Top 10 Blog posts of the year for 2013 – Part 1
This is the first of two posts that look back at our favourite blog posts of 2013, as a way of closing the year.
1. Why grow the core (Jan 13)
This was the first of many posts on the neglected topic of growing the core, which was the subject of the 6th book in the brandgym series. The post showed how over 3/4 of companies who create sustained value have a single core business in which they have a leading position.
2. Changing behaviour without changing attitudes (Feb 13)
2013 was the year where we fully embraced behavioural economics. This challenges the conventional advertising-led theory of marketing, summed up with the AIDA model: awareness->interest->desire->action. Behavioural economics shows how you can in fact change behaviour without changing peoples' attitudes at all by instead changing the situation people are buying a product in, or the way information is presented.
3. Skyfall: billion dollar brand revitalisation (March 13)
Skyfall was the year's best example of brand revitalisation. The global box office broke the billion dollar mark, making it the most successful Bond movie since the franchise was launched 50 years ago and an impressive 70% increase on the first two Daniel Craig Bond movies (Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace). A great name and theme tune helped create awareness. And the producers invested in the core product, with Oscar winner Sam Mendes directing, and no fewer than 3 Oscar winners in the cast.
4. The future is not just digital, its physical too (March 13)
This was the first of several posts suggesting that there is still a role for physical products in today's digital world. This post showed that people wrongly assume that the arrival of a new technology always means the replacement of the old one, using the example of the book market. Total book sales actually went up, with eReaders like Kindle creating new reading occasions, but physical book sales remaining almost flat.
A further post here looked at brand turning digital services into physical products, such as Stickygram's firdge magnets made of Instagram photos.
5. The Burberry trench: "How to focus on your core business for brand success" (April 13)
In this post we looked at how re-focusing on the iconic, core trenchcoat helped Burberry double revenue and profit in the last five years. In one of the year's best quotes, CEO Angela Ahrendts showed how to put your core product at the heart of your business: "The trench coat is our most exciting, iconic product. It guides all our decisions. This product is who we are."
Check in next week for the second installment of Top Posts of 2013.
