Place marketing - the time to start is now
27 March 2012
By Tariq Khwaja
It’s funny how certain types of marketing behave like buses—with a period of low activity followed by a sudden surge in interest.
One behaving in a bus-like way right now is place marketing (‘place branding’ or ‘location marketing’ if you prefer). By this I mean the promotion of cities, towns, districts or counties to boost their economic fortunes, particularly by attracting businesses—sometimes visitors, students and residents as well ...
Five steps to inject inspiration into your communications
8 March 2012
By Tariq Khwaja
Vince Cable’s leaked letter this week, attacking his Government colleagues for lacking a “compelling vision”, struck a chord with me.
It did this because I’ve been addressing exactly this kind of issue with several private and public sector organisations (separately), whose communications share one big flaw: they’re awash with information, but devoid of inspiring message …
Junk and disorderly
17 February 2012
By Tariq Khwaja
This is my new favourite unbelievably bad sales approach, received by email yesterday afternoon. So bad I first thought it was a strange joke ...
Thorny dilemma
6 February 2012
By Tariq Khwaja
An intriguing debate erupted in a meeting last week and I’d be interested to hear any other views.
I was talking to two astute entrepreneurs who are poised on the brink of starting a new company, having identified a seemingly lucrative, untapped mass-market opportunity ...
Child's play
17 January 2012
By Tariq Khwaja
I’ve been doing some fascinating work with young people. I don’t mean 28 or even 23 year olds but proper young people—from seven to 15 years old.
It’s part of our work with National Grid to get school kids excited about science and inspire them to become scientists and engineers when they grow up, to address the national shortage ...
