I just saw a car ad on TV. It showed two identical 4WDs side by side. One was labelled “2007″, the other “2006″.

The premise of the ad was: the 2006 model is great value because you can’t tell it apart from the 2007 model and it is so much cheaper.

This of course prompted the question: if no one can tell the difference between the 2006 and 2007 models, …

The Internet is a haven for self-expression. Anyone can put up whatever they want, as long as they have access to the technology of course. What we have now is a mass of information - some very useful, but mostly… um… poo.

And where there is lots of poo, there be services to help us good people filter the gemstones from the muck. One example is digg.com. …

My sister bought me the book (thanks Tein) and I visited the site: Stuff on my Cat.

Cute kitties aside, the story behind the phenomenon is interesting. Mario Garza started the site in July 2005 because he liked putting stuff on his cat and decided to share his photos online. It took off! Millions of visitors, with many of them submitting photos of their cats, and write-ups …

I had a problem with my home phone last weekend. There was no dial tone. And whenever someone rang they just got the answering service at the exchange.

I went on to the Telstra website, and found the link to Residential Line problems easily. I then found a simple and clear set of instructions to perform an isolation test (to ensure that the problem is not at my end …

When a company has successfully built up a strong brand, it is understandable that they would want to leverage that brand with new products through line extension. Logical, but not necessarily a good idea. Especially when (a) the brand has little recognition in a foreign market, (b) the brand as a word or phrase means something totally different from the product.

I stumbled across a …

Flow. By Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. ISBN 0-7126-5759-2.

After reading Good Business by the same author, I just had to get this work. This book provided a lot more details on the author’s research into flow and happiness. He tackled the subject of consciousness, and our never-ending need to manage the chaos that is part of this consciousness, and to make meaning out of our existence …

How can a credit union stand out authentically? From the banks, from other credit unions, and from the generic credit union brand?

Book now if you work in the financial services sector and care about branding and differentiation. More info on the workshop brochure. Presented with Swivel: Turn It Around

“If two smart, savvy people can’t have an interesting conversation about your product, you haven’t done your marketing.” See the cartoon at gapingvoid.

The Origin of Brands: Discover the natural laws of product innovation and business survival. By Al and Laura Ries. ISBN 0-06-057014-8.

Categories, not product features, are what matters. Categories will always diverge. Create and own your category to win. Al and Laura draw an interesting parallel between brands and Darwin’s evolution of species. Definitely one to add to your library and refer to often.

You can become a success through playing by your own rules (ethics and morals), working to your own higher purpose, and chasing your own dreams.

Or you can do what everyone else is doing, adopt their ethics and morals, and chase the conventional definition of success.

You can’t do both. Your rules; your life. Or not.