» Blog Archive Gifts Aren’t Always Free

Gifts Aren’t Always Free

My wife always rolls her eyes and shudders when advertisements offer “free gifts” to customers. Being a former teacher with proper grammar, she loves to yell at the TV that “gifts, by their very nature, are free!” Funny. She’s sort of wrong though. In advertising psycho-babble, what they are actually saying is “we’ll give you this thingy - for free - if you do what we want.” Everybody does it, right? Apparently not. As much as people love to moan and complain about Telus Mobility for a myriad of reasons - many of them well deserved - I have to give them some kudos. Today I received a FREE gift from Telus in my mailbox. Unsolicited, with no catch as far as I can tell, they sent me a letter thanking me for being a loyal client accompanied by a neat little Jabra C150 handsfree headset (which is actually confortable and works really well). A smart move from a company working hard to improve it’s brand perception in market after a very rough year of strikes and service interruptions. Good one Telus.

Now I’d really be a happy man if Telus would please unlock my crippled Motorola V710 mobile phone, allowing me easy Bluetooth access to MP3s and photos like their advertising promised without going through them or paying their charges. If I wanted that kind of service I’d have gone through Verizon.

Branding a branding company

If you are a business owner working on the development and growth of your own company it can be a challenge no matter what industry you are in. This can range from generating more sales, creating or finessing your marketing plan, sourcing manufacturing or creating a new brand for your business. It is your business, your baby, you want to make the right decision and you often question what the right decision or direction is. And, at the end of the day, it’s your bottom line that is affected so you’ll want to make a good decision.

So when Industrial Brand Creative choose to re-brand we knew it was going to be an interesting journey.

Continue reading "Branding a branding company"

Continue reading "Branding a branding company"

Posted by Matt SamyciaWood on November 14, 2008. | No Comment

Partner for good times and bad

I was recently asked to submit an article about partnerships for the Small Business section of Business in Vancouver magazine. The article, called Is a partnership the right choice for your business to weather these stormy times?, found in the Small Business section of this month’s issue is reprinted below:

As the economy sags many business owners are starting to think pretty radically about what they can do to preserve and prosper. Some are look for ways to reduce spending or downsize. Others might consider merging with a competitor. And still some wonder about taking on a partner to share the burden. But is a partner the right choice for you? This choice comes at the cost of giving up ownership of the company you worked so hard to build, so be very careful, do your homework and protect yourself.

Continue reading "Partner for good times and bad"

Continue reading "Partner for good times and bad"

Posted by Mark Busse on November 14, 2008. | No Comment

CAPIC: How to sell your work as a Photographer

I was recently honoured to be invited to sit on an expert panel at a CAPIC event for their Portfolio Series called Your Body of Work: Launching a Creative Vision for your Photography. The event was about how image makers such as photographers and illustrators can best promote themselves using portfolios, websites and marketing initiatives.

The panel was made up of me, Anya Lewise and Cathy Mullaly from Canada Wide, John Edmonds from Grey Vancouver, Tim Hoffpauir from DDB and Chris Peacock from Cossette—all experienced in choosing and working with photographers. We were all asked to consider some key questions which we then later discussed in an open forum, sort of townhall meeting style. The questions plus my notes and thoughts are reproduced here now:

Continue reading "CAPIC: How to sell your work as a Photographer"

Continue reading "CAPIC: How to sell your work as a Photographer"

Posted by Mark Busse on November 7, 2008. | No Comment