'The Spot' at Glue Inc.

The collapsing distinction between promotion and information

2011-12-14T17:12:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, on my favourite radio interview program (CBC Radio's show Q), host Jian Ghomeshi intreviewed Hayley Phelan, Fashion News Editor at Fashionista.com about her online story, 'Can You Trust the Editorial Integrity of Personal Style Blogs? A Closer Look at How Bloggers Make Money.' The segment got me thinking about the larger issues of ‘independent thought’ and the blurring of ‘promotion’

10 ways to strengthen employee engagement

2011-09-23T22:39:00.006-04:00

I've just completed a new whitepaper that shares my thoughts on how organizations of all kinds can take action to enhance their workplace environment and boost employee engagement. (You can download the document by visiting my LinkedIn page at Tim Morawetz.)The 10 ways presented in the whitepaper are:Give inspiration instruction information informality

How would your employees handle a 'pop-up show'?

2011-09-06T14:08:00.000-04:00

An organization's internal culture is one of its most important and precious assets (or liabilities, as the case may be.) Because culture is so intangible, it can be hard to assess – and harder still to first establish or to change. But there's little doubt that culture has an enormous influence on how successfully employees collaborate with one another and how effectively they interact with

How employees can help put the 'corner store' feeling back in retailing

2011-08-26T16:11:00.001-04:00

In the current issue of the American Marketing Association's Marketing News magazine, columnist Don E. Schultz suggests that today's shoppers long for the intimacy and caring service once provided at their local butcher, baker or dairy deliveryman. He contends that retailers wishing to survive in today's hyper-competitive environment must possess three attributes: Fast: Like Spanish clothing

Why not segment restaurant customers by time?

2011-06-07T14:14:00.002-04:00

A while ago, I was in Trudeau International Airport in Montreal awaiting a flight home to Toronto. I had plenty of time before take-off, so I wasn't in a big hurry to get some dinner before boarding the plane. I could relax and have a relatively leisurely meal. More recently, when returning from a business event in Victoria, my time was tighter. I asked the host of the White Spot Restaurant in

Achieving prosperity through design (and how marketing helps)

2010-11-09T22:29:00.015-05:00

There's plenty of talk these days about the need for Canadian business to increase its productivity in order to thrive in the ruthlessly competitive 21st century. Put more bluntly, it seems that companies must either innovate or face extinction. Innovation can be defined as the act of applying new or different knowledge and skills in order to solve problems. And based on my early studies in

Water-glasses with balls... a 'Real Sports' highlight!

2010-09-25T22:39:00.004-04:00

This evening, my son and I treated ourselves to watching the Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Buffalo Sabres pre-season hockey game on a flatscreen TV from the comfort of a booth at the wonderful new Real Sports Bar and Grill, located adjacent to the Air Canada Centre – a sensitively renovated Art Deco building, by the way! As per my family's lunchtime visit a few weeks ago, the food was excellent, the

Duh, it's about the customer!

2010-09-25T06:52:00.001-04:00

Kudos to Alexa Samuels for laying bare the dangers of not being customer-centric when creating your communications – Is your marketing making the customer think too much? Begin with the mindset of: Where's my customer's head at regarding my product? and you will, at minimum, prevent customers from bypassing your message since they'll recognize themselves in your piece. At best, you will have

It's the people, not the pines...

2010-09-02T08:11:00.087-04:00

For my entire life, I've been associated with the summer camp for boys, Camp Ponacka, that my late father founded in 1947, ran for 50 years with my mother, then passed on to my sister and her husband. As a result, I'm very familiar with the camp's facilities and routines -- as well as its philosophy and traditions: its corporate culture. Each year, when spending time at my mother's cottage just

A truly smart brand...

2010-08-27T07:48:00.005-04:00

When shopping in-person at Indigo yesterday, I bought the latest in my series of (insert topic here) For Dummies books. This one is iPad For Dummies, purchased to help me get the most out of my new 'essential business tool / really cool toy' – it really depends on who in my family you ask! In the early days of Glue, I bought several of the books to help me learn about and run the business:

My new iPad: The thrill, the disappointment and a delightful surprise

2010-08-13T06:06:00.000-04:00

My first Apple computer! As a nearly 30-year user of Apple technology (remember the Apple II Plus anyone?), the time finally arrived when I was able to purchase an iPad. (Being the prudent person I am, I also bought an ICON screen protector, and after being nearly overwhelmed by choice at my Best Buy store, a padded black nylon Brenthaven carrying case.) Naturally, there was enormous

How to judge the quality of your constituent communications

2010-08-10T11:10:00.008-04:00

Prefer to WATCH this message on YouTube? Click here... Back in the late 1970s, when I was studying architecture at Carleton University in Ottawa, I was introduced to the phrase: "Well building hath three conditions: firmness, commodity, and delight," which was co-authored by English author and diplomat Sir Henry Wotton (1568 – 1639), in his work The Elements of Architecture (1624; a free

'Engaged' employees aren't enough

2010-08-04T09:22:00.001-04:00

Until yesterday, I thought that having 'engaged' employees was sufficient as the first step in making customers – and 'shareholders' – happy (i.e., enduring organizational success). But then I began reading Hundred Percenters: Challenge your employees to give it their all, and they'll give you even more, by Mark Murphy. In the book, he argues that the real goal of leaders is not simply to

Farewell 'target audiences,' hello 'constituents'

2010-08-01T08:25:00.002-04:00

For decades, the conventional approach in planning marketing communications was to define your 'target audiences' – the groups at whom your messages were aimed. Marcom was essentially one-way: I the marketer have an ad that I want you the consumer to see / read / hear so I can persuade you to buy my product or service. It all made sense. But in today's real-time, non-stop, fully interactive (

Why traditional advertising struggles with social media

2010-07-23T12:33:00.000-04:00

Always wise columnist Don E. Schultz, writing in Marketing News's July 30, 2010 issue, p. 11 (getting this biweekly mag free is another reason to join AMA Toronto!), notes that traditional advertising is about persuasion – getting consumers "to accept the value of our products and to agree with our arguments." He contrasts this with the Chinese view of marketing communications – "as a tool for

Leadership insights for not-for-profit executive directors

2010-07-15T11:33:00.008-04:00

Ideas for maximizing the contribution of your board of directors I had the pleasure of serving as ‘scribe’ for a recent kitchen-table dialogue workshop, entitled ‘The NFP Executive Director: Their Leadership and the Role of the Board,’ that was organized and moderated by Alan Kay of The Glasgow Group. The July 6 session was attended by 10 people, most of whom are seasoned not-for-profit (NFP)

Max and Kelly and me: Two customer-service stories

2010-07-13T17:37:00.000-04:00

I spent the best part of this afternoon engaged in two rather different customer-service experiences, both involving the internet. The first involved money – trying to get my hands on a simple electronic copy of a Bell Canada phonebill that had been posted in my epost account. The second involved happiness – more precisely, ordering tickets to an interesting breakfast session to hear Tony Hsieh

Building a customer-centred business

2010-06-30T20:32:00.016-04:00

Some solutions on how to put the customer at the centre of your organization. I was pleased to participate as one of nine panelists in a kitchen-table dialogue on June 23, 2010 – led by moderator Alan Kay of The Glasgow Group and hosted by Rick Wolfe of PostStone Corporation – about how companies can get past thinking about brands and become truly customer-centred. Examples of

One day, three communities...

2010-06-26T23:30:00.007-04:00

Today, I was proud to be part of one very 'tangible' community, happy to be part of an 'old media' virtual community, and ashamed to be indirectly associated with a 'real' community powered by new media. Let me explain... Proud (noon): The group of neighbourhood youngsters that I coach on the Leaside Braves baseball team pulled together on a very wet and dreary morning to win the Consolation

7 insights on building your personal brand

2010-06-21T10:26:00.010-04:00

On Tuesday June 15, I was invited to participate in an informal roundtable discussion on personal branding, led by Alan Kay of The Glasgow Group. Here are seven brief insights I gained from the event, and some additional resources I've since discovered. What is a personal brand?A personal brand (like a conventional product brand) is a set of elements that lead to trust and help customers

Cotter-pins and continuous improvement

2010-06-21T06:27:00.006-04:00

This afternoon I spend a couple of hours assembling a Yardworks garden cart – a new tool for my wife's business, It's Perfect.The product was compactly and responsibly packaged (all cardboard, no styrofoam), the instructions seemed pretty clear, and the different nuts and bolts needed at each stage of the assembly stage were even supplied in separate numbered pockets on a vacuum-packed card...

Arrival of a renewed blogger

2010-06-14T15:32:00.003-04:00

Despite my November 21, 2008 promise that I'd get back to regular blogging, my good intentions were overtaken by work pressures, family commitments and the usual set of excuses. Now, I am returning to blogging in my efforts to help increase Glue's presence in the marketplace and share some interesting perspectives and insights I've gained along the way. I hope you find it helpful, and I welcome

Dental plaque and corporate misdemeanors

2008-12-03T14:33:00.000-05:00

There's no place to hide your less-than-perfect brand behaviour.(This not-especially-original insight was reinforced for me this morning as I sat in the dentist's chair, listening to the hygienist scrape away the accumulated plaque from my teeth. The consequences of my less-than-perfect flossing over the past six months were right there for her to see – and for me to feel guilty about.)When a

The Bell tolled for Ted Rogers

2008-12-02T16:30:00.001-05:00

A few years ago, I was a fervent supporter of Bell Canada for my cell-phone and internet needs, believing all the talk that Rogers was impossible to deal with. But partly as a result of some inferior technical capabilities and sloppy customer service from Bell, I've since switched most of my business to Rogers.Without question, the complexity of delivering flawless, uninterrupted service across

'If' nails it for uncertain times

2008-11-25T22:28:00.001-05:00

It was back in the late 1970s, when I listened to the music of Roger Whittaker (during my summer-camp, guitar-playing period), that I first heard the song 'If' (the sung version of Rudyard Kipling's famous poem). The smooth sound of the song, but more importantly the words of the poem, have stuck with me all these years. As I contemplate the issues of middle age – as well as the current