Author Archives: Andrew Silcox

For most people, B2B Marketing Consultants spend most of their time coming up with creative TV adverts, building websites and talking (over long lunches) about “brand”. Thanks to programs like Mad Men and the Gruen Transfer this reputation is further enhanced. But in reality, this is a distorted and potentially damaging view on what marketing […]

The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.” Author Jim Collins extended the thought process to explain why great companies have a single-minded vision and Unique Selling Proposition USP.

A methodology I use for strategic thinking is based on customer-centric thinking. As I see it, customer is the only reason any organisation can exist and flourish. No organisation can exist without someone accessing their products or services. Sure without a product or service you have nothing to sell. But if you have customers, you can find products or services that they will purchase; the opposite is not true.

This TED talk by Chris Bliss defines how I see marketing. If marketing is persuasion, then I believe comedy is the ultimate communication tool to affect attitudinal change. For more about the importance of comedy in marketing, read Our Philosophy of Marketing.

I have an economics degree.

I still can’t tell you exactly why I ended up with an economics degree, but there it is.

Through my meandering career in design, promotions, events and advertising it’s always seemed to stand out like a sore thumb. But in marketing, I’ve come to realise the power of some elements of marketing. And the most important is in data.

I’ve often been asked what is marketing? It’s funny how a word we use so much in our daily lives or in discussions about business can be so hard to define. There are so many ways to look at what marketing can do for an organisation, an idea or even an individual. Add to that […]

While traveling through Europe with my family, we decided to hire a car to explore Spain and Italy. It sounded idyllic, despite xenephobic stories of terrible driving and mental images of getting stuck on tiny back streets sandwiched between heritage-listed walls, cobbled roads and thousand-year-old cottages. But to make sure it was as relaxing as possible, we […]

I’m being controversial, I think Gruen Planet and it’s predecessor, Gruen Transfer are excellent programs that have helped raise the profile of advertising and marketing to the Australian public. However, raising any profile has it’s risks and Gruen Planet has done a disservice to the very industry it celebrates through it’s segment The Pitch.