Culture is something that can go without comment as a smaller company. But as soon as your business starts to grow it's really important to write a short single page on your culture if you want to keep it. Here's what I wrote for Machine Labs. A. Always learning Everyone should always be … [Read more...] about Culture
World Views
One of the big spenders in marketing (particularly in the USA) are the political parties. Political campaigns understand that they cannot change the minds of people with strong views: committed Republicans will not vote Democrat or people who strongly support Brexit will not suddenly be converted to … [Read more...] about World Views
Aristotle’s tips for advertising
Aristotle is the father of western philosophy born in 384 BCE. He knew a lot about persuading people and I still think about him every time I write an advert. He believed that there were three fundamental appeals that can be used for persuasion. Of course, he was generally trying to persuade an … [Read more...] about Aristotle’s tips for advertising
Seed Round
We're delighted to say we raised our Seed Round today. A huge thanks to Bill Dobbie, Richard Freedman (left) and Kevin Dorren for their support for the business. We'd also like to thank Scottish Enterprise who have provided account management to Machine Labs and helped us with both advice and … [Read more...] about Seed Round
Brand lessons from Volvo and Saab
Two Swedish car companies, Volvo and Saab, have some great lessons in brand building. Cars are one of the products which are definitely brand decisions. Audi, VW and Skoda share the same underlying platform but have radically different brand positions. I drive a BMW sports car which my friends … [Read more...] about Brand lessons from Volvo and Saab
How we achieved a return of 8,990,900% on £100
The story of Machine Labs is very linked to the story of Diet Chef. Diet Chef is an e-commerce business founded just over 10 years ago by Kevin Dorren (chairman of Machine Labs) and me (the CEO). We were later joined by Ben Ledbury who sorted out our technical systems who is now the CTO at Machine … [Read more...] about How we achieved a return of 8,990,900% on £100
Why marketing just gets harder
Generally in life the more we spend on something the cheaper it gets. A 5-pack of delicious, sugary Pop Tarts is cheaper than a single pack. Just about everything a business buys is cheaper as volume increases. This is called an economy of scale. So let's turn to marketing. Most marketing plans … [Read more...] about Why marketing just gets harder
Our Brand Wheel
We are huge fans of Brand Wheels. Rather than a lengthy brand book it's a very easy way of communicating the key features of the brand on one page. The wheel is divided in two with rational factors at the top and emotional factors at the bottom. The two or three most important factors are in the … [Read more...] about Our Brand Wheel