Futures Coaching

Breaking the rules of consulting

Save your blushes - and your margins.

Consultancy is changing as client needs change - and as business practices modernize. 

This report breaks with orthodoxy and shows you the New Consulting pathways to agency success.

The report covers 10 rules and will take just 5 minutes to absorb. Find it here.

 

We-Think: The Mega Trend behind Social Media

Would communications technology be so successful if people didn't feel the need to interact? Of course not. However, few recognise that our need to socialise and network is growing with or without social media. 

My lastest Slideshare summary, shines the spotlight on this Mega Trend. I call it We-Think (a term I borrowed from Charles Leadbeater).

Many authorities have lost ground due to this Trend, but a rare few get it - and I give example from the banking, supermarket, charity and FMCG worlds.

Have a read. It will take just 5 minutes to update your understanding. Click

 

 

 

Will Cities be Forever?

Half the world's population lives in cities and urbanisation continues apace. Is this a good thing? And what trends can we expect to see over the next 10 years?

This 5 minute thought piece asks the question: Are Cities forever and what happens when a City dies? On the flip side, what will be the characteristics of successful urban areas going forward?

Kick start your thinking here 

 

 

Sponsorship of outdoor events

Sponsors of London's Olympics have spent £700million to be present at the world's greatest show. But just why do brands sponsor outdoor events?

My latest Slideshow presentation reveals some of the advantages of showing up. For example, brands who place their banners in front of a euphoric crowd can expect a subliminal connection. Next time the consumer sees the brand they will be transported back to that orgasmic emotional state. Talk about getting rooted in positive emotional memory structures!

Take 5 minutes to find out more.

Asian Growth Strategies: How are corporates going East?

What do VW, Yum Brands, Deutsche Bank, University College London and McCann Worldwide have in common? All have aggressive growth strategies for Asia.

Find out what Volkswagen are going to do with €14billion and why we'll see 600 new KFCs and Pizza Huts in China by year end. And discover a major Western brand who has withdrawn from China.

It's all in this 5 minute presentation here.

 

How the Chinese innovate

Here we look the Chinese attitudes to innovation. The rules and the principles guiding resource allocations. For example, why is short term a bigger concern than long term innovation? And why do Chinese innovators emphasise process over product? Find out more about the successful innovation mindset Here.

Black Hole Marketing

We live in a world where, increasingly, winner takes all; being merely average or mainstream is the route to failure. Look around and we see this trend playing out everywhere. Celebrity culture, sporting heros, world cities, power brands, mega malls.....being the biggest and best (even by just a fraction) is enough to get disproportionate rewards. The rest are 'also rans'.

Marketers need to understand this new extremism and make decisions accordingly. Find yourself outside the Black Hole and you'll find your life's forces being sucking away.

Find out the dimensions of this trend - and some of the routes to growth here.

 

Consumer Accelerated Health

There is a revolution going on in healthcare, but it is not 'consumer centric health'. That was yesterday's revolution.

For this 'Growth Story', it is important not to misjudge the trends. Consumers are starting to disintemediate; to bi-pass professionals by participating and collaborating together. Rather than be passive recipents of the healthcare system, they are remodelling it. P2P networking is fundamentally different than the concentric model of patient care. 

Sevices like wegohealth.com; patientslikeme.com; stupidcancer.com; diabetesmine.com; nikerunning.com - are all showing the way. 

Find out more:  Download Consumer Accelerated Health

Where to grow business in 2012...and beyond

In the first of the "Growth Stories" series of posts, I've focused on sure-fire socio-demographic trends.

Find out the formula for GDP growth and the 15 countries set for explosive increases in consumer spending. Investments, roll-out strategies and manpower allocations need to follow the money. You'll find out where to invest resources by following this link.

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Growth Stories

It's official: 2012 will be worse than 2011. Well, that's what most commentators, journalists, Heads of State and stock market pundits seem to be saying. The consensus is in one direction: caution, safety, cost-cutting and NO BIG DECISIONS.

However. 

There is lots of positive news out there. You just have to be willing to go beyond the consensus, the conventional and the groupstink (sic). 

So I've decided to dedicate a series of blogs to just that. "Growth Stories" will be vignettes aimed at revealing the forces that will drive market growth in 2012...and beyond. All will be positive and aimed at helping you building business fortunes and brand profiles.

And to avoid information overload, each trend analysis will take just 5 minutes to read. To ensure you catch each of our Growth Stories, sign-up for a weekly newsletter (top right of this blog). You can unsubscribe anytime you wish. 

It would be wrong to suggest that 2012 will be easy. It will be a time of high uncertainty, 'black swan' surprises and negativity. But whilst everyone else is looking the other way, this will be just the time to identify the market opportunities. Growth Stories will, I hope, help you do just that.