The Worst Train Station in the World (2010)

The Worst Train Station in the World (2010)

Before you ask, no I haven’t been to every train station in the world.  But sometimes you realise that an experience is so bad that it has reached a zenith of consumer misery that would be unsurpassable. In any quest there comes a time when the hero must dismount, and tell himself that there is no maiden fairer, no prize greater, no more land to discover that is worth the effort. Or in this case, no railway station experience more miserable. And I’ve seen some bad ones. Those where the only shelter remained locked during a blizzard. Those where the only source of heat was little more than a hair dryer bolted to a wall on a timer switch. And it didn’t work. Those where the staff are only present for a couple of hours a day and make unhelpfulness an art-form (most are friendly and helpful, but some are […]

A Local Jewellers: Retail Review

A Local Jewellers: Retail Review

I have removed the name of this jeweller from my review because I recognise that on e transaction isn’t a representative sample on which to judge anyone – we all have bad days. However, all my retail reviews do name the retailer when they’re first published, so for the full story please sign up for my E-zine Mindshop! on my home page. I’d finally decided to buy a decent watch. I’d been thinking about it and then my old one died so it seemed like the right time. The only problem was that I had no idea what to get. Should I spend £100 or £1000? I’m not particularly fussed about man-jewellery, but buying one nice watch to own for many years might be a practical option (at least that’s what I’m telling myself). I opted to visit my local town, Saffron Waldon. Cambridge is closer but parking is a nightmare and […]

Rebranding: Learning from the Past

I once had a conversation with the Marketing Director of a brand that is a household name in which he suggested that no products had updated their brand identities.  We were having the conversation because his main brand was so tired that sales were in decline and customers didn’t see its packs on the shelves of their supermarkets: it looked exactly the same as it had a decade earlier (and it was hardly the most relevant product back then). When I used Skoda as an example, he moved the goal posts to FMCG products.  Then when I referenced other FMCG products that had dramatically redesigned their brand without disaster he argued that these weren’t in the same category as his product. So his point was, that since none of his competitors had successfully updated their brand identity, he shouldn’t be the first one to risk it. Except, of course, all of […]

Getting a Book Published: Countdown to Publication

It’s been a while since I updated my series on getting a book published, partly because I’ve been so busy with book-related activity! The publishing industry works backwards.  That’s not a slur on their approach, just an observation.  They set a publication date based on a number of factors: Is there an event they can associate the book with? If you’ve written a book on space travel it probably makes sense to time the launch to coincide the publication with a large space conference or the intended publication date of the latest Mars pictures, or whatever.  There are two reasons for this: firstly, the human brain works by associations and if the media are developing the neural paths to space-related thoughts your book is going to feel more relevant and is more likely to get noticed.  Secondly, journalists looking to cover the event will appreciate an angle from you that […]