seem like a simple concept but few do it. Why? Impressing people isn’t as easy as it used to be. If Darth Vader was a planner he might of said brands today can’t just be impressive; they need to be most impressive.

Here is a list of the things brands should think about in order to impress people

1.Ask yourself objectively, how much does your brand impress you? Stop treating people like they’re dumb. If you aren’t impressed by your brand then your customers will feel the same. Don’t be so complacent. Competitors, new entrants and even new business models are waiting in the wings to take your place.

2. Just be yourself. You’re human, your customers are human and the people your customers talk to are human. Get back in touch with what it is to be human or super social apes. What makes people angry? What makes them happy? What do they find interesting? What do they care about? What do they talk about? How do they interact with other people?

3. Don’t always hide behind research. If you can’t find a big problem then make one. Challenge conventions and define new markets. Create a new meaning in your sector, be a leader and have the confidence to be intuitive.

4. Be more than just an image, have substance and style. What does your brand believe in? What is your brand enthusiastic about? Do things that prove it? You don’t need big budgets to be impressive. So watch you back

5. To be consistent, is to be the same, the same as everyone else. Consistency might make people feel safe, but it doesn’t impress. Mix it up from time to time. Be complex, be random and be unexpected. God forbid, be immeasurable. Don’t tie yourself down to one way of doing things. The only thing it does is hold you back and makes you vulnerable. Before you know it a challenger brand will be impressing your customers and all because you wanted to be ‘consistent and on message’.

6.Make things happen, be fluid and be light on your feet. Find your entrepreneurial spirit? Step out from behind the comfort of your processes and your media and research budgets. Find out what is it that you need to do to impress people and go out and do it.

7. There’s a world out there, of media that is. Don’t just sit there worrying about the ‘future of the media landscape’ – change it or make it work for your brand. Do what enhances your brand, not what everyone else is doing. People are impressed when brands do things differently.

8.Use the media available to you to construct and tell a story – make it work harder. Create a more fulfilling experience. Experiment with media and occasionally trust your brand in the hands of others, even your customers. You never know, they might do a better job than your agency. That will save you a few quid and impress your boss.

9.Let go. People will talk about your brand and there is nothing you can do about. Just embrace it and encourage participation. If you have done number four properly then you shouldn’t have anything to worry about. Should you? People will be impressed by brands with nothing to hide.